Physics Phuzz | Devpost

Pendulum problem example
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What is it?

An educational web application that helps students understand physics concepts through interactive formula solving and visualization.

Inspiration

We are all taking Physics 1 with Calculus at UF and thought we could create a more streamlined approach to understanding fundamental physics concepts. We were confident that we could find better ways to explore and have fun while learning physics.

How we built it

We built our website using a Flask framework, using Python for the backend and HTML/CSS/JS for the front end. We wanted to ensure we added interactivity and data visualization with a physics engine (Matter JS) while also keeping an easy-to-deploy implementation. We added a database in SQL with Flask in the backend to allow faster retrieval of previous data.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part of our design was visualizing the problem after outputting a solution, and especially showing it dynamically on the web. We had initially tried to implement a Python physics engine that we built with Pygame and Pymunk, however, after hours of work, it turned out to not be able to run smoothly on the web. We quickly had to pivot into a solution through a JavaScipt physics engine. It was a frustrating experience as we also became exhausted over time, but our final result turned out to be something we can be proud of, making it a rewarding experience.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Designing a functional prototype of the software and working on the entire process for the full 24 hours. We managed to reach most of the expectations that we set, such as including a functional data visualizer that can be modified by the AI, as well as a proper tool to help us have a better experience while working in our Physics course. We managed to exceed our expectations by learning animations and coordinating a workflow to build our website, expanding our knowledge in web development, AI implementation, prompt engineering, and a rewarding teamwork experience.

What's next for Physics Phuzz

Even more visualizations for harder problems and a more effective UI! We are planning to make it a tool that covers a broader set of exercise solutions and to make it available to all devices! We believe our team did a great job in completing this project but we believe that there is still a lot of potential to improve.

Built With

Submitted to

SwampHacks X

Created by

I worked on the front end, designing the main interface and how all the components connect together. Near the end, I also worked on the javascript simulations. I had an amazing time working hard and learning some ways to design a full-stack web app!

jkusuda Kusuda
I worked on multiple complex simulations in python's pymunk and pygame libraries for visualizing physics concepts. We had issues with deploying these simulations to the web so we converted them to JavaScript instead. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about project management, software development, and full stack web applications!

lucask6785 Kilday
I worked on the backend, taking in all the problems from the user and working with the new deep seek chat model to create solutions. This did come up with some stumbles in formatting which needed a lot of regex formatting along with replacements. Apart from this I made the math editor on the front end and helped with many of the styles regarding our main page. My backend also consisted of creating dictionaries of information for certain symbols, exponents and subscripts.

Nedas Jaronis
Kenzo Fukuda

Updates

jkusuda Kusuda started this project — Jan 26, 2025 09:26 AM EST

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