Data Viz for Dummies VI — Semiotic

Home · Getting Started · Charts · Features · Playground

This page requires JavaScript for interactive chart demos.

AI / Machine-readable docs: llms.txt · llms-full.txt · CLAUDE.md · schema.json · API Reference · Examples

View on GitHub · npx semiotic-ai for CLI access

Machine-readable page content

Canonical: https://semiotic.nteract.io/examples/data-viz-for-dummies-6

Data Viz for Dummies VI

The basement laboratory · please secure loose scarves

Physics earns its CPU when the mechanism is part of the evidence.

Part VI opens the cabinet marked “probably unnecessary, occasionally perfect.” Ten physics charts turn collision, arrival, capacity, dependency, and conservation into visible mechanisms. The balls may bounce; the analytical contract may not.

10 physical mechanisms8 truth checks1 gravity waiver

PHY 601RC · 2026

THE LAB TECH

Collision · queue · consequence

99Truth

100Motion

04CPU

97Drama

Lab safety · define the semantic contract first

The simulation may explain the process; it may not fabricate the result.

A physics chart has two layers. The semantic layer states the measured values, rules, and outcomes. The physical layer enacts those rules so accumulation, congestion, transfer, or dependency becomes perceptible over time.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

If changing gravity, friction, or the random seed changes the reported conclusion, you have built a small video game. Charming! Put the data back in charge.

LAB READOUTOVR93

claim

100

exact

motion

verify

100

weird

Physics instruments · defensible physical verbs

Settle, arrive, queue, transform, unlock.

Start with the verb the data actually contains. Motion without a semantic verb is merely a screensaver with tenure.

01Galton board

random branching → distribution

frequency shape

02Collision swarm

overlap resolution around x

individual values

03Event drop

arrival order → event-time windows

lateness

04Physics pile

units settle into categories

inventory

05Physical flow

packets follow authored routes

throughput

06Process flow

bodies queue at finite stages

capacity

07Gauntlet

compound entities cross gates

retained properties

08Crucible

authored phases transform a batch

lineage

09Chain reaction

prerequisites unlock dependents

blocker reach

10Physics custom

you build the apparatus

bespoke mechanism

Galton + collision swarm · distributions with elbows

Let bodies settle when the individuals and their overlap are the story.

A Galton board makes repeated branching accumulate into a distribution. A collision swarm preserves each observation’s x-value while moving marks just enough to avoid overlap. Both reveal shape without pretending that the final resting place is an extra measurement.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

A mechanical Galton board demonstrates a probability process; it does not become evidence about your sample. A swarm’s vertical jitter is packing, not a second variable.

LAB READOUTOVR83

claim

exact

motion

verify

weird

Shot quality · observed sample or branching model

Two hundred seventy shots settle into their measured score bins

Sample mode maps 270 real rows to bins. Mechanical mode generates 270 outcomes from peg rows and branch probability. They answer different questions despite wearing the same tiny hard hats.

Collision swarm: one body remains one playerOnly horizontal load is measured; vertical position prevents overlap.

Event drop + physics pile · time and inventory become tangible

Show bodies arriving when arrival order changes what the system knows.

EventDropChart separates event time from arrival time, exposing late data against windows and a watermark. UnitPileChart turns category totals into countable units, useful when accumulation, capacity, or composition matters more than a clean bar.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

Do not animate historical rows merely because they have timestamps. Arrival motion earns its place only when lateness, closure, or build-up affects interpretation.

LAB READOUTOVR88

claim

exact

motion

verify

weird

Arena telemetry · the fourth-minute event arrives at minute thirty-one

An eight-minute watermark tolerates modest reporting lag

Horizontal position is event time; release into the frame follows arrivalTime. The late-upload row lands in the late-data gutter instead of silently rewriting a closed window.

Physics pile: the units are the pointThe ghost bars remain the exact totals; the balls make roster capacity countable.

Physical flow + process flow · traffic is not the same as capacity

Packets explain routes; queues explain service constraints.

PacketFlowChart sends particles along authored links whose widths carry throughput. ProcessFlowChart goes further: stage controllers can enforce finite work-per-second capacity, so congestion is computed rather than decorated.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

Particles are samples of a rate, not individual people unless you explicitly make them so. And a bottleneck created only by a strong force is force theater; use a capacity controller for a capacity claim.

LAB READOUTOVR89

claim

exact

motion

verify

weird

Arena circulation · route volume first

Packets reveal direction along the concourse routes

Pipe width and labels preserve the route totals. Particles communicate active movement and can be paused without erasing the network.

Process flow: now the review desk can actually fall behindEach body carries work; the middle stage drains a finite number of work units per second.

Gauntlet · an entity drags its properties through review

Use a compound body when the bundle must survive the process together.

GauntletChart represents each project as a core with attached benefits and burdens. Authored gates can add, remove, delay, or transform properties while a settled projection reports viability and outcome.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

Buoyancy is not benefit and mass is not cost until your model explicitly says so. Keep those mappings visible, disclose gate effects, and never ask the audience to infer the final score from wobble.

