Masses & Springs

In a world where the learning and teaching process is no longer confined by the walls of the classroom, institutions such as the University of Colorado Boulder provide students with easily accessible ways of learning about the vast subject of physics.

Using the power of the internet and HTML formats, the Colorado-based PhET project created an educational open-source web app for simulating the interaction of Masses and Springs with gravity.

On the Intro screen, users have two spring constants whose thickness and length can be modified in order to observe the impact that gravity coupled with various weights can have on the dilation of the spring. Measures such as the natural length, equilibrium position and movable lines can be tracked, while the gravity amount can be changed using a vertical slider. Tools such as rulers and stopwatches are at the user’s disposal for finer tracking.

The second screen allows for the measuring of velocity and acceleration of the weights, while the gravity, spring and net force are also available for tracking. The screen that follows measures the energy outputted by a single spring, while the final screen gives the user access to more weights for preciser experiments.

The app’s features are organized in a bottom tab where the various experiments can be selected for carrying out, with the weights being generally found in the lower left corner, while the various measurements that can be toggled are found in the upper right corner. Playing and pausing the spring’s animation frame by frame at normal or slower speeds is done using the menu in the lower right corner of the screen.

The bottom tab also features a menu where the user has the option of visiting the PhET website, screenshotting the current app window for easy sharing and setting the app in full screen for making the app’s elements larger.

Whether you, your offspring or your students need an app for experimenting with the conservation of mechanical energy in a digital way, PhET’s Masses and Springs app is up to the task.