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November 2011

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The Open Source Physics Project is supported by NSF DUE-0442581.

Simulating What You See Documents

Main Document

Simulating What You See 

written by Doug Brown and Wolfgang Christian

This conference proceedings paper describes how the Tracker video analysis and modeling program enables students to create particle model simulations based on Newton's laws and to compare their behavior directly with that of real-world objects captured on video. Tracker's "model builder" provides a gentle introduction to dynamic modeling by making it easy to define and modify force expressions, parameter values and initial conditions while hiding the numerical algorithm details. Because the model simulations synchronize with and draw themselves right on the video, students can test their models experimentally by direct visual inspection, a process that is both intuitive and discerning.

Last Modified November 27, 2011

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