What this explores
Verlet integration for rope physics, elastic constraints, and responsive drag handling.
Principles demonstrated
- Physics simulation with Verlet integration
- Canvas rendering with gradients
- Touch and mouse interaction handling
- Performance optimization with requestAnimationFrame
Build It Yourself
Step-by-step guide to recreate this experiment
Intermediate45-60 min
Prerequisites
- Basic JavaScript/TypeScript
- HTML Canvas fundamentals
- Understanding of 2D vectors
Verlet integration is a numerical method for calculating motion. Unlike traditional physics where we track velocity, Verlet uses the difference between current and previous positions to determine movement. This makes it naturally stable and perfect for rope/cloth simulations.
javascript
// Traditional physics: velocity-based
position += velocity;
velocity += acceleration;
// Verlet integration: position-based
const velocity = position - previousPosition;
previousPosition = position;
position += velocity + acceleration;Verlet integration is self-correcting - small errors don't accumulate over time like they do with Euler integration.