A wheel with magnetic points around its circumference. A fixed magnet causes the wheel to turn until one of the magnets is stuck being very close to the fixed magnet.

Note that there should always be a slight gap between the fixed magnet and any of the magnet points. If there is no gap then infinite forces will result from the inverse square force law of magnetism.

Potential Energy Calculation

For each magnet we numerically integrate the torque due to that magnet, as though the wheel rotated from the current position of the magnet until the magnet is as close as possible to the fixed magnet.

Hierarchy (view full)

Implements

Constructors

Properties

angular_velocity_: number = 0

angular velocity about center of mass

cm_body_: Vector = Vector.ORIGIN

center of mass in body coordinates

cosAngle_: number = 1.0

cosine of angle.

fixedMagnet_: Vector = ...

location of fixed magnet in world coordinates.

magnetDist_: number[] = []

Distance of each magnet from origin.

magnets_: Vector[] = []

Locations of magnets in body coordinates.

minHeight_: number = NaN

the minimum value the vertical position of this body can take on, used in energy calculations

moment_: number = 0

moment about center of mass divided by mass

sinAngle_: number = 0.0

sine of angle

zeroEnergyLevel_: null | number = null

the vertical coordinate where this body has zero potential energy; or null to use the default zero energy level.

ID: number = 1

Counter used for naming SimObjects.

wheel_ID: number = 1

Counter used for naming MagnetWheel.

Methods

  • Moves this body so that a certain point on this body is aligned to the given world coordinates location; optionally sets the angle of this body by rotating around the center of mass angle radians counter-clockwise from the body coordinates orientation.

    Parameters

    • p_body: GenericVector

      the point on this body to be aligned to the new p_world location, in body coordinates

    • p_world: GenericVector

      the world coordinates location to move the specified p_body point to

    • Optional opt_angle: number

      the angle in radians to rotate this body counter-clockwise from 'body coordinates' orientation; if not specified then leave the angle as is.

    Returns void

    Throws

    if this MassObject is immoveable

  • Creates the JavaScript Canvas path that represents the shape of this object in the given Canvas context using body coordinates. Note that this calls CanvasRenderingContext2D.beginPath() which discards any currently defined path and begins a new one. Also, this concept of 'path' is different from the path of Edges that makes up a Polygon (though the Canvas path is created from those Polygon paths).

    Parameters

    • _context: CanvasRenderingContext2D

      the CanvasRenderingContext2D to create the path in

    Returns void

  • Ensures this ForceLaw is not connected to anything and so can be garbage collected. For example, if this ForceLaw is an Observer, this will stop observing its Subject.

    Returns void

  • Returns the counter-clockwise angle of rotation of this body about its center of mass, in radians, relative to 'body coordinates' orientation.

    Returns number

    the counter-clockwise angle of rotation of this body about its center of mass, in radians, relative to 'body coordinates' orientation

  • Returns vertical coordinate of bottom-most point of this body, based on its current position and orientation, in world coordinates. This is approximate when the body has curved edges; because this looks at all the Vertex's of the body, and curved edges have a series of 'decorated' Vertexes on them which don't capture the exact nature of the geometric curve.

    Returns number

    vertical coordinate of bottom-most point of this body, in world coordinates

  • Returns vertical coordinate of left-most point of this body, based on its current position and orientation, in world coordinates. This is approximate when the body has curved edges; because this looks at all the Vertex's of the body, and curved edges have a series of 'decorated' Vertexes on them which don't capture the exact nature of the geometric curve.

    Returns number

    vertical coordinate of left-most point of this body, in world coordinates

  • Returns the minimum height that this body's center of gravity can reach, used for potential energy calculations. Put another way: this is how low the center of gravity of this body can be when resting on the ground, and the ground is at height zero.

    Returns number

    the minimum height this body can reach.

  • Name of this SimObject, either the language-independent name for scripting purposes or the localized name for display to user.

    The language-independent name should be the same as the English version but capitalized and with spaces and dashes replaced by underscore, see Util.toName, nameEquals.

    The name should give an idea of the role of the SimObject in the simulation. This allows us to to treat an object in a special way depending on its name. For example, we might use the name to decide what type of DisplayObject to create to represent the SimObject.

    Parameters

    • Optional opt_localized: boolean

      true means return the localized version of the name; default is false which means return the language independent name.

    Returns string

    name of this SimObject

  • Returns vertical coordinate of right-most point of this body, based on its current position and orientation, in world coordinates. This is approximate when the body has curved edges; because this looks at all the Vertex's of the body, and curved edges have a series of 'decorated' Vertexes on them which don't capture the exact nature of the geometric curve.

