Read all instructions carefully! Use the following problem as a warm-up exercise to
ensure that you can use the Java Physlet appropriately.
Example
Click here to start Animation
What is the x-position of the center of the object at t=3.5 seconds if the position
shown is measured in meters? (read the instructions to learn how to measure the
position of the object; it is important to be able to stop the animator, step through to a
certain time and measure the position of an object)
Instructions
- Wait for the applet to load and appear on the screen. If it loads properly you will see
messages at the bottom edge of your browser window indicating that it is loading and
running. Also you will see the applet window appear on the web page. If it does not load
properly, you will not see anything appear on the web page. In this case, you are probably
not using a Java-compatible browser. To ensure that you will be able to use the applet,
use Netscape 4.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Also, your computer should have
sufficient RAM.
- Each problem has a blue link that is used to initialize the simulation. Initially, the
applet window will not have an animation. However, once you click on the given
initialization link, you will see the simulation for that problem.
- Run the simulation and view the motion. Sometimes the animation loops back to the
beginning and repeats.
- Stop the animation at any time by pressing the "stop" button.
- Click and hold down the mouse button inside the applet. When you do this, a set of
crosshairs appears on the animation, and the x,y position of the crosshairs is displayed.
You may use this to measure the position of the object at any time.
- Try some of the other buttons to step through the motion or reset the animation to its
position at time, t=0s.
- Once you are comfortable with controlling the animation, use it to answer the given
question. It's important that you are able to read position and time data for the given
objects.