This page is home to computer simulations, demonstrations and example files relevant to my courses. Some of them may be for assignments; others are files that I may use or may have used in class as demonstrations or concept illustrations. See the end of the page for links to players & plugins for some media types and notes concerning specific applications.
Files not specifically created for assignments may not contain much or even any explanation as to their contents or how to use them. (This will normally be the case, for example, in files that I create for in-class demonstrations.) Most of them are works-in-progress — some more so than others. I nonetheless encourage you to play around with them! If you have any questions, always feel free to ask me.
Unless otherwise noted, files linked from this page are authored by me and I retain full copyright. They may not be used outside the context of my courses for any purpose without express permission from me.
If your browser tries to open a file in a browser window rather than simply downloading it, right-click (Windows)/control-click (Macintosh) or click and hold to select "Save File As..." directly. (The precise wording of this option varies from browser to browser.)
SHORTCUTS
Newtonian Kinematics & Dynamics
Rotational Kinematics & Dynamics
Gravitation
Simple Harmonic Motion
Waves & Sound
Fluids
Optics
Electrodynamics
Statistical Physics & Thermodynamics
Atomic, Nuclear & Particle Physics
Special Relativity
General Relativity
Quantum Mechanics
Vector Calculus & Coordinate Systems
Analytic Geometry
Calculus
Mathematical Physics
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Graphing Calculator gcf)
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Get Graphing Calculator Viewer
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Graphing Calculator is available both Macintosh and Windows, and now also iOS. It's an amazing program — far more powerful than its simple interface may suggest — but it is also a bit quirky, and can take some practice to master. That said, for simple plotting tasks it is very easy to use. The "Help", "Demo", and "Examples" menus are a great way to learn your way around the program if you're curious.
Something to warn you of right off the bat: Graphing Calculator reserves a large number of symbols for its own use. As one particular, this means that x is always the dependent variable (i.e. on the x-axis), even if what you are plotting is a function of time. More generally, x, y, z, t, n, u, v, w all have special meanings to Graphing Calculator, and at present you cannot redefine them for your own use. (Studying the examples and help will alert you to the usage of most of these reserved symbols; search the help for "special symbols" for a list.) Moreover, the only greek characters Graphing Calculator recognizes are those reserved for its own use. These limitations are one reason my choices of notation in these files is sometimes awkward. One consequence in particular is that my notational choices in the files are often different from what you may see in class or in the book. For example, if you study the files I write, you will note that I often use uppercase letters in my definitions. The adventurous can get around most of these limitations, however, using unicode characters for variable names. (The macOS character input palette is very helpful here.)
A final word of caution: the Macintosh version of Graphing Calculator supports some features that the Windows version does not. If a file fails to open in the Windows version, it probably employs one of those features, and will only work properly on a Macintosh.
Graphing Calculator is made by Pacific Tech.
Igor Pro is also available for both Macintosh and Windows. Your best bet to get to know Igor is to run through the demo.
Igor Pro is made by WaveMetrics.
Logger Pro 3 is primarily intended as a driver and interface for Vernier sensors, but has useful plotting and data visualization and analysis tools as well.
Logger Pro is made by Vernier.
Maple files were created in Maple 9.5 or later; those created in more recent versions of Maple may not open properly in older versions.
Maple is made by MapleSoft (also known as Waterloo Maple.)
Last modified November 4, 2017 12:33 AM PDT
Page URL: http://science.oregonstate.edu/~craigda/Physics/Sims/Files/filelibrary.html
The views and opinions expressed on this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Oregon State University. © David A. Craig.