next »

[Magnetar]

Force field physics are a great fun and very interesting. I tried once to program a gravity simulator in VB.
While the math was alright, I somehow failed at making it working as wanted (I have poor coding skills).  I later used a java based 2D gravity simulator in order to add some minor modifactions to it. I can now simulate a unified magnet field in it as well as the electrostatic force. However the simulation has a couple of flaws. Since the applet was actually written by it's original author some time in the late 90s (the copper age of the internet) it's not very accurate. Meaning that errors will occur in the calculation of the orbits of the object. I placed objects in a cross shape, with velocity vectors making hooks making it look somehow like a swastika before starting. The whole thing kept it's symmetry in about the first two runs, but then suddenly became assymmetrical. I also could falsify the existance failures in my setup, since the assymmetrical shape always turned out completely other in every run.

However it was really interesting, since I could modify the attraction law in it, making things like a gravity acceleration which grows with the distance, instead of decreasing. Or acceleration based on sine waves which as far as I remember formed crystal like looking systems.

[atomic7732]

Can you upload it, or put a link to somewhere you did?

[Dan Dixon]

Can you upload it, or put a link to somewhere you did?

Yeah. I'd love to see this as well. It might inspire some new feature ideas for Universe Sandbox.

[Magnetar]

Okay.
The original version of the applet was done by John Henckel for IBM and hasn't been modified by him since 1996.
You can find the original applet as well as it's source code on the following page of the copper age internet:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/6502/impact.html

I like the simple way of doing stuff in it.
You can toss objects into orbits just by moving your mouse,
it also has a couple of interesting features which would make a nice addition to US.

You can download my modified version of the applet here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/265996745/Gravity__Charge_and_Unified_Field_Sim.jar.html

It additionally simulates charged particles and a unified magnetic field as I said. I also removed the vertical acceleration and added a vertical velocity as well as horizontal velocity mode instead. Making thigs easier to control. It might be also possible that you find some code fragments from me, for example stuff like the "Strange Forces" in US and a couple of other laws I've written.

Edit: Huh, this is an independent thread now?