Applet: Billiards

This is a more or less realistic billiard simulation that includes friction. You can drag the white and the red ball with the mouse. If you click anywhere outside of the balls, then a line is drawn from your click point to the center of the white ball. This is a measure for the initial momentum you give that ball as soon as you press start. You can drag the endpoint of the line to adjust direction and magnitude of the impulse the white ball recieves.

Use momentum and energy conservation to get the red ball into a hole. That's the whole point of billiards after all.

Press the "p" key and see the path that your balls are taking. This visualizes momentum conservation impressively. (Press "p" again to switch this feature off.) Have fun.