About the Physics Lab
The Physics Lab is a collection of nine interactive simulators that let you experiment with real physics in your browser. Instead of reading about free fall, oscillation, orbits, collisions, waves, circuits or gases, you set the conditions, press play and watch accurate, physics-based behaviour unfold. Each simulator runs several objects at once, so you can change one variable and watch the difference rather than imagining it. It is a hands-on way to build intuition for the equations behind motion, ideal for students, teachers and anyone curious about how the physical world behaves.
How to use it
- Choose a simulator from the four groups: mechanics, waves, electricity or thermodynamics.
- Adjust parameters such as height, angle, mass, gravity or spring constant.
- Press play to watch the simulation run with real-time physics.
- Run several objects side by side to compare how the variables affect motion.
The science behind it
Each simulator solves the actual equations rather than faking the animation. Free fall, projectile motion, orbits and collisions follow Newton's laws; the spring-mass system obeys Hooke's law; the wave lab adds real travelling sine waves; the circuit solves Ohm's law for series and parallel branches; the gas is genuine molecular dynamics whose pressure is measured from wall collisions, not assumed. The simulations advance in tiny time steps using numerical integration, so trajectories, periods, beats and pressures match what you would measure in a real experiment. Because the physics is genuine, you can verify textbook formulas — the parabolic path of a projectile, the period of a pendulum, v = f·λ, pV = nRT — by watching them play out.
Related tools
Pair the simulators with the physics formulas to see the equations behind each motion, and use the unit converter to switch between units like meters per second and kilometers per hour. The Dimension Map also shows how the quantities in these simulations are built from base units.
Frequently asked questions
Which simulators are available?
Nine: free fall, projectile motion, spring-mass oscillation, gravity and orbits, the pendulum, collisions, wave superposition, DC circuits and an ideal gas. Each has adjustable parameters and can run several objects at once.
Is the physics realistic?
Yes. The simulators solve the real equations of motion with numerical integration, so the behavior matches genuine experiments.
Can I compare multiple objects?
Yes. Each simulator can run several objects at once, making it easy to see how changing one variable changes the result.
Is this useful for learning physics?
Very. Seeing equations come to life builds intuition and helps connect formulas to real, observable motion.