In the physics teaching community, Tracker is well known as a user-friendly open source video analysis software, authored by Douglas Brown. With this tool, the user can trace markers indicated on a video or on stroboscopic photos and perform kinematic analyses. Tracker also includes a data modeling tool that allows one to fit some theoretical equations of motion onto experimentally obtained data. In the field of particle mechanics, Tracker has been effectively used for learning and teaching about projectile motion, “toss up” and free-fall vertical motion, and to explain the principle of mechanical energy conservation. Also, Tracker has been successfully used in rigid body mechanics to interpret the results of experiments with rolling/slipping cylinders and moving rods. In this work, I propose an original method in which Tracker is used to analyze virtual computer simulations created with a physics-based motion solver, instead of analyzing video recording or stroboscopic photos. This could be an interesting approach to study kinematics and dynamics problems in physics education, in particular when there is no or limited access to physical labs. I demonstrate the working method with a typical (but quite challenging) problem in classical mechanics: a slipping/rolling cylinder on a rough surface.

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More specifically, NX Motion (Siemens NX) was used in this work because my university has many licenses to use that software. Other similar software environments such as SOLIDWORKS (Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation) and Inventor (Autodesk Inc.) are expected to provide similar results for relatively simple motion problems. In many motion simulation software, the same engines from Recurdyn or Adams are used to solve the equations of motion for the rigid bodies.
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H. H.
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14.
The minus sign was added in this equation due to the fact that the cylinder will rotate in a clockwise direction (i.e., with a negative angular velocity) when rolling towards the positive (right) side of the x-axis.
15.
View the two animations at TPT Online under the “Supplemental” tab at https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5011834 .
16.
A series of Physlets projects on classical mechanics
can be found at http://www.compadre.org/Physlets/mechanics/.
17.
A series of Easy Java Simulation Projects on classical mechanics
can be found at http://www.compadre.org/osp/search/categories.cfm?t=Overview.

Supplementary Material

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