The impact that made the Moon, 262k particles in a browser tab
A giant impact simulation in WebGL: two planets of real mass collide under their own gravity — the Theia impact that made the Moon, the splash, the debris disk, and the moon that gathers out of it. In the browser, nothing to install.
In plain words
The impact that made the Moon simulates the Theia collision between two planets using real physics in a web browser. It visualizes how gravity pulled proto-Earth and an impactor together, creating the splash, debris disk, and moon that formed afterward. Users can watch the simulation with 16,000 to 262,000 particles and adjust variables like mass and collision angle to explore five different scenarios of how the Moon might have been created. No installation required.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Two planets of real mass fall together under their own gravity and collide: a proto-Earth and an impactor from a fiftieth of an Earth to a whole one, iron core to mantle to crust, 16k to 262k particles. The splash, the tidal arm, the debris disk, and the moon that gathers out of it — computed live in WebGL 2, in the browser, nothing to install. Five what-ifs. Theia , the canonical Moon-forming impact; head-on , flat and dead-on; hit & run , grazing too fast to be caught; twins , an impactor grown to Earth's own mass; shatter , fast enough to take both bodies apart. Mass, angle, inclination, speed, bounce, core and density are knobs under advanced , so the next what-if is a restart away. The…from gaploid.github.io
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