Search Results for “Location”
Mechanical Location of the Fermat Toricelli Point
The Fermat Toricelli Point minimizes the sum of the distances to the vertices of a triangle. This app simulates a physical method for finding the point. Press Hint to see a geometric method.
Pipeline Problem
A famous problem: given locations A and B and a line, to find the location C on the line which minimizes |AC|+|CB|. (This can be phrased as locating a pumping station on an oil pipeline to service two cities.)
Point Trilateration
Use any three points and their distances from a fourth point to locate the fourth point.
Morph a circle into a line
A morphing operation can be defined between any pair of parametric curves, open or closed. This app shows morphing a circle into a line segment. Try moving the location of the destination line segment relative to the start of the circle’s parametrization by dragging the red dots to get different morph curves.
Four Bar linkage with line
The line has equation Ax+By+C=0 You can change line parameters and observe its location relative to the coupler curve. You can also press teh F button to see the coordinates of the coupler point F.
Minimum Perimeter Inscribed Triangle
Three masses are constrained to lie on the edges of a triangle. Equal constant force actuators (with force F) are attached to each pair of masses. When this system finds equilibrium, the potential energy will be at a minimum. However, the PE in each actuator is simply F times L, where L is the length of the actuator. Hence minimum PE is achieved when the masses sit at the vertices of the minimum perimeter inscribed triangle. Press Show to see the normals to the sides of the triangle at the location of the masses.
Falling faster than gravity
A uniform bar AB is hinged at A and tips over under the influence of gravity. Press the play button to watch and compare with mass D which falls freely. Under some starting conditions, B actually falls faster than D. You can experiment by pressing refresh, dragging B and D to new locations, then pressing Play again.
Drive in Movie Problem
This machine computes the best location to view a drive in movie (maximizes the angle). The machine is composed of a pair of mechanical jaws attached at the ends to the top and bottom of the screen and at the middle to the viewing plane. The jaws are pushed apart by a compressed spring, which will find equilibrium when the jaws are as far open as possible..
Pattern drawing toy
A toy based on a geared 5 bar linkage consists of a turntable on which you can put a paper disk. Two gears are attached to the turntable and a pair of rods attached to the gears. As you turn the turntable, the smaller gears turn which makes the rods travel. A pen attached to the rods traces out a pattern You can drag the big circle and watch the pattern be traced. You can also drag one of the gears to alter their relative location. You can change the length of the bars.
