The Physics of Video Games

Everyone loves video games and they can be a great way to help students think about how computers simulate the world. Increasingly, computer simulations are becoming part of the day-to-day work of scientists and engineers.

Some of the similarities between video games and engineering simulations are discussed in this video from the STEMcoding youtube channel where students try to spot as many inaccuracies in the game of Mario Kart as they can. Later they discuss simulations of car crashes.

You and your students can learn more about what computers do when they perform these simulations through a few simple “physics of video games” activities from the STEMcoding project.

Part I is called “Move the Blob”  http://go.osu.edu/movetheblob

Part 2 is called “Accelerate the blob” http://go.osu.edu/acceleratetheblob

These activities have been completed by kids as young as 12, and they work on pretty much any device with a keyboard that you have available (Windows, Mac, Chromebooks, iPads). Internet access is required, but it does not need to be very high speed. For a version without videos use http://go.osu.edu/physics_coding

OSU Prof. Chris Orban created these activities as part of the STEMcoding project. You can reach out to him at orban@physics.osu.edu if you have any questions.