🚀 go-pugleaf

I have been reading the Interactive Physics manual.
I am at the stage of beginning to have some
understanding of the software and starting to
think more about how best to use it.  Certainly
demos of various situations are appropriate, as
would be using it to present problems for students
to solve.  It seems that the software is capable of
also allowing students to investigate types of
situations and "discover" scientific laws which
apply.  The areas that would seem most
appropriate to me at the moment for this sort of
open-ended, simulated reality, investigation would
be: orbits, collisions, projectiles, and center of
percussion.  Does anybody have thoughts on the
general philosophy of how to use IP?
Also, I have a specific technical question:  I would
like to have the rope of a pendulum strike a pin and
wrap around it.  But ropes pass through objects!  So
how do I make the rope catch on this pin? (I tried
the rope as a pulley, but then the rope's motion is
restricted in both directions).

--
        Brion Patterson, Rappahannock Co. High School, Sperryville, VA 22740