Hi Bill:
If I recall it all properly, the values will be hard to match up with reality meaningfu
lly.
This is because as it was written it became apparent to me that the problem was that the
code relied on a quantum of time too much. If two bodies overlappe
d during that quantum,
it wasn't possible for the normal equations to deal with energy. So I fudged the equations to
make the simulatio
n run as close as I could to reality.
If recoded, I think I would need more of a ray tracing intersect
ion that controls the quantum
of time so it could be set to the instant of collision, then the normal kinematic equations
would have a better chance of meeting reality.
To my knowledge your the only one who has ever come close to understan
ding that
simulator to the point to do any real simulatio
n. I too tried a newtons cradle, but that
mechanism kinda embodies what I mean. In a prefect world, as the first ball hits the
stack, the energy would transfer instantly to the end ball, but as the quantum is wrong,
the impact occurs inside the first ball and two energies are created, one to move the ball
back out of the first ball, and another added to the hit ball for transfer to the next.
This repeats through all balls and each causes a loss due to the energy lost in pushing
the occluding ball away from the one it hit and went into. I fudged formulas to make it work
as well as I could at the time, but the time issue was the one that killed it.
Collision detection even in 2d can really mess with your mind in terms of how
to compute it, the resultant energy transfer vectors and the rationali
zation of that energy
through the system. Moment of inertia wasn't part of the original kinematic equations
so I bodged it as much as I could to see if it could work.
I killed that project as I was convinced it needed an entirely new framework to make it
work properly with inertial moment added to the system. Ill look to the code to see
if I see any rational explanati
on for those terms, but dont get hopeful..
they kinda
work as they work sorta like a constant added to a physics equation because it makes
it work.. with hopes of figuring out the purpose of the constant afterward
s..

I understan
d the temptatio
n though, there is a certain beauty in it when the
numbers work... its why a newtons cradle was one of the first things I tried
myself.. lol
Art