Help with building physicality

Where can I find a guide to how objects interact with each other in a physical sense? For example, I want to place one prim on top of another, and when the lower prim moves upwards controlled by a script, I would like it to lift the upper prim. For the project I have in mind it will not suit to have them actually linked.

At the moment I can see the lower prim trying to move but not managing to lift the one on top, and that's as far as I get.

Other minor but probably related questions I have is how can I stop a prim bouncing about after it drops onto something. I have the upper prim land on the lower one under gravity, and then it bounces about for ages and finally falls off the edge. I would like to have it land and stay put.

I'd suggest you ask your questions over on the scripting forum. They're not really a building questions. I'm sure someone over there can help you. Not everyone here is knowledgeable on scripting.

You could also try looking up scripting functions yourself at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal . Good luck.

I thought it would be something to do with the flexible path settings, which mention gravity and stuff, or a weight setting, no? Ok thanks.

Flexible Path makes objects appear to be flexible, like a flag or a noodle or a whip. The flex can be affected by forces like gravity, just like how in the real world a flag flaps in the wind and droops toward the ground.

That's got nothing to do with objects following each other though. If you want that to happen, you need to script one to follow the other.

Of course, you can also try to use physics to do it, but it's pretty hard if not impossible to control with just physics alone. As you noticed already, the physical upper object will eventually bounce off the top of the lower object and fall to the ground. To avoid that, you'd need to put rails in place, and it doesn't sound like that's what you want to do.

For best results, you're going to need a scripted solution. So again, go to the scripting forum or the wiki, and seek your answers there.

The bounding boxes for physical objects are biggish, too.