dla.Dlacontrol will appear below in a Java enabled browser.
Diffused Limited Aggregation
Diffused Limited Aggregation (DLA) is an algorithm that models the growth of crystal particles and cracks. The algorithm used in the applet starts with a 'seed' particle. The seed can be thought of as the start of a crack or one molecule of a crystal. The algorithm works by taking particle and randomly moves it until it attaches to the seed particle, or any other particles that have already attached to the seed. Once a particle attaches, a new particle is created and randomly moved until it attaches. This process is repeated thousands of times and gives us the picture seen in the above applet.
Using the Applet
- Press the start button to get the applet started. This puts the seed particle in the middle of the applet screen and
starts DLA. You can watch the particle attach to the cluster.
- Pressing the Stop button stops new particles from being attached.
- Pressing the Reset button clears the cluster and lets the user restart from the beginning.
-Clicking on the Graph checkbox displays the graph of the natural log of mass versus the natural log of distance.
The slope of the graph shows the fractal dimension of the DLA cluster. If the entire screen was filled with particles, the slope would be two. But since the screen isn't filled, the slope is always slightly less than two. The fractal dimension of the DLA cluster (slope) is most accurate for the distances closes to the seed particle. If the applet runs for a while, the fractal dimension of the DLA cluster (slope) becomes accurate for most all of the graph.