Alternatives
Products that do what An interactive physics simulator with 1000’s of balls, in your terminal does
- 1IP
I started teaching my daughter physics by showing her how things actually work - plucking guitar strings to explain vibration, mixing paints to understand light, dropping objects to see gravity in action. She learned so much faster through hands-on exploration than through books or videos. That's when I realized: what if I could recreate these physical experiments as interactive simulations? Lumen is the result - an interactive physics playground covering sound, light, motion, life, and mechanics. Each module lets you manipulate variables in real-time and see/hear the results…
Jan 2026 · projectlumen.app
- 2AS
The little particles will gravitate to your cursor (or touch location), and can even enter stable orbits if the conditions are right! Mainly an excuse for me to experiment with wasm and WebGL, but it makes for a surprisingly good fidget toy.
2024 · aestuans.github.io
- 3S2
Had some fun with shared array buffers over many months of free time. Skip to the end to play around with the final app. Open to ideas on how to simulate more whilst staying in js land.
2024 · dgerrells.com
- 4

- 5SB
2020 · landgreen.github.io
- 6A2
2017 · htmlpreview.github.io
- 7

- 8IB
Hi HN, I’m a chemical engineer and I manage logistics at a refinery down in Texas. Whenever I try to explain downstream operations to people outside the industry (including my kids), I usually get blank stares. I wanted to build something that visualizes the concepts and chemistry of a plant without completely dumbing down the science, so I put together this 5-minute browser game. Here's a simple runthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is-moBz6upU. I pushed to get through a full product pathway to show the V-804 replay. I am not a software developer by trade, so I relied…
Mar 2026 · fuelingcuriosity.com
- 9CA
Hi all This has been my hobby project for quite a few years now It started as a small engine to serve as a sandbox to try out new 3d graphics ideas After adding many features through out the years and re-writing the entire engine a few times, this is the latest state It currently supports loading models with animations, textures, lights, shadow maps, normal maps, and some other goodies I've also recently added voxel raymarching as an alternative renderer, along with a fun physics simulation :)
2024 · github.com
- 10

- 11IB
I've been working on the Anukari 3D Physics Synthesizer for a little over two years now. It's one of the earliest virtual instruments to rely on the GPU for audio processing, which has been incredibly challenging and fun. In the end, predictably, the GUI for manipulating the 3D system actually ended up being a lot more work than the physics simulation. So far I am only selling it direct on my website, which seems to be working well. I hope to turn it into a sustainable business, and ideally I'd have enough revenue to hire folks to help with it. So far it's been 99% a solo project, with…
2025 · anukari.com
- 12DK
2020 · github.com
- 13AN
- 142C
A pretty simple but fun to play with simulator for a concept from mathematical physics called the "2D Coulomb gas". I originally made this for my Bachelor's thesis to create pretty pictures and build intuition but have recently gotten it a fresh coat of paint and better performance curtesy of WebGPU acceleration (ported with liberal help from Codex to get through all of the boilerplate). Play around with it - hopefully read up more on the 2D Coulomb gas because it is an incredibly deep topic research wise.
Feb 2026 · simonhalvdansson.github.io
- 15IB
Mar 2026 · structuredlabs.github.io
- 16OS
2019 · alexanderperrin.com.au
- 17

Transform Static Images Into Dynamic Particle Experiences
12d ago · particle-studios.vercel.app
- 18GI
Just for fun and self education, I've built this over a weekend to teach myself why orbits exist, not just show planets going around. Something that was never clearly explain to me in school. It opens with a guided tour that builds the idea up step by step: two bodies and the equal/opposite force, inertia (the Sun is removed and Earth just drifts straight), then "an orbit is falling and continuously missing," cosmic velocities with a little rocket, Voyager 1 & 2's real gravity assists (the clock runs the actual 1977–1989 dates so the planets orbit into their grand-tour alignment and the…
Jun 2026 · qunabu.github.io
- 19WP
This is a small particles simulation that can run either with WebGPU (GPU Compute) or with the CPU, and it can be changed in real time
2023 · github.com
- 20

600+ Interactive Study Labs for Intermediate Level Physics
Jun 2026 · apps.microsoft.com
- 21AE
2024 · github.com
- 22

- 23IB
2022 · multiplanetary.website
- 24AI
(space = reset) Fluid mechanics is an extremely interesting topic and I have been creative coding for a couple of months now. Therefore I started working on flow fields in processing. It had so much fun playing around with the different parameters in this project, I decided to rewrite in p5.js an added a control panel. You can change most of the parameters (within some constraints I thought to be reasonable), randomize the values and export and import settings. Hopefully some coders here get inspired and also join the great creative coding community.
2024 · synapse.nugatio.com
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →