My son spent a lot of time in 5th grade playing with the 2-dimensional PhET gravity/space sims[1]. His STEM class uses it, and he was playing with it at home, and has been looking for more. I found several space sims/playgrounds online, including NASA's Eyes on the Solar System[2], but nothing that seemed to offer a real progression from what he was getting out of the PhET sims, so I built Newton's Orchard over the summer for him.
The source is also published at https://github.com/andrewchilds/newtons-orchard
It features deterministic time scrubbing, all bodies are editable, different preset systems and experiments, missions to complete (complete 3 to unlock the blackhole object type and mission), and a gallery for user submissions.
I would very much appreciate feedback from HN - particularly from the lens of making it engaging and illuminating for students, and anyone that would like to just get a feel for how gravity works. Thank you!
[1] https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/gravity-and-orbits/lates... [2] https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/
mkrecny•1h ago