In reality, we ourselves exert a small pull on the earth - it is just essentially negligible. Our microworld system allows for the examination of this principle in a simple, fun environment. The user is able to control both the Universal Gravitational Constant and the mass of the individual balls to investigate the effects of gravity. Having more balls allows more complex interactions between the balls, in terms of collisions and more complex interactions such as a gravitational system with multiple bodies. They also have full control over the initial velocities of all balls simultaneously, as if there were a 'cuestick' for each one.
Users are able to turn on and off the pockets at the corners and sides of the table.
Turning off the pockets allows the balls to remain in motion without dropping off the table, while turning on individual pockets allows users to set up more custom scenarios. Users can adjust the direction and magnitude of wind blowing across the surface of the table. For example, a strong wind towards the bottom of the screen can essentially create problems in a profile plane rather than a plan view, such as projectile motion subject to the force of gravity. The wind vector provides a means of adding energy to the system, which allows exploration of energy conservation principles. At any time during the exploration of the microworld, users can save a particular configuration of system parameters, including the number and placement of balls, variable values, etc.