Visual Python

Visual Python is an innovative extension to the Python scripting language that combines the ease of use of Python with the power of the OpenGL 3D graphics environment. Here are a few projects, some of which have been written by our students as part of Drexel's 1st year Contemporary Physics Sequence.

You can hover over many of the images to see a short animation.

Equally charged particles on a ring interacting through a central potential. Charge number,sign, magnitude, and ring size are variable. Also, the 1/r Coulomb potential can be be changed to any (1/r)^n type central potential. A velocity-based friction gradually slows down the particles to find the minimum energy configuration, which of course is always a symmetric ring of equidistant particles.

Equally charged particles on a sphere interacting through a central potential. Reveals interesting minimum energy configurations for different particle number. Same options as ring simulation.

Equally charged particles on a torus interacting through a central potential. Reveals interesting minimum energy configurations for different particle numbers and torus inner/outer radius ratios.

A system of pendulums coupled with springs. Pendulum number and spring constants are variable. Setting the spring stiffness comparable to the rod stiffness brings about interesting behavior. For weaker springs, you can see the system energy transfer between pendulums.

Particles interact and transfer momentum between piston and other particles. Demonstrates properties of ideal gas when particle-particle integrations are disabled. Particle number, kinetic energy, particle and piston mass, and all dimensions are variable. Particle velocities are thermalized to the Boltzmann distribution.

Demonstrate Gauss's law for total charge within a square Gaussian surface. Integrate the electric field over the surface of the cube to determine the total contained charge.

A simple simulation using the Biot-Savart law to graph a 2D slice of the magnetic field induced by a ring of current. No animation.

Simple spring mass systems can be used to simulate a wide variety of objects. The charge configuration and pendulum simulations shown above are really just spring-mass systems. This pogo stick is the simplest system having one mass (the handle bars) and one massless spring (in red). Issues like balance and friction have of course been ignored, although it would be interesting to see such phenomena incorporated into more complex spring-mass "bouncy" objects.