Home Strategy Fizziks Tilt

A fun (and just a little bit crazy) game that - unlike so many games out there - actually pays attention to the laws of Physics! Newton would be so proud!

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Inclined Plane - Fizziks Tilt Game

Inclined Planes - you've heard of them, right? An inclined plane is one of the "simple machines". (Traditionally, the following are considered to be the simple machines: inclined plane, wheel, lever, pulley, wedge, and screw.

If a surface is placed flat on the ground, and a marble is placed on it, the marble will stay in position. This does not mean that there are no forces acting on it: the force of gravity is acting on the marble, but the force is perpendicular to the plane, so no movement results. But when a marble is on an inclined (tipped) plane, the force of gravity exerted on it is no longer perpendicular to the surface of the plane.

Here's where we get into some trigonometry, because the force due to gravity has a component which is perpendicular to the plane (that's what holds the marble against the surface), and a component that is parallel to the plane. That is the component which causes the marble to move.

The force acting on the object is m×g, where g is the acceleration due to gravity (don't confuse that with the gravitational constant, which is CAPITAL G!) and m is the mass of the object.

Now suppose the plane is inclined at an x degree angle. The component of that force perpendicular to the plane is m×g×cosx°, and the component of the force parallel to the plane is m×g×sinx°.

As x goes from zero to ninety degrees, the perpendicular force component acting on the object decreases, and the parallel component increases until at 90 degrees the object is in freefall.

Playing Fizziks Tilt

When you are playing Fizziks Tilt, you will see triggers (a gray circle with arrows inside) that cause the entire playing field to tilt in one of the four compass directions. When this happens, the result is a constant force acting on the ball in the direction of the tilt. If you hit two tilt triggers, the overall direction of the tilt may change. In order to help you remember which direction your plane is tilting, a red arrow appears next to your marble reminding you which way that gravitational force is pulling you.

Sometimes you'll want to hit the triggers - for example, if you have a long stretch of your path that leads north, hitting a north-facing trigger will help you get to your destination without using as much energy. On the other hand, if the trigger faces south, you'll have to increase your energy output in order to get to the end of the path!