Mousetraps 3D

1 collaborator

Uri Wilensky (Author)

WHAT IS IT?

This is a 3D version of the Mousetraps model. Imagine a gymnasium full of mousetraps. On each mousetrap is a ping pong ball. Now throw a single ping pong ball into the middle of the room. The ball lands on a trap, the trap triggers, and a second ball flies into the air. The first ball also bounces into the air again, so now there are two balls in the air. Each of those two balls triggers another trap, so there's four balls in the air. And so on...

This experiment is a well-known metaphor for nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, atoms of fissionable material such as uranium are the "mousetraps", and neutrons are the ping pong balls.

HOW IT WORKS

Light blue squares represent untriggered mousetraps. Red squares represent triggered mousetraps.

When a ball lands on a light blue square, the square turns red, a new ball appears, and both balls travel bounce.

HOW TO USE IT

Press SETUP to set up all the mousetraps and suspend a single ping pong ball over the center. Press GO to release the ping pong ball.

To vary the height to which the balls bounce, use the POWER slider.

RELATED MODELS

See the 2D version in the NetLogo models library.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

This model is based on the "Mousetrap" demo included with the Swarm agent-based modeling toolkit (http://www.swarm.org/). See http://acoma.santafe.edu/projects/swarm/examples/mousetrap/. Note that this model and that demo differ in various details.

HOW TO CITE

If you mention this model in an academic publication, we ask that you include these citations for the model itself and for the NetLogo software:

- Wilensky, U. (2002). NetLogo Mousetraps 3D model. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/Mousetraps3D. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

- Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

In other publications, please use:

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Permission to use, modify or redistribute this model is hereby granted, provided that both of the following requirements are followed:

a) this copyright notice is included.

b) this model will not be redistributed for profit without permission from Uri Wilensky. Contact Uri Wilensky for appropriate licenses for redistribution for profit.

This is a 3D version of the 2D model Mousetraps.

This model was created as part of the projects: PARTICIPATORY SIMULATIONS: NETWORK-BASED DESIGN FOR SYSTEMS LEARNING IN CLASSROOMS and/or INTEGRATED SIMULATION AND MODELING ENVIRONMENT. The project gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation (REPP & ROLE programs) -- grant numbers REC #9814682 and REC-0126227.

Comments and Questions

Please start the discussion about this model! (You'll first need to log in.)

Click to Run Model

turtles-own [ x-vel y-vel z-vel ]

to setup
  ca
  ask patches with [ pzcor = 0 + min-pzcor ]
    [ set pcolor blue + 3 ]

  crt 1 [
    set color white
    set shape "circle"
    set size .6
    set x-vel 0
    set y-vel 0
    set z-vel 0
  ]
end 

to go
  if not any? turtles [ stop ]
  ask turtles [
    setxyz xcor + x-vel ycor + y-vel zcor + z-vel
    set z-vel z-vel - .03
    if ( pcolor = red )
    [ die ]
    if ( pcolor = blue + 3 )
    [ set pcolor red
      hatch 1
      [ set z-vel random-float power + 0.5
        set x-vel random-float 1 - 0.5
        set y-vel random-float 1 - 0.5 ]
        set z-vel random-float power + 0.5
        set x-vel random-float 0.5 - 0.25
        set y-vel random-float 0.5 - 0.25
    ]
  ]
  tick
  do-plots
end 

to do-plots
  set-current-plot "Traps triggered"
  plot count patches with [ pcolor = red ]
  set-current-plot "Balls in the air"
  plot count turtles
end 


; Copyright 2002 Uri Wilensky. All rights reserved.
; The full copyright notice is in the Information tab.

There are 3 versions of this model.

Uploaded by	When	Description	Download
Uri Wilensky	almost 14 years ago	Updated from NetLogo 4.1	Download this version
Uri Wilensky	almost 14 years ago	Model from NetLogo distribution	Download this version
Uri Wilensky	almost 14 years ago	Mousetraps 3D	Download this version

Attached files

File	Type	Description	Last updated
Mousetraps 3D.png	preview	Preview for 'Mousetraps 3D'	about 11 years ago, by Uri Wilensky	Download

This model does not have any ancestors.

This model does not have any descendants.

NetLogo