Two-tracks animations

Students were presented with animations of "realistic" and "unrealistic" motion for balls rolling on sets of tracks, as part of Tom Thaden Koch's dissertation. The students were asked to identify the animation from each set depicting motion most like what they would expect for real metal balls rolling on real metal tracks. There are four sets of animations, with buttons to play each animation in a set and to navigate among the different sets of animations. On the last two pages, you can make comparisons among your earlier choices.

The four sets of animations are presented (sequentially) on six web-pages:
  1. One-ball Flat-valley animations.
  2. One-ball V-valley animations.
  3. Two-ball Flat-valley animations.
  4. Two-ball V-valley animations.
  5. One-ball and Two-ball Flat-valley animations (to compare your one-ball and two-ball choices).
  6. One-ball and Two-ball V-valley animations (to compare your one-ball and two-ball choices).
To appreciate the experience of a student attempting this task, try to identify the animation from each set depicting the most realistic motion before moving on to the next set of animations. The animations within each set can be played at regular speed or in "slow motion" by clicking on numbered buttons.

Go to the first set of animations.


(Note: Each animation is a Quicktime digital video-clip. You may need to install quicktime software to view them. Please contact Tom Thaden-Koch if you cannot get the animations to work.)