Orbiting Bodies

Orbiting Bodies preview image

1 collaborator

Light_dependent_reaction_background Luke Elissiry (Author)
Add Collaborator

Close

Tags

physics 

Tagged by Luke Elissiry over 10 years ago

Add New Tag

Close

Visible to everyone | Changeable by the author
Model was written in NetLogo 5.0.5 • Viewed 823 times • Downloaded 71 times • Run 0 times
Download the 'Orbiting Bodies' modelDownload this model • Embed this model

Do you have questions or comments about this model? Ask them here! (You'll first need to log in.)

Orbiting Bodies

Made by Luke Elissiry using parts from Uri Wilensky's Gravitation model.

WHAT IS IT?

This model attempts to simulate an aritificial star system where the only central acting mass is the central star. This project displays the common natural phenomenon expressed by the inverse-square law. Essentially this model displays what happens when the strength of the force between two objects varies inversely with the square of the distance between these two objects.

HOW IT WORKS

In this model the formula used to guide each object's behavior is the standard formula for the Law of Gravitational Attraction:

(m1 * m2 * G) / r2

This is a single force 'n-body' model, where we have a certain number of small particles, and one large acting mass (the star). The force is entirely one-way: the large mass remains unaffected by the smaller particles around it. And the smaller particles remain unaffected by each other as well. (Note that this is purely for purposes of simulation. In the real world, a force such as gravity acts on all bodies around it.)

Gravity is the best example of such a force. You can watch the particles form elliptic orbits around the star, or watch them slingshot around it, similar to how a comet streaks past our sun. Think of the individual objects as planets or other solar bodies, and see how they react to various masses that move or remain stationary.

HOW TO USE IT

For a basic working model, press the SETUP button and the GO button. For different settings, adjust the following before SETUP:

  • ALL OBJECTS section: all objects share these variables

    • DIE-IF-TOO-CLOSE-TO-STAR? - if an object is within 5 patches of sun, it dies
    • GRAVITATIONAL-CONSTANT - universal constant to control the acceleration

  • ORIBT TRAIL section: for the objects's trails

    • TRAIL? - if true, objects leave a trail of where they've been
    • ORBIT-TRAIL-DECAY? - if trail? true and this true, objects's trails decay over time
    • TIME-TILL-DECAY - if if trail? true and orbit-trail-decay? true, objects's trails decay over amount of time specified

  • PLANET 1 and PLANET 2 section: variables only these objects have

    • PLANET_? - turns planet on/off
    • INITIAL-RADIUS_ - how far from star planet will spawn
    • MASS_ - mass of planet
    • INITIAL-PLANET-X-VELOCITY_ and INITIAL-PLANET-Y-VELOCITY_ - the objects initial velocity

  • EXTRA-OBJECTS section: variables only the additional "asteroids" have (many asteroid variables are random such as: location, initial velocities, and color)

    • EXTRA-OBJECTS - number of additional bodies
    • EXTRA-OBJECTS-MASS - mass of all additional bodies

THINGS TO NOTICE

The most important thing to observe is the behavior of the objects. Notice the objects's orbits around the star. TRAIL? on is recommended.

THINGS TO TRY

  • Add in more extra bodies
  • Change masses and initial radii
  • Change velocities
  • Change the gravitational constant

EXTENDING THE MODEL

  • Add additional planets to control (easy)
  • Have planets affect eachother (difficult)
  • Have everything affect eachother, like the [N-Bodies] (http://modelingcommons.org/browse/onemodel/1332#modeltabsbrowseapplet) model, but try to make more usable/stable (difficult)

NETLOGO FEATURES

This model creates the illusion of a plane of infinite size, to better model the behavior of the particles. Notice that with path marking you can see most of the ellipse a particle draws, even though the particle periodically shoots out of bounds. This is done through a combination of the basic turtle primitives hide-turtle and show-turtle, keeping every turtle's true coordinates as special turtle variables xc and yc, and calculations similar to the distance primitive but using xc and yc instead of xcor and ycor.

When you examine the procedure window, take note that standard turtle commands like set heading and fd 1 aren't used here. Everything is done directly to the x-coordinates and y-coordinates of the turtles.

pd does not have the ability to fade, so workaround was to have the patches under object change color and have the patches own a cooldown time.

RELATED MODELS

  • [Gravitation] (http://modelingcommons.org/browse/onemodel/1330#modeltabsbrowseapplet) by Uri Wilensky - Central body is mouse, hard to see orbit, and few controls

  • [N-Bodies] (http://modelingcommons.org/browse/onemodel/1332#modeltabsbrowseapplet) by Uri Wilensky - more accurate without central acting mass, but difficult to use and regular setup works for only 100 ticks

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

Code for the orbit procedure and information was taken from Uri Wilenskys [Gravitation] (http://modelingcommons.org/browse/onemodel/1330#modeltabsbrowseapplet) model.

