Gravity bounce  (2009-Sep-26 8:34 EDT)

by <>  (2010-Sep-03 7:42 EDT)

Hmmm. Nice idea.

I tried tweaking some of the values (gravity, speed) and it ran into troubles. One time it slowed to a crawl with only a minor tweak. Another time it got "stuck" in a spot. And a third time it freaked out all over the place. (I was using the Firefox plug-in.)



Also, in your initial setting, as it comes close to the ground and the bounces get smaller, it never actually quits moving. This is not like reality :-) A bouncing ball will eventually come to rest.



I would suggest

1. re-looking at your algorithm to allow the ball to stop completely.


2. Provide user controls that are more obvious


3. Ensure the system is robust as the user changes the control values


4. add clearer usage instructions.

by <>  (2010-Sep-03 7:42 EDT)

Great baseline for teaching gravity/speed. I could look at the script and see what you're doing. However if I'm looking at this from a novice's point of view it might be hard to figure out what exactly he/she needs to do or what it is about. I concur with the above comment further instructions/description would help.

by <>  (2010-Sep-03 7:42 EDT)

I grabbed the ball and dropped from the top . . . might be nice to have a terminal velocity as well.

by <>  (2010-Sep-03 7:42 EDT)

I agree that a description, instructions and possible user interaction controls would be valuable. It would be nice to relate the simulation to the coefficient of restitution and make this a variable. Then it would be more instructive.

by <>  (2010-Sep-03 7:42 EDT)

I really like the idea. I would love to have played with the gravity and re-run the simulation to see what increased or decreased gravity would do to the ball. (e.g. gravity on other planets.)