Laboratory Session II.



Physics 141/241

Monday, January 22, 2006




The Restricted Three-body Problem (Sun, Earth, Jupiter)

The author of the project is Prof. Jim Sethna of Cornell University.

This project (recommended for PHY 241 students only) demonstrates the complicated dynamics on the level of the three-body problem.




OpenDX 4.4 installed

We will use the newest 4.4 version of OpenDX in the lab. You have to start with the binary executable /software/physics/bin/dx which will require to put in the bash shell path both /software/physics/bin and /software/physics/dx . The simpest way to do this is to add the two paths to your shell $PATH variable within the .bashrc startup file. The Redhat linux manual describes the procedure. If you were successful, and you ran first source .bashrc and rehash, the next time issuing dx will bring up OpenDX in version 4.4. Next time when you log in, there is no need to run source .bashrc and rehash again. A useful tutorial session of OpenDX can be found at OpenDx tutorials which is recommended.




OpenDX animations

We will generate an N-body run, its animation with DX, and crafting a standalone mpeg movie from the simulation.




Making Mpeg Movies in OpenDX

Instructions for the procedure are given $\QTR{bf}{here}$.

$\bigskip $

$\bigskip $