Yet Another Time Waster (particularly for physics guys)

[FngSaiYuk]

Try to get a stable or at least long lived orbit going.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/applets/satellites.html

[Shaolinlueb]

oooooooooooh i click and white dots appear. :D

[FngSaiYuk]

If you click and drag your mouse across the 'playfield', the point between where you first click down on your mouse button and the point where you release the mouse button (after moving the mouse across the field) will define the vector for the properties of the satellite's movement across the field.

The longer the vector, the greater the acceleration or velocity (not sure yet). The direction of the vector will be the direction the satellite is 'launched'.

Based on the gravity of the planet and the moon, the satellite will obey very basic gravitational and momentum laws.

So far mine's been following a VERY eccentric orbit for the past 45min or so. (I check up on it occassionally to see if it crashed into either body or flew out of orbit.

I dunno, fun for me... I like the physics type stuff...

[PangQuan]

totally fun, thanks.

[PangQuan]

LOL, i got a figure 8 with the moon and earth. didnt last long though...

[PangQuan]

I think I got a keeper.

[Jhapa]

got about 30 orbits around the earth.

[brothernumber9]

I've got mine going for about 25 min now.

[FngSaiYuk]

Yah I think mine's a keeper, too... been 2 hours I think or more... lost track, but I just checked again and it's STILL going.

I also got a figure 8 going for mebe 12 orbits before it got launched out of the playfield.

[zenile]

Stupid Moon!!! :mad:

Keeps knocking me out of orbit so I go crashing back to earth....neat site though :D

[FngSaiYuk]

Mine's still goin.

Here's what I did, I sent my satellite into an opposing orbit to the moon so that the moon's gravity would boost the satellite's orbit regulary as well as reign it in regularly as they would pass each other often.

[dezhen2001]

keep hitting the moon because of its gravitational pull :(

[JAZA]

I did it, very funny.
Yes I'm a geek :o

[bullrog]

I started a couple a about 3 hours ago, before i went to work out, got at least one still going.

[IronFist]

I just had the moon reverse the orbit of one of my things (asteroids?)!

[IronFist]

It seems like for the most part if they fly off the screen they're gone, but every once in a while one of mine comes back.

[IronFist]

So is the way to do it to get one that goes around the Earth but starts to get pulled in just enough just as the moon is passing by to pull it back just a fraction to prevent it from being sucked into the earth?

[IronFist]

What's the widest orbit you can sustain?

Can you get a clockwise orbit around the moon?

I've had two going for about 10 minutes now. Usually they either crash into the Earth or the moon steals them away. One is pretty centered. The other one is very eliptical and not centered around the Earth at all. Like this:

E = earth
- = orbit

-----E------

and

--E-------

[FngSaiYuk]

Hey, kewl! I didn't even consider that I could send multiple satellites out simultaneously!

Now I've got like 12 in various orbits both clockwise & counter clockwise! I've even got 2 in opposing orbits that are quite regular. Tho' the rest are all really eccentric.

I checked around some of the other applets on that site. Pretty kewl stuph.

[brothernumber9]

I've had my one going for just short of 13hrs now

[truewrestler]

survival of the fittest.... I'm just sending out dozens at a time and seeing how many stick.... right now only the clockwise orbits are staying...I'll send out some more counter-clockwise

edit: cool i have one orbiting 75% outside the viewable area...got some going counter-clockwise in a really tight orbit

[JadeMantis]

Just had one orbiting the moon for about 3 turns, cool

[JadeMantis]

7 turns round the moon

[brothernumber9]

****, after about 18hrs mine disappeared.

[SimonM]

Well that wasn't hard. I got 4 going at once on stable orbits.

[Ming Yue]

here's a fun one -- old but good

Gravity wars: set trajectory and velocity, use the planets' gravity to sling your missle and blow up the opponent's ship.

http://www.surf.to/gwne

click 'products'
click 'more info'

plays nicely across a network

[IronFist]

^ Nice, Ming. Do you have that game? Is it awesome?

I've had a bunch going around the Earth in both directions since last night.

I don't think you can sustain an orbit around the moon for more than a few rotations in either direction.

[Ming Yue]

I do have it, and I've killed a lot of hours playing it.

I think it's awesome, but i'm a geek. :D

[NeuroGrrrl]

Well, work has been slow today, so I too have fallen into the black hole that is the satellites.

Then I removed the "satellites.html" bit from the url and went through ALL of the physics applets.

Still not satisfied, I then worked through the entire quantum mechanics/chemistry course. It's been years since I learned all that stuff, so I really enjoyed the review. Brilliant site.

A co-worker saw me playing at physics and asked me if I'd seen this:
http://c3po.barnesos.net/homepage/lpl/grapeplasma/

So, I'm planning to (probably) blow up my microwave when I get home. enjoy.

[FngSaiYuk]

Haha, there's all sorts of fun stuff you can do w/microwaves. And many are documented on the 'net! Just google for microwave fun. In addition, there's fun stuph w/high voltage, fun stuph w/electro magnets, fun stuph w/pure sodium, etc etc.

What's real bad is how many kidz in skewl don't like science, but when presented w/all the kewl stuph, they're all over it. Unfortunately my tax $$$'s are being spent on the principals new deck instead of more lab materials... ::sigh::