Home▸Physics & Mechanics▸Maxwell's Wheel Descent (2D)

⚙️ Maxwell's Wheel Descent (2D)

A 2D Canvas simulation of Maxwell's wheel: a disk descending and ascending on strings wound around its axle, with real energy conservation between gravitational, translational and rotational kinetic energy.

Physics & Mechanics2DEasy60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version
2d-maxwell-wheel ↗ Open standalone
⚙ Under the hood

A 2D side-view simulation of Maxwell's wheel: a disk winds and unwinds on strings around its axle, descending and rising in a repeating cycle. Adjust wheel mass, wheel radius, axle radius, and damping to see how moment of inertia trades gravitational, translational, and rotational energy while total energy stays conserved.

mechanicsrotationenergy-conservationmoment-of-inertiayo-yooscillation

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

What did you find?

Add reproduction steps (optional)