About Collision Lab
Investigate simple collisions in 1D and more complex collisions in 2D. Experiment with the number of balls, masses, and initial conditions. Vary the elasticity and see how the total momentum and kinetic energy change during collisions.
How to play Collision Lab
Everything is hands-on: drag, click and experiment — the simulation reacts instantly. Investigate simple collisions in 1D and more complex collisions in 2D.
Questions & answers
- What is Collision Lab?
- Collision Lab is a free interactive simulation from PhET Interactive Simulations (University of Colorado Boulder) that you can play right in your browser on crumble.lol — no downloads and no sign-up. Investigate simple collisions in 1D and more complex collisions in 2D. Experiment with the number of balls, masses, and initial conditions.
- What can kids learn from Collision Lab?
- It helps kids explore: draw "before-and-after" pictures of collisions. construct momentum vector representations of "before-and-after" collisions. apply the law of conservation of momentum to solve collision problems. explain why energy is not conserved and varies in some collisions. determine the change in mechanical energy in collisions of varying elasticity. define elasticity.
- What age is Collision Lab good for?
- It is designed for middle school (roughly ages 10–14) up to university, and curious kids outside that range can absolutely enjoy poking around it too.
- Is Collision Lab free to play?
- Yes — Collision Lab is completely free on crumble.lol and runs fully in your browser on computers and tablets.