Pick something to break
Each lab is a single page that loads in a second and runs entirely on your device. Open one, change something, and watch what the change does.
Three ways in
1 If you are studying
Start with the lab that matches this week's topic and give yourself one question to answer, for example "why is Mercury's year 88 days?"
- Change one control at a time.
- Predict what will happen before you move it.
- Read the panel — every number on screen is a real measured value.
2 If you are teaching
Every lab is one URL with no login, so it projects straight onto a board and works on the school Wi-Fi even when it is bad.
- Labs are self-contained — link one directly.
- Sliders make good "what if" prompts for the class.
- Data panels double as a worked reference sheet.
3 If you are just curious
There is no order and no score. The fastest route to a surprise is usually to push a slider all the way to one end.
- Set the solar system to true scale.
- Colour the periodic table by electronegativity.
- Zoom the universe out past the Local Group.
- Train a network until it overfits.
Real numbers, honestly drawn
Simulations lie by simplifying. Where Prism simplifies, it says so on screen — and where it can use the real figures, it does.
Planet positions come from the standard J2000 orbital elements used by professional ephemerides, so the alignment you see is the alignment the sky really has today. The nearest stars sit at their measured parallax distances. Element data follows IUPAC and NIST values. The atmosphere probe uses the US Standard Atmosphere model. Where a diagram is schematic rather than to scale — organelles, body systems, the cosmic web — the lab tells you.