IR waves become very thin and barely visible in Studio

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Test device
MacBook Air (M1 chip)

Operating System
11.4

Browser
Safari 14.1.1

Problem description
phetsims/qa#690

When the sim is launched in studio, the IR waves suddenly become thin and barely visible. Once that occurs, the temperature drops to -28 degrees Celsius and even if the amount of greenhouse gases is increased, temperature remains there.

Steps to reproduce

1. In studio, click the "start sunlight" button.
2. Once the IR waves begin to radiate from the surface, launch the sim.

Visuals

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l4UMTvyoKSrfjOPV2T-dNS1doTAnNqAO/view?usp=sharing

Console:

Uncaught TypeError: q.toStateObject is not a function
at Object.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at u.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at xw.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at Object.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at Array.map ()
at Object.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at u.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at ST.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)
at ST.toStateObject (greenhouse-effect_all_phet-io.html?postMessageOnError&phetioEmitStates=false&phetioEmitStatesInterval=1&phetioEmitHighFrequencyEvents=true:861)

[Nancy-Salpepi]

This issue is also seen in the State wrapper when the "set state rate" value=0 and the "set state now" button is utilized OR the Launch button is used.

[jbphet]

This problem was happening because when state was set, the list of energy packets in LayersModel was being overwritten, so the reference held by the sunEnergySource was no longer valid, which means it was supplying energy to nowhere and the main model was no longer getting any energy. Hence, the temperature of the Earth dropped rapidly and the IR waves became thin.

I've addressed this by making the applyState method in LayersModel repopulate the list of energy packets rather than overwriting it, and this appears to resolve the problem.

@Nancy-Salpepi - Can you please re-test this on master an verify that it is fixed?

[Nancy-Salpepi]

Issue is fixed in both Studio and State wrappers

[jbphet]

Cool. I'll unassign for now and have this verified in the next round of QA testing.

[Nancy-Salpepi]

I've spent ample time in the Studio Wrapper during this round of testing and this issue has not occurred.