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- Computer simulations can help in visualising physical quantities that are difficult to observe directly.
- The PhET simulations (https://phet.colorado.edu) provide interactive models, such as Energy Skate Park, Energy Forms and Changes, Pendulum Lab, and Masses and Springs .
- Use these to explore how different forms of energy change as parameters, such as mass, height, and friction are varied.
- What to try — in Energy Skate Park, turn friction ON and watch the total mechanical energy fall as thermal energy grows; turn it OFF and watch KE + PE stay perfectly constant.
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GIF Watch: Energy Skate Park — friction on and off
🔭 The Quest Continues — Dark Energy
- For long, scientists have known that the Universe is expanding, and surprisingly this expansion is accelerating.
- To explain this, scientists have proposed a new and rather mysterious form of energy called dark energy .
- There is no way to exchange dark energy with other forms of energy.
- Scientists try to study the effects of dark energy since it may govern the fate of the Universe, billions of years into the future.
