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Dandelion Seed Dispersal Race (2D)

Interactive 2D side-view race between a dandelion seed with its fluffy parachute (pappus) and a bare seed of identical mass: quadratic-drag physics shows why the parachute's huge surface area lets a breeze carry it dozens of times farther before it settles.

Nature & Climate2DEasy60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D side-view simulator races two dandelion seeds of the same mass: one keeps its fluffy parachute-like pappus, the other has had it stripped away. A quadratic-drag physics model gives the parachute seed the same slow terminal fall speed real pappus seeds show (roughly 0.3–0.5 m/s), while the bare seed free-falls almost unopposed. Set the wind speed and release both seeds together to watch how many more seconds aloft — and how much farther downwind — the parachute buys, with live readouts of fall time, distance traveled, and the resulting distance ratio between the two.

⚙ Under the hood

2D side-view race between a dandelion seed with its fluffy pappus parachute and an identical-mass bare seed, using a real quadratic-drag model so the parachute seed's low terminal fall speed lets wind carry it far downwind while the bare seed drops almost straight down.

dandelionseed dispersalterminal velocitydragaerodynamicswindbotany

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install