Step is an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

two-dimensional physics simulation engine that is included in the KDE SC as a part of

KDE Education Project The KDE Education Project (or KDE-Edu project) develops free educational software based on the KDE technologies for students and parents. These educational software is translated into more than 65 languages, so that users can access them without ...

. It includes StepCore, a physical simulation library.

History

The program was developed by Vladimir Kuznetsov and introduced in February 2007. It was released along with KDE 4.1.

Licensing

The program is licensed under the terms of

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...

, making it

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

Description

Step is based on bodies and forces placed by the user: * ''Bodies'' range from tiny particles to huge polygons, and each body has unique properties that influence the outcome of the

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

, such as

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and

velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity is a ...

, and their derivations such as

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its accele ...

. * ''Forces'' can be either placed directly by the user or produced by adding

gravitation In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...

Coulomb force Coulomb's inverse-square law, or simply Coulomb's law, is an experimental law of physics that quantifies the amount of force between two stationary, electrically charged particles. The electric force between charged bodies at rest is conventiona ...

or other effects. The program also features springs and soft bodies. Step allows reverting after simulation, so the user can modify the bodies and forces and see how the outcome of the simulation is affected. All the bodies and forces can also be modified in real time. The software allows users to add graphs and meters and configure them to any property of any body. This allows, for example, graphing speed or acceleration against time.

References

External links

*
Step handbook
KDE software Free physics software Software that uses Qt KDE Education Project Science education software Free educational software {{KDE-stub