Orbit Program

APS Excellence in Physics Education Award
November 2019

Science SPORE Prize
November 2011

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

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Orbit Program

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.

Please note that this resource requires at least version 1.5 of Java.

.jar

download 550kb .jar
Last Modified: May 18, 2008

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - General - Gravity = Orbits = Universal Gravitation	- Upper Undergraduate - Lower Undergraduate	- Instructional Material = Activity = Interactive Simulation = Lecture/Presentation

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Learners - Professional/Practitioners - Educators	- application/java	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Access Rights:: Free access
Restriction:: © 2008 Wolfgang Christian
Additional information is available.
Keywords:: Montgomery, OSP, Open Source Physics, classical mechanics, gravitation, gravity, orbits
Record Creator:: Metadata instance created May 18, 2008 by Mario Belloni
Record Updated:: December 12, 2008 by Bruce Mason
Last Update when Cataloged:: May 1, 2008

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ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/OSP/items/detail.cfm?ID=7182">Christian, Wolfgang. "Orbit Program." Version 1.0.</a>

AIP Format

W. Christian, Computer Program ORBIT PROGRAM, Version 1.0 (2008), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366).

AJP/PRST-PER

W. Christian, Computer Program ORBIT PROGRAM, Version 1.0 (2008), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366>.

APA Format

Christian, W. (2008). Orbit Program (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366

Chicago Format

Christian, Wolfgang. "Orbit Program." Version 1.0. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366 (accessed 20 March 2025).

MLA Format

Christian, Wolfgang. Orbit Program. Vers. 1.0. Computer software. 2008. Java 1.5. 20 Mar. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366>.

BibTeX Export Format

@misc{ Author = "Wolfgang Christian", Title = {Orbit Program}, Month = {May}, Year = {2008} }

Refer Export Format

%A Wolfgang Christian %T Orbit Program %D May 1, 2008 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366 %O 1.0 %O application/java

EndNote Export Format

%0 Computer Program %A Christian, Wolfgang %D May 1, 2008 %T Orbit Program %7 1.0 %8 May 1, 2008 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7182&DocID=366

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Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.