The Ramp

It is known that physics isn’t the easiest science to study. Even the some of the topics considered more accessible, such as forces, can give some pupils headaches. This is why physics teachers should have a lot of patience, but also the means to take their lessons accessible to everyone.

Educational apps represent a solution that all disciplines (not only physics) can benefit from, but today we’ll be taking a look at The Ramp, a Java-animated simulation that can help you learn about forces.

If you’re familiar with the applications developed by PhET Interactive Simulations (of the University of Colorado), then you could consider The Ramp a sort of sequel to Forces in 1 Dimension. If you liked the adventures of the wooden mannequin pushing stuff, then get ready as he faces a much bigger obstacle. You guessed it, it’s the ramp.

Once again you get to move household items of various masses in order to analyze the forces at work. You’ll be able to push and crash a file cabinet, a refrigerator, a piano, a heavy crate and an unsuspecting poor sleepy dog (which, again, continues to just be sleepy through the whole process).

However, this time you also have the ramp (which, by the way, has an adjustable angle), which means that some of the heavier objects may fall back and crush our hero (the wooden mannequin, in case you forgot). You even have the option to cool the ramp (so you can analyze the friction properly, I suppose). When you click that option, a dog dressed as firefighter will come out of nowhere and spray the ramp with water. Yes, really!

There’s little doubt that the devs had a lot of fun with this one, but the physics part isn’t ignored at all. You get a lot of graphs and other tools that can help you determine and measure all the forces involved in the mayhem. It’s easy to recommend The Ramp to all the physics teachers who want their classes a bit more fun.