The mechanics of a bicycle…

We always look for good, instructional Android apps. You can find lots and lots of drill and kill games, but I still do not see a large number of genuine educational apps.  Found one recently though, that will be welcome in physics classes, STEM schools, and a lot of in between.  Autodesk’s Force Effect: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.autodesk.fbd.activities

In this app, they present a mechanical platform for simulations.  It provides quite a lot for free, and considering we pay top dollar for their AutoCad software, we appreciate free.  Some of what you get from ForceEffect includes:

• Freehand sketching of elements and construction lines with snaps, constraints, and inferencing
• Object dimensioning, global scaling, units, constraints
• Import image as background
• Create joints (welded, pinned)
• Break element at joints
• Create supports (fixed, grounded, sliding)
• Create loads (known, unknown, distributed) and moments
• Add weight to individual elements
• Compute reaction forces and moments for equilibrium and over-constrained systems
• Toggle forces to show force vector components
• Results reporting with picture, results, all equations
• Save and load files from Autodesk 360
• In app tutorials

Yeah, lots and lots of info and support!  A good app for high schoolers working toward engineering degrees.

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some reviews from http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/06/19/autodesks-forceeffect-for-android-brings-realistic-mechanical-simulation-to-your-mobile-device/