    Returns number

    vertical coordinate of right-most point of this body, in world coordinates

  • Returns vertical coordinate of top-most point of this body, based on its current position and orientation, in world coordinates. This is approximate when the body has curved edges; because this looks at all the Vertex's of the body, and curved edges have a series of 'decorated' Vertexes on them which don't capture the exact nature of the geometric curve.

    Returns number

    vertical coordinate of top-most point of this body, in world coordinates

  • Returns torque due to a given magnet when it is at the given angle.

    Parameters

    • idx: number

      index of magnet

    • angle: number

      angle in radians. Zero is east, pi/2 is north.

    Returns number

    torque due to that magnet at that angle

  • Returns the vertical coordinate where the body has zero potential gravitational energy under standard constant gravity when the body's center of mass is at this vertical coordinate.

    Returns null | number

    the vertical world coordinate where this body has zero potential energy; or null to use the default zero energy level

  • Returns the linear and angular momentum of this body. Angular momentum about a fixed point in space is defined as

    I_cm vw k + r x m v_cm
    

    where:

    I_cm = moment about center of mass
    vw = angular velocity
    k = unit z vector,
    r = vector from a fixed point to the center of mass (cm)
    m = mass
    v_cm = velocity of center of mass
    

    cross product in the plane is (ax,ay,0) x (bx,by,0) = k(ax by - ay bx) so we get

    I_cm w + m (rx vy - ry vx)
    

    take the fixed point to be the origin (0,0), so (rx,ry) is center of mass.

    Returns number[]

    the momentum of this body as array containing horizontal, vertical and angular momentum in that order.

  • Sets the angle in radians of counter-clockwise rotation of this object around its center of mass. Angle zero draws the object in the same orientation as in body coordinates. Angle Math.PI/2 rotates the body clockwise 90 degrees from its body coordinates orientation.

    Parameters

    • angle: number

      the angle in radians to rotate this object counter-clockwise about its center of mass from 'body coordinates' orientation

    Returns void

  • Sets the locations of magnets, in body coordinates.

    Parameters

    • locations: Vector[]

      locations of magnets, in body coordinates

    Returns void

  • Sets the moment of inertia about the center of mass for this body divided by the mass of this body. The moment of inertia, Icm, measures how much force is needed to rotate the body about the center of mass. Icm depends on the shape of the object and how mass is distributed. For a thin rectangular plate:

    Icm = mass * (width^2 + height^2) / 12
    

    For a thin circular plate:

    Icm = mass * radius^2 / 2
    

    Note that momentAboutCM returns the number specified here multiplied by the mass of the body.

    Parameters

    • moment: number

      the moment of inertia about the center of mass for this body divided by the mass of this body

    Returns void

  • Moves this body so that the center of mass is at the given world coordinates location; rotates this body counter-clockwise about center of mass from 'body coordinates' orientation by the given angle in radians.

    Parameters

    • loc_world: GenericVector

      the location in world coordinates

    • Optional angle: number

      the angle in radians to rotate this body counter-clockwise from 'body coordinates' orientation; if undefined then angle is not changed

    Returns void

  • Set the linear velocity of this objects's center of mass, and (optional) angular velocity of rotation about the objects's center of mass.

    Parameters

    • velocity_world: GenericVector

      the velocity in world coordinates/second

    • Optional angular_velocity: number

      the angular velocity, in radians/second, with positive meaning counter-clockwise rotation about the body's center of mass; if undefined, then angular velocity is not changed

    Returns void

  • Sets the vertical coordinate where the body has zero potential gravitational energy under standard constant gravity when the body's center of mass is at this vertical coordinate.

    Parameters

    • Optional height: number

      the vertical world coordinate where this body has zero potential energy; NaN means to use default level; undefined means use the body's current vertical location is used

    Returns void

  • Returns true if the given SimObject is similar to this SimObject for display purposes. SimObjects are similar when they are the same type and nearly the same size and location. Mainly used when showing forces - to avoid adding too many objects to the display. See SimList.getSimilar.

    Parameters

    • _obj: SimObject

      the SimObject to compare to

    • Optional _opt_tolerance: number

      the amount the object components can differ by

    Returns boolean

    true if this SimObject is similar to obj for display purposes

  • Returns a minimal string representation of this object, usually giving just identity information like the class name and name of the object.

    For an object whose main purpose is to represent another Printable object, it is recommended to include the result of calling toStringShort on that other object. For example, calling toStringShort() on a DisplayShape might return something like this:

    DisplayShape{polygon:Polygon{'chain3'}}
    

    Returns string

    a minimal string representation of this object.

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