‪Gravity Force Lab: Basics‬

‪Gravity Force Lab: Basics‬ is an interactive sim. It changes as you play with it. It has a Play Area and a Control Area.

The Play Area has a blue sphere labeled Mass 1 and a red sphere labeled Mass 2. A force arrow starts at the center of each sphere and points directly at the opposite sphere. Spheres can be moved closer or farther from one another The mass of each sphere can be increased or decreased. Each sphere is held in place by a robot.

In the Control Area, checkboxes change what things are shown and how they behave, and a button resets the sim.

Currently, force on mass 1 by mass 2 is of equal size and pointing directly opposite to the force on mass 2 by mass 1.

  • Force arrows are tiny at 33.4 ‪newtons‬.
  • ‪mass 1‬ and ‪mass 2‬ are extremely close each other.
  • Mass of ‪mass 1‬ is 2 billion kilograms, much much smaller than ‪mass 2‬ at 4 billion kilograms.
  • Robots pull very little keeping spheres in place.

Change position and ‪mass‬ of spheres to explore.

If needed, check out keyboard shortcuts under Sim Resources.

Play Area

‪mass 1‬, Blue Sphere

  • Force on ‪mass 1‬ by ‪mass 2‬ is tiny, and vector points directly at ‪mass 2‬.
  • Force vector magnitude is 33.4 ‪newtons‬.
  • ‪mass 1‬ is very small at 2 billion kg and at 2.8 kilometer mark

‪mass 2‬, Red Sphere

  • Force on ‪mass 2‬ by ‪mass 1‬ is tiny, and vector points directly at ‪mass 1‬.
  • Force vector magnitude is 33.4 ‪newtons‬.
  • ‪mass 2‬ is small at 4 billion kg and at 6.8 kilometer mark

Sphere Positions

Masses are 4 km apart. Move spheres, closer or farther from each other.

Mass Controls

Change mass of spheres in billions of kilograms.

  • ‪Mass 1‬

  • ‪Mass 2‬

Control Area

Explore value of forces in newtons.

Measure distance between spheres in kilometers.

Keep size of spheres constant while changing mass.

Sim Resources