This activity is an indoor lab where students will make predictions of what a force vs time and acceleration vs time graph will look like for a ride in an elevator going down and up. Students will collect data remotely using a Force Plate and accelerometer and then download the data to the computer for further analysis.

This lesson is a classroom activity where students learn to use their balance knowledge to create a beautiful mobile.

This activity is an extension of the common balloon cars, where students explore if and how different gases used as a fuel source effect the distances traveled by the cars.

This activity is a hands-on investigation that teaches students that air resitance affects how things move and that pressure from compressed air can move things.

The Balls in a Box model shows a system of particles is very sensitive to its initial conditions. In general, an isolated system of many particles that is prepared in a nonrandom configuration will change in time so as to approach its most random configuration where it is in equilibrium. What happens if we choose the initial conditions in a very special way?

The default initial condition corresponds to eight stationary particles perfectly aligned on the x-axis. Two particles approach from the left and the right. What happens when these particles collide with the eight stationary particles? The EJS model solves Newton's second law of motion numerically but pauses when a collision is detected. This is called an EJS event. Conservation of energy and momentum are applied at the event and the simulation is resumed.

The EJS Baton Throw model displays a baton thrown up in the air about its center of mass. The baton is modeled by two masses separated by massless rigid rod. The path of the center of mass of the baton and the red mass are shown in black and red, respectively. The ratio of the two masses can be set via a slider and the initial velocity of the center of mass of the baton and the rotational velocity of the baton can be set via text boxes.

The Body with Thruster Model shows the motion of a disk with an attached rocket engine. You can drag the engine to change its distance from the center of the disk and you can adjust the thrust of the rocket engine using sliders. The mass of the rocket and its connecting rod are assumed to be negligible. The trajectory of this single-body model is intuitively challenging and difficult to visualize.

This activity is a guided discovery where students gather information on how to add a seat belt to a clay figure that is sitting on top of a toy car. The clay figure should stay in place when it hits a speed bump placed after a ramp.

The EJS Car on an Inclined Plane model displays a car on an incline plane. When the car reaches the bottom of the incline, it can be set to bounce (elastic collision) with the stop attached to the bottom of the incline. The car consists of the car body, two rotating front wheels, and two rotating rear wheels. The incline angle (in radians) can be changed via a textbox. In addition the car can be dragged to its initial position.

The EJS Circumnavigating Pendulum model displays the dynamics of a mechanical oscillator in uniform circular motion. The mechanical oscillator is free to move in two directions. This 2-dimensional simulation displays all the dynamical features of the Foucault pendulum, except for the dependency of the Foucault pendulum precession on latitude. The simulation shows simultaneously the motion with respect to the inertial coordinate system, and the motion as seen from a co-rotating point of view.

The EJS Classical Helium Model is an example of a three-body problem that is similar to the gravitational three-body problem of a heavy sun and two light planets. The important difference is that the helium atom's two electrons repel one another, unlike the planetary case where the intraplanetary interaction is attractive.

Classical mechanics in a computational framework. Lagrangian formulation. Action, variational principles. Hamilton's principle. Conserved quantities. Hamiltonian formulation. Surfaces of section. Chaos. Liouville's theorem and Poincar, integral invariants. Poincar,-Birkhoff and KAM theorems. Invariant curves. Cantori. Nonlinear resonances. Resonance overlap and transition to chaos. Properties of chaotic motion. Transport, diffusion, mixing. Symplectic integration. Adiabatic invariants. Many-dimensional systems, Arnold diffusion. Extensive use of computation to capture methods, for simulation, and for symbolic analysis.

Formal introduction to classical mechanics, Euler-Lagrange equations, Hamilton's equations of motion used to describe central force motion, scattering, perturbation theory and Noether's theroem. Extension to continuous and relativistic systems and classical electrodynamics.

Formal introduction to classical mechanics, Euler-Lagrange equations, Hamilton's equations of motion used to describe central force motion, scattering, perturbation theory and Noether's theroem. Extension to continuous and relativistic systems and classical electrodynamics.

The Colliding Galaxies Model is an implementation of Alar and Juri Toomres' 1972 super computer model showing the formation of galactic bridges and tails under the assumption that galactic cores are point masses and that one galactic core is surrounded by 2D concentric rings of orbiting stars. The model assumes is that the stars (test particles) orbiting the galactic cores are non-interacting. When the two galaxies pass one another, tidal forces deform the star distribution into classic tidal features. Our EJS model reproduces this result showing that there is a long curving tail and that only the outermost ring of stars is affected by its companion galaxy. A thin bridge is also formed and some of the stars are captured by the companion galactic core.

This lab activity is designed to allow students to experience what an increase in mechanical advantage means. Students determine the mechanical advantage of three pulley set-ups. Students also measure the work input and output, then calculate the efficiency. Finally, students determine the relationship between the mechanical advantage and the efficiency of the pulleys.

This activity is an inquiry lab where students are challenged to create a slow moving and fast moving plane and measure the speed.

The EJS TPT Ladder Demonstration model displays the statics and dynamics of a ladder leaning against a wall. The standard (textbook) statement of this problem assumes that there is no frictional force between the wall and the ladder, but a frictional force between the ground and the ladder. In the simulation you can set the initial lean angle and the coefficients of static and kinetic friction between the floor and the ladder.

Treatment of electromechanical transducers, rotating and linear electric machines. Lumped-parameter electromechanics of interaction. Development of device characteristics: energy conversion density, efficiency; and of system interaction characteristics: regulation, stability, controllability, and response. Use of electric machines in drive systems. Problems taken from current research. Alternate years. 6.685 explores concepts in electromechanics, using electric machinery as examples. It teaches an understanding of principles and analysis of electromechanical systems. By the end of the course, students are capable of doing electromechanical design of the major classes of rotating and linear electric machines, and have an understanding of the principles of the energy conversion parts of Mechatronics. In addition to design, students learn how to estimate the dynamic parameters of electric machines and understand what the implications of those parameters are on the performance of systems incorporating those machines.