Modeling Planetary Environments in Virtual Reality

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment is to show how air-resistance and gravity affects how a ball bounces on Earth and Mars. Also, to see if this can be molded in virtual realty environment. Methods/Materials 1- Find data on atmospheric density, needed in the formula for air resistance, and the gravitational pull on Earth and Mars. 2- Create a virtual reality simulation of a ball bouncing on Earth, using the variables of air-resistance and gravity, in the Python programming language. 3- Run the simulation using VRUT (Virtual Reality Utility, a 3D graphics environment specially designed for building and rendering virtual environments). 4- Record coordinates of ball position for 13 seconds, recording every 1/100th of a second. 5- Use the same procedure of steps 3 and 4 with the air resistance and gravity of Mars. 6- Compare the Earth simulation Results In my experiment the ball on Mars bounced farther, higher, faster, and for a longer period of time, compared to a similar ball on Earth. Conclusions/Discussion The variables of air resistance and gravity effect the bouncing of balls. I was able to sucessfuly model this in virtual reality which enabled me to conduct my experiment in 3D.

Competition history

• CSEF 2002 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1514

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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