Readers are introduced to the structure of the book, including a discussion of the topics in each chapter, as well as how the book may be integrated in an introductory physics course.
Chapter 2 serves as an introduction to the GlowScript VPython environment. The student is shown how to enter GlowScript via a browser. The student is asked to create simple programs, including ones that print, make shapes, and...
In chapter 3, the student is asked to program the motion of a ball with constant velocity, to plot the position with respect to time of the ball moving with constant velocity, and to simulate the motion of a ball undergoing a...
In chapter 4, students are introduced to the mathematics behind the Euler method, as well as the coding involved. Students are given code and then asked to modify it.
In chapter 5, students are introduced to the kinematic equations describing an object undergoing a constant acceleration. Students are asked to write code simulating the flight of a projectile over level ground and sloping...
In chapter 6, students are introduced to the idea of a central force, the idea of a instantaneous acceleration (as opposed to average acceleration) and using the Euler method to determine the position and velocity of the...
In chapter 7, students are introduced to the concepts of center of mass, the impulse-momentum theorem, and conservation of energy. This is done by considering a binary star system, mass-spring system, and scattering in the...
In chapter 8, students consider again the motion of a comet around the Sun, but now consider torque and angular momentum. Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation is introduced, as well as the cross product and how to code it in...
In chapter 9, students are introduced to the concept of Gravitational Assist, which is used to send probes to the outer planets and out of the solar system. Frames of reference are considered, as well as the energy of the probe...
This document provides a conclusion to VPython for Introductory Mechanics by Windsor A. Morgan and Lars Q. English. It includes the book’s bibliography as well as information about the authors.
Jackson, David P., and Ming-Hua Chang. Acoustic Levitation and the Acoustic Radiation Force. American Journal of Physics 89, no. 4 (2021): 383-392. https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1119/10.0002764, For more information...
English, Lars Q., A. Zampetaki, P.G. Kevrekidis, K. Skowronski, C.B. Fritz, and Saidou Abdoulkary. Analysis and Observation of Moving Domain Fronts in a Ring of Coupled Electronic Self-Oscillators. Chaos 27 (2017): e103125....
A soap bubble on the end of a cylindrical tube is seen to deflate as the higher pressure air inside the bubble escapes through a tube. We perform an experiment to measure the radius of the slowly deflating bubble and observe...
Our research experimentally, mathematically, and computationally investigated the singularity that forms at the tip of water droplets freezing on a flat surface (Snoeijer and Brunet, AJP 2012). We designed an apparatus to...
We study analytically and numerically the impact of the second-neighbor interactions on the propagation of an initial wave-packet through a coupled nonlinear left-handed transmission line. We start with a detailed analysis of...
English, L. Q., S. Wheeler, Y. Shen, G. P. Veldes, N. Whitaker, P. G. Kevrekidis, and D. J. Frantzeskakis. Backward-Wave Propagation and Discrete Solitons in a Left-Handed Electrical Lattice. Physics Letters A 375, no. 9...
For more information on the published version, visit Mathematical Association of America's Website., This past semester I (Jennifer Schaefer) taught single-variable calculus. Like many of you, I have taught this course numerous...