Teaching-mechanic library

motion_predictor · physics · mapper.number_line

Concept: Velocity

Player does: Predict where the cart will be after Δt, then watch

Breaks: Speed and velocity are the same thing

Velocity includes direction as well as speed, so two objects with the same speed can have different velocities.

thrust_vehicle · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Acceleration

Player does: Set thrust so velocity hits the target at the checkpoint

Breaks: Zero velocity means zero acceleration

Acceleration is the rate velocity changes, so an object can have zero velocity while still accelerating, like at the top of a toss.

free_fall_drop · physics · truth_finder.predict_reveal

Concept: Free fall

Player does: In the vacuum chamber, predict whether the boulder or the feather lands first

Breaks: Heavier objects fall faster

Without air resistance, gravity accelerates every object at the same rate regardless of mass.

frictionless_arena · physics · truth_finder.predict_reveal

Concept: Newton's 1st law

Player does: Predict the puck's path after you stop pushing

Breaks: Moving things need a force to keep moving

An object in motion stays in motion at constant velocity unless a net force acts on it.

formula_engine · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Newton's 2nd law (and any formula)

Player does: Same push on different masses; set the force that hits the target acceleration

Breaks: A constant force produces constant speed

A constant net force produces constant acceleration, not constant speed, since F = ma.

recoil_movement · physics · simulator.intervene

Concept: Newton's 3rd law

Player does: Move only by throwing mass the opposite way

Breaks: The bigger object pushes harder

Newton's third law pairs are always equal and opposite in force, regardless of the objects' relative size.

collision_arena · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Momentum conservation

Player does: Set mass or speed so the post-collision motion hits the target

Breaks: Momentum is lost in collisions

Total momentum is conserved in a collision; what looks lost has transferred between the colliding objects.

force_time_shield · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Impulse

Player does: Stop the boulder with a short hard shield or a long soft one

Breaks: Stopping force depends only on speed, not stopping time

Impulse equals force times time, so stretching the stopping time over a longer duration reduces the force needed.

energy_converter · physics · balance.ledger

Concept: Energy conservation

Player does: Route energy among potential, kinetic, and spring meters

Breaks: Energy gets used up

Energy is conserved and converts between forms like potential and kinetic; it is never simply used up.

height_bank · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Gravitational PE

Player does: Choose the ledge height that banks exactly enough energy

Breaks: PE depends on the path taken

Gravitational potential energy depends only on height above the reference, not on the path taken to get there.

force_path · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Work

Player does: Push at an angle; only the component along the path counts

Breaks: Any force on a moving object does work

Work is done only by the force component along the direction of motion; a perpendicular force does no work.

surface_strategy · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Friction

Player does: Pick the surface coefficient that stops the sled on the pad

Breaks: Friction depends on contact area

Friction force depends on the normal force and the surfaces' coefficient, not on the contact area.

lever_door · physics · balance.torque

Concept: Torque

Player does: Place the weight at the distance that opens the lever door

Breaks: Only the force matters, not where it's applied

Torque depends on both the force and its distance from the pivot, so where a force is applied matters as much as its size.

balance_builder · physics · balance.torque

Concept: Center of mass

Player does: Stack cargo so the center of mass stays over the base

Breaks: Center of mass is always the geometric center

Center of mass depends on how mass is distributed, so an unevenly loaded object's center of mass shifts off its geometric center.

catapult_range · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Projectile motion

Player does: Set the angle to clear the wall without landing in the lava

Breaks: Horizontal speed slows during flight

Without air resistance, a projectile's horizontal speed stays constant; only its vertical speed changes under gravity.

orbit_slingshot · physics · simulator.reach_state

Concept: Gravity & orbits

Player does: Set the launch speed that reaches a stable orbit

Breaks: There's no gravity in space

Orbiting objects are in continuous free fall under gravity; an orbit is a balance of gravity and sideways speed, not an absence of gravity.

charge_navigator · physics · mapper.plane

Concept: Electric fields

Player does: Mark where the test charge feels zero net force

Breaks: Field lines are paths charges must follow

Field lines show the direction of force at each point; a charge's actual path depends on its motion and other forces, not a fixed track.

voltage_height_map · physics · truth_finder.predict_reveal

Concept: Electric potential

Player does: Predict where charges roll on the voltage landscape

Breaks: Voltage flows through a circuit

Voltage is a potential difference between two points, like height on a landscape; current, not voltage, flows through a circuit.

flow_network · physics · balance.ledger

Concept: Current

Player does: Fill each branch's current so every junction balances

Breaks: Current is used up by bulbs

Current is conserved through a circuit; a bulb converts electrical energy to light and heat, but the current itself is not consumed.

flow_restrictors · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Resistance, Ohm's law

Player does: Choose the resistor that sets the bulb to target brightness

Breaks: More resistance means more current

By Ohm's law, more resistance at a fixed voltage means less current, not more.

power_grid_builder · physics · builder.circuit

Concept: Series vs parallel

Player does: Wire the town so every house gets full voltage

Breaks: Adding bulbs in parallel dims all of them

Parallel branches each get the full source voltage, so adding a parallel bulb does not dim the others.

wave_generator · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: v = fλ

Player does: Tune the frequency so the wavelength fits the chamber

Breaks: Raising frequency raises wave speed

Wave speed is set by the medium; raising frequency shortens the wavelength instead of increasing the speed.

resonance_breaker · physics · tuner.optimize

Concept: Resonance

Player does: Drive the oscillator at the frequency that shatters the crystal

Breaks: Pushing harder always makes bigger oscillations

Oscillation amplitude grows largest when the driving frequency matches the system's natural frequency, resonance, not just from pushing harder.

wave_bridge · physics · tuner.oscillator

Concept: Superposition, interference

Player does: Set the second wave's phase so the sum flattens into a path

Breaks: Two waves always make a bigger wave

Superposition can produce destructive interference, where waves cancel instead of adding to a bigger wave.

light_bender · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Refraction (Snell's law)

Player does: Angle the beam so it bends through the water onto the sensor

Breaks: Light bends away from the normal entering water

Light slows and bends toward the normal when entering a denser medium like water, not away from it.

gas_balloon · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Ideal gas law

Player does: Heat the balloon until lift reaches the ledge

Breaks: Gas pressure doesn't depend on temperature

By the ideal gas law, pressure rises with temperature at fixed volume, so temperature and pressure are directly linked.

heat_flow_rooms · physics · simulator.predict

Concept: Thermal equilibrium

Player does: Predict final temperatures when rooms share a wall

Breaks: Cold flows into warm objects

Heat flows from the warmer object to the cooler one until both reach thermal equilibrium; cold itself does not flow.

half_life_vault · physics · tuner.formula

Concept: Radioactive decay

Player does: Set the wait so exactly the target fraction remains

Breaks: After two half-lives it's all gone

Each half-life halves the remaining amount, so after two half-lives a quarter remains, not zero.

phase_diagram_pin · physics · mapper.plane

Concept: Phases vs pressure & temperature

Player does: Place the substance on the P–T diagram to make ice, water, or steam

Breaks: Water always boils at 100 °C

Boiling point shifts with pressure, so water boils below 100°C at low pressure and above it at high pressure.