Sandbox Forces

Each round lets you set conditions like gravity and friction, then asks you to mark where the object will come to rest, before you run the simulation. Closer predictions score more, round after round.

• Adjust the world's parameters such as gravity and friction
• Plant a landing marker where you think the object stops
• Run the simulation to see how accurate you were
• Score on your error across a series of rounds

• Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty
• Daily challenge or Practice for endless rounds

• Desktop: use the on-screen settings, click the ground to place your marker, then click Run
• Phone & tablet: tap to set values and place the marker, then tap Run

• Stronger gravity shortens the arc; more friction stops the slide sooner, adjust your marker for both
• Predict the trajectory in two stages: the launch arc, then the ground slide
• Use early rounds to calibrate your eye for the scale of each effect

Sandbox Forces trains the ability to predict motion under gravity, friction and projectile arcs, the core intuitions of mechanics.

• Skills: forces, gravity, friction, projectile motion, prediction
• Best for: roughly grades 7–12 (ages 12+)
• For parents & teachers: builds the physical intuition behind Newtonian mechanics.

Setting gravity and friction, predicting where an object will stop, then running the simulation is Newtonian mechanics tested against your own intuition.

Committing to a prediction before the run is the original design.

Predict-then-observe is the format physics education research keeps finding works, and the reason is unflattering: watching a simulation teaches almost nothing, because a wrong intuition quietly reinterprets what it sees. Being wrong on the record is what makes the correction stick.

Sandbox Forces is a predict-the-motion physics game about gravity, friction and projectile intuition. It's an original, free browser game made in-house for PlayPendium.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.