SUBJECT: The Electrostatic Zoo
NOTE: You must be connected to the Internet to view this simulation!
DESCRIPTION: The Electrostatic Zoo simulates the interaction between charged particles, and illustrates the electric fields generated as a result. Charges in the Zoo interact via the Coulomb force, with a Pauli repulsive force at close distances and a damping force proportional to velocity. The fields can be visualized in two ways: a "grass-seeds" representation (click on "Grass Seeds "), or a traditional vector field representation (adjust the "Field Visualization" slider), in addition to the real time renderings of the local field around each particle.
Use Start button to start simulation. Use Pause button to pause simulation. Click and drag on any particle to change its position. Use "Grass Seeds" to get a "grass-seeds" representaton of the electric field. Use "Equipotential Lines" to get a representaton of the electric potential field. Select and click "remove" to remove charge. Use "Add Random Positive" and "Add Random Negative" to add a positive or negative charge, respectively. Use "Toggle Field Lines on Selected" to toggle fieldlines on the selected charge(s). Control-click to select multiple charges.
VISUALIZATION: Start Simulation (you must have Java™ J2SE v1.4+ JRE installed. Mac OS X users need the Java3D update.)