Crocodile Clips

Simple Simulation Software

Waves in Crocodile Physics

Crocodile Physics lets you take a top-down view of wave propagation, and study key phenomena - such as refraction, interference, diffraction and reflection.

The key parts are:

  • wave sources - a point source, a plane source, and a moving source whose velocity and bearing you can control;
  • a detector, that can measure settings like displacement and frequency at any point;
  • obstacles, whose damping, shape and size you can control, and reflectors;
  • single and double slits, for diffraction;
  • a cross-section tool, which can be positioned anywhere in your simulation.

You can add these parts to sound, water or electromagnetic wavespaces, and watch as the waves propogate and interact.

Each part has settings you can change. For the sound wavespace, you can choose whether you're working with audible frequencies, or with ultra- or infra-sound. Similarly, for electromagnetic waves, you can work with visible light, or with other sections of the EM spectrum.

Click on a source to edit its frequency, phase and amplitude. For obstacles, you can change the material it's made from, and its refractive index.

Different media - glass, water, skin or bone, wood, lead and so on - can be set in the Wave Space to model how the wave will interact with them, and damping can also be studied.

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