Newtonian mechanics in 1 dimension | special relativity | back to home page

Movies illustrating motion in two and three dimensions

Projectile motion
Distance versus launch angle

This movie compares trajectories of projectiles launched at different angles with equal initial speeds. The one fired at 45 degrees goes farthest.

Projectile motion
Components of the motion

This movie highlights the different behavior of the vertical (constant acceleration) and horizontal (constant velocity) components of projectile motion.

The famous monkey problem
Or, how the monkey meets his maker.

This movie shows the paths of a falling monkey and the bullet which kills it. The bullet was fired directly at the monkey at the instant the monkey began to fall. (Disclaimer: no actual monkey died during the making of this movie.)

Scattering processes
Elastic scattering off a stationary target

These movies show various scattering processes, in the lab and in the center of mass frame, with different ratios of projectile and target masses and at different scattering angles. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Noninertial forces
A kid on a merry-go-round

A kid (blue tick mark) riding on the edge of a circular merry-go-round releases a ball. This movie shows a top view of the path of the ball as seen by an observer fixed on the earth. It just goes off on a straight line tangent to the circle.

Noninertial forces
A kid on a merry-go-round

A kid (blue tick mark) riding on the edge of a circular merry-go-round releases a ball. This movie shows a top view of the path of the ball as seen by the kid. The kid has to turn his head in order to keep looking at the ball.

Noninertial forces
A kid on a merry-go-round

Same as previous movie, except coriolis (magenta) and centrifugal (blue) forces are shown.

Noninertial forces
A kid on a merry-go-round

Path of ball thrown directly inwards toward center of rotation by kid (blue tick mark) on merry-go-round, as seen by external observer.

Noninertial forces
A kid on a merry-go-round

Path of ball thrown directly inwards toward center of rotation by kid on merry-go-round, as seen by the kid. The centrifugal (blue) and coriolis (magenta) forces are shown. The ball is deflected to the right.

Noninertial forces
The Foucault pendulum

This movie shows a top view of a Foucault pendulum in the northern hemisphere. The plane of oscillation of the pendulum precesses clockwise.

Scalars
Scalar fields

This movie shows a time-dependent scalar field in two dimensions.

Vectors
Components of a vector

This movie shows the changing x- and y- components and constant z-component of a vector as it precesses around the z-axis.

Vectors
Vector fields

This movie shows a time-dependent vector field with no curl, in two dimensions.

Vectors
Vector fields

This movie shows a time-dependent vector field with curl, in two dimensions.