LAB READOUTOVR85

claim

exact

motion

100

verify

weird

100

Arena proposals · design, finance, permit

Benefits and burdens travel together through three reviews

The spectacle explains retention and loss across gates. The projection strip carries the inspectable viability result; nobody needs to diagnose policy from orbital mechanics.

Crucible · the least subtle possible provenance diagram

Mix sources only when the authored record says what became what.

CrucibleChart runs a bounded batch through declared phases and semantic events. It can show sources binding into a product, contributions joining later, rejection to outlets, and conservation of amount—without letting collisions decide the finding.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

The animation must not perform analysis by vibes. Products, source IDs, event times, outlets, and completion are authored facts; physics explains co-presence and transformation.

LAB READOUTOVR91

claim

exact

motion

verify

100

weird

Evidence assay · four sources become one supported finding

The cauldron is theatrical; the lineage is exact.

Entry scans and weather form the finding; survey and sales contribute later. Every transition is declared in the event tape and survives as a static projection.

Publish4.3s

Speed

4 source components; 1 product; 4 amount in products. Outcome: complete.

Chain reaction · prerequisite delivery, not project-management pachinko

Make dependency logic move when reachability is the question.

ChainReactionChart compiles a dependency graph into lanes, sockets, blockers, and delivery tokens. A completed task releases one token per outgoing dependency; a downstream task arms only when every required token arrives.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

A delivered ball means one prerequisite is satisfied. It does not complete the target task, predict a date, or absolve the steering committee.

LAB READOUTOVR92

claim

exact

motion

verify

100

weird

Release machine · one policy decision reaches four teams

Snapshot mode shows the dependency state at day ten

The blocked privacy decision reaches the schema, ingest, binding, audit, test, and launch chain. Reach is graph structure, not an estimate of days saved.

Approve data policy affects 6 unfinished tasks across 4 lanes.

Approve data policy affects 6 unfinished tasks across 4 lanes.
Task	Lane	Progress	State	Waiting on	Downstream reach
Approve brief	Product	100%	Completed	None	7 tasks / 5 lanes
Approve data policy	Product	90%	Blocked	Retention decision pending	6 tasks / 4 lanes
Build fixture	Data	100%	Completed	None	6 tasks / 4 lanes
Finalize schema	Data	30%	Waiting	privacy	5 tasks / 4 lanes
Build ingest	Data	0%	Waiting	schema	3 tasks / 3 lanes
Build dashboard shell	Frontend	100%	Completed	None	3 tasks / 3 lanes
Bind live data	Frontend	10%	Waiting	ingest	2 tasks / 2 lanes
Run privacy audit	Quality	0%	Waiting	privacy, schema	1 tasks / 1 lanes
Load test	Quality	0%	Waiting	bind	1 tasks / 1 lanes
Launch	Launch	0%	Waiting	audit, test	0 tasks / 0 lanes

Physics custom · you have declined all sensible presets

Build an apparatus only when the custom mechanism can be audited.

PhysicsCustomChart supplies dimensions, scales, theme, a deterministic world, rendering, interaction, and accessibility. A layout function returns bodies, colliders, sensors, forces, overlays, and semantic items.

LAB SAFETY OFFICER

Custom physics is a power tool, not a chart recommendation. Draw the boundaries, label the forces, seed the randomness, expose semantic regions, and document what would make the mechanism produce a different result.

LAB READOUTOVR80

claim

exact

motion

100

verify

weird

100

Routing floor · bespoke gravity, ordinary accountability

Twenty-one requests settle behind three explicit dividers.

This intentionally modest apparatus demonstrates the escape hatch: body geometry, gravity, walls, lane overlays, and accessible semantic regions live in one auditable layout.

The custom layout defines Review, Triage, and Ship regions; request priority changes body mass and radius.

Lab review · the apparatus must earn its electricity

Choose physics from the mechanism the reader must understand.

Motion is valuable when it makes emergence, lateness, accumulation, congestion, transformation, or dependency legible. Otherwise, turn off the fog machine and draw the simpler chart.

I need to…

Explain distribution emergence

Galton board

Separate observed samples from mechanical probability.

I need to…

Preserve crowded individuals

Collision swarm

Only the value axis is measured.

I need to…

Inspect late event data

Event drop

Arrival time and event time must both exist.

I need to…

Make units countable

Physics pile

Keep exact totals in the projection.

I need to…

Show route throughput

Physical flow

Packets sample a rate; pipes retain the total.

I need to…

Expose a bottleneck

Process flow

Use computed capacity, not visual drag.

I need to…

Track a compound entity

Gauntlet

Properties remain attached and outcomes stay explicit.

I need to…

Show authored transformation

Crucible

Events own lineage and conservation.

I need to…

Explain blocker reach

Chain reaction

Tokens satisfy prerequisites; they do not do work.

I need to…

Invent a mechanism

Physics custom

Publish the apparatus’s semantic contract.

I need to…

Make a dashboard exciting

Absolutely not

Excitement is not a data type.

I need to…

Support reduced motion

Static projection

The conclusion must survive the pause button.

Let physics explain how the answer forms—never decide what the answer is.

THE SIXTH RULEIf the mechanism is not data, the motion is decoration.