Comments and Questions

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

Click to Run Model 

breed [star]

breed [planet]

turtles-own
[ fx     ;; x-component of force vector
  fy     ;; y-component of force vector
  vx     ;; x-component of velocity vector
  vy     ;; y-component of velocity vector
  xc     ;; real x-coordinate (in case particle leaves world)
  yc     ;; real y-coordinate (in case particle leaves world)
  r-sqrd ;; square of the distance to the mouse
  mass   ;; mass of object
]

patches-own [fade]

globals
[ star-xc  ;; x-coordinate of acting mass
  star-yc  ;; y-coordinate of acting mass
  g     ;; Gravitational Constant to slow the acceleration
]

;--------------------------------------------
;--------------------------------------------

to setup
  ca
  reset-ticks
  set g gravitational-constant
  
  create-star 1 [ ; central acting mass
    set size 15
    set shape "sun"
    set color yellow
    set star-xc xcor
    set star-yc ycor]
  
  if planet1? [ ; if allowed, create planet 1
    create-planet 1 [
      set size 7
      set shape "circle"
      set color blue
      setxy 0 (0 - initial-radius1)
      set vx initial-planet-x-velocity1
      set vy initial-planet-y-velocity1
      set xc xcor
      set yc ycor
      set mass mass1]]
  
  if planet2? [ ; if allowed, create planet 2
    create-planet 1 [
      set size 6
      set shape "circle"
      set color red
      setxy 0 (0 - initial-radius2)
      set vx initial-planet-x-velocity2
      set vy initial-planet-y-velocity2
      set xc xcor
      set yc ycor
      set mass mass2]]
  
  if extra-objects? [ ; if allowed, create extra objects
    create-planet extra-objects [
      set size 3
      set shape "circle"
      set color 9 - random-float 6 ; grayish
      setxy 0 0
      fd random 100 ; like setxy random-xcor random-ycor, but limited to 100 away from sun
      ifelse random 2 = 0 ; random positive/negative x-velocity (-0.5 < vx < 0.5)
        [set vx random-float .5]
        [set vx random-float -.5]
      ifelse random 2 = 0 ; random positive/negative y-velocity (-0.5 < vy < 0.5)
        [set vy random-float .5]
        [set vy random-float -.5]
      set xc xcor
      set yc ycor
      set mass extra-objects-mass]]
end 

;--------------------------------------------
;--------------------------------------------

to go
  if count planet = 0 [stop]; if no objects orbiting, stop
  ask planet [
    orbit
    let planetcolor color
    if trail? [ask patches in-radius .5 [set pcolor planetcolor set fade time-till-decay]] ; if trail? true, create line around object that can decay, unlike pd
    if die-if-too-close-to-star? and any? star in-radius 5 [die] ; if too close to star and variable true, die
    if ycor = -100 [print "hi"]
  ]
  ask patches [; makes orbit trail decay if decay variable true
    ifelse trail?
      [if fade > 0 and orbit-trail-decay? [
        set fade fade - 1
      if fade = 0 [
        set pcolor black]]]
      [if pcolor != black [set pcolor black]]
  ]
  tick
end 

to orbit ;; Turtle Procedure
  update-force
  update-velocity
  update-position
end 

to update-force ;; Turtle Procedure
  ;; Similar to 'distancexy', except using an unbounded plane so it's possible to keep track of turtle when goes offscreen.
  set r-sqrd (((xc - star-xc) * (xc - star-xc)) + ((yc - star-yc) * (yc - star-yc)))

  ;; prevents divide by zero
  ifelse (r-sqrd != 0)
  [
    ;; Calculate component forces using inverse square law
    set fx ((cos (atan (star-yc - yc) (star-xc - xc))) * (mass / r-sqrd))
    set fy ((sin (atan (star-yc - yc) (star-xc - xc))) * (mass / r-sqrd))
  ]
  [
    ;; if r-sqrd = 0, then it's at the mass, thus there's no force.
    set fx 0
    set fy 0
  ]
end 

to update-velocity ;; Turtle Procedure
  ;; Now we update each particle's velocity, by taking the old velocity and
  ;; adding the force to it.
  set vx (vx + (fx * g))
  set vy (vy + (fy * g))
end  

to update-position ;; Turtle Procedure
  set xc (xc + vx) ; update where turtle should go to
  set yc (yc + vy)
  
  ifelse patch-at (xc - xcor) (yc - ycor) != nobody ; if patch exists,
  [
    setxy xc yc ; go to patch
    show-turtle
   ]
  [ hide-turtle ] ; hide turtle but keep working
end

There are 2 versions of this model.

Uploaded by When Description Download
Luke Elissiry over 10 years ago Changed sliders to give more control. Download this version
Luke Elissiry over 10 years ago Initial upload Download this version

Attached files

File Type Description Last updated
Orbiting Bodies.png preview Preview for 'Orbiting Bodies' over 10 years ago, by Luke Elissiry Download

This model does not have any ancestors.

This model does not have any descendants.