The Moving Man 1.2

The Moving Man is a physics simulation tool for Windows. It was made using Java, so it should work on all major platforms and you can even run it from Java-capable web browsers. The application allows you to study the effects of acceleration and speed by using a moving man as an example. The screen shows the image of a man standing in the middle of a 20-meter scale. You have ten meters to move him to his left and to his right. You can move the man by dragging him to the left or to the right. When you start moving him in either direction, you will see how the graphs below start showing data. The acceleration and the velocity change according to the speed at what you drag the man. By using the 20-meter scale, you can calculate final speeds or velocities. There is an optional mode which allows you to input velocity and acceleration for the man to move automatically. There is also an expression reader that moves the man according to an equation that you input.

The matter about acceleration and velocity is quite complex. Perhaps people who already know something about it will benefit more from this model. There is a lot of information on the screen and most of it makes no sense to me. But I am not a scientist. The Moving Man is very easy to use though, even for novice users. It is the data output that is somewhat hard to understand.