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Derive every equation from scratch, starting at F = ma - #2

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docs/theory-from-scratch
Jul 31, 2026
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Derive every equation from scratch, starting at F = ma#2
algometrix merged 1 commit into
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docs/theory-from-scratch

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Adds docs/THEORY.md: the physics of the app derived from the ground up,
for a reader who has met speed = distance / time and not much else.
Linked from the README's physics section.

Sixteen parts. Each answers one question, ends at the equation the code
evaluates, and names the file it lives in. There is a summary table of every
equation at the bottom, and a table of what the app cheats on next to what
would fix each one.

Three of the eight diagrams are computed, not drawn:

  • The light rays are real null geodesics, integrated with the same
    x'' = -1.5 rs h² x / r⁵ the shader runs, so the near-critical ray's loop
    around the photon sphere is an actual trajectory rather than an artistic
    impression of one.
  • The funnel is plotted from z(r) = 2 sqrt(rs (r - rs)), which is why it
    flattens far out instead of looking like a cone.
  • The wave figure is a genuine two-armed spiral, the shape the quadrupole
    formula demands.

Diagrams are hand-authored SVG with no external fonts or scripts, using
mid-tone colours that stay legible in both GitHub themes. All eight render
correctly in a browser; I checked rather than assumed.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

The README states the physics; it never derives it. This is the long
version, written for someone who has met "speed = distance / time" and not
much else, and it builds every formula the app evaluates from things you
can check on a playground.

Sixteen parts, each answering one question and ending at the equation the
code actually runs: orbits from balancing a pull against a corner, the
horizon from escape speed (with a warning that the easy derivation is a
fluke that happens to give the right number), light bending from the
equivalence principle, the photon sphere and the 2.6 r_s shadow from the
maximum of the photon potential, the ISCO and the Paczynski-Wiita shortcut,
the Shakura-Sunyaev profile, Doppler and beaming, tides and the M^(-2/3)
scaling that decides whether a star is shredded outside the horizon at all,
the tidal energy spread and why the debris splits in half, Peters and the
chirp, Flamm's paraboloid derived from Pythagoras on a stretched sheet, and
the Eddington limit behind the outflow.

Three of the eight diagrams are computed rather than drawn. The light rays
in the impact-parameter figure are real null geodesics integrated with the
same equation the shader uses, so the loop around the photon sphere is the
actual trajectory. The funnel is plotted from z(r) = 2 sqrt(rs (r - rs)),
which is why it flattens far out instead of being a cone. The wave figure
is a genuine two-armed spiral.

Also lists what the app cheats on, in a table, next to what would fix each
one.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@algometrix
algometrix merged commit 866afbd into main Jul 31, 2026
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