written by Wolfgang Christian

The Orbit program displays the dynamics of multiple massive objects interacting gravitationally.  The default scenario shows the figure-eight orbit of three particles first discovered by Montgomery.   Additional particles and their initial positions and velocities can be specified using the Display | Switch GUI menu item.  

Orbit is an Open Source Physics program written for the teaching of classical orbits.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.  Double clicking the mech_orbit.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.  Other classical mechanics programs are also available.  They can be found by searching ComPADRE for Open Source Physics, OSP, or mechanics.

• Download mech_orbit.jar - 550kb Java Archive File

Last Modified May 18, 2008

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