Awesim Physics

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Introduction
Welcome
Thank you for downloading Awesim Physics v0.1.
This program is an open source physics simulator. This version of Awesim Physics can be used to simulate gravity and
other outside forces between objects. It can be used to demonstrate everything from a ball being thrown to a rocket
launching to the Solar System. The simulation is run in a command line interface and is saved to a Comma Separated
Values (CSV) file format which can be opened for interpretation in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.
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Getting Started
Installation
To install Awesim Physics simply extract all files from the .zip file to any location. You are now ready to use the
Simulator.
Running
1. Before running Awesim Physics make sure that the extracted file results.csv is empty. Open the file in spreadsheet
software such as Microsoft Excel and make sure that all of the cells are empty:
If the cells are not empty, the data collection will overlap old data. Delete all of the values by pressing Ctrl-A and then
Delete. Then save the file being sure to leave it in the CSV format. If the spreadsheet program offers to change the format
to its own, make sure not to do so.
2. Next click on the Awesim Physics application to begin running the program. A command line interface will come on
the screen and the process of initial value collection can begin.
3. Data collection:
- Number of Objects: This is asking for the total number of objects that you wish to simulate. For this value you can have
as many object as your computer allocates space for, however the performance of the simulator is decreased for each
object you add.
-End Time: This is the time at which you wish for the simulation to stop (in seconds).
-Interval: This is the time in seconds between each collection of data. The smaller the interval the more accurate the
results, but the longer it takes to compute all of the data.
Now the collection begins for each individual object:
-Velocity: The simulator asks for the initial velocity in the X, Y, and Z directions for each object in m/s.
-Position: The simulator asks for the initial position, or displacement from the origin of each object in the X, Y, and Z
directions for each object in meters.
-Force: This represents some force acting on an object in the X, Y, and Z direction in Newtons. This can be used for
purposes such as simple gravity simulations, a rocket launch, etc.
-Force Start: This is the time, in seconds, that the force begins being applied to the object. Use zero if the force starts at
the beginning.
-Force End: This is the time, in seconds, that the force stops being applied to the object.
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-Mass: The mass in kg of that object.
The data collection for individual objects will be repeated until the data for the number of objects specified at the beginning
is met.
4. As soon as the mass of the last object is recorded, Awesim Physics will begin the simulation. The outputs for each
object, as each time interval is simulated, will be displayed on the screen. When the end time has been reached, which
could be a few seconds or a few hours depending on how many objects there are and how small the interval is, the
simulation will stop and the program can be closed.
5. To view the data from the simulation, open the file results.csv in a spreadsheet. The cells should now be filled with the
time,velocity vectors, and position vectors. To view the path of each object in a two dimensional plane, graph the position
in one direction over the position in another direction. Also a position over time or velocity over time graph can be created.
If two dimensions are not enough there are add-ons and macros that are able to create three dimensional scatter plot
available. One that I have personally tested can be found here: http://www.doka.ch/Excel3Dscatterplot.htm. When
you are done with the spreadsheet be sure to Save As a different document and be sure that the original results.csv is
cleared as stated in step one.
Usage
To effectively use Awesim Physics, a few basic concepts must be understood. Awesim Physics is programmed to be a
more universal simulator that is able to simulate a ball being thrown in the air as well as planets orbiting. This means that
an acceleration due to gravity cannot be automatically programmed in. To simulate earthbound parabolic motion there are
two methods of incorporating gravity.
The simple method is to represent gravity as a constant force always acting in one direction. To do that, first calculate the
force due to gravity using Newton's equation Force = Mass x Acceleration (generally approximately 9.8 m/s^2). Enter this
force in the direction that is planned as downward. This method is acceptable for simple simulations such as a ball being
thrown in the air but becomes less accurate for larger scale planet-based simulations.
Method two is a bit more complicated, however it accounts for change in acceleration due to gravity based on the height
and also will incorporate the curvature of the Earth for long range parabolic motion simulations. For this method the Earth
must be created as an object with the correct mass and the object being simulated must start at a location that is at least
the a distance equivalent to the radius of the Earth from it's simulated center.
This version of Awesim Physics does not yet include collisions so an object will not hit the ground when it reaches zero
height or when it approaches another object. Be sure to take this into account when using this version of Awesim
Physics.
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Getting help
For additional help and other discussion, please visit our forums at
https://sourceforge.net/projects/awesimphysics/forums.
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