The Caliper

JUMP on Our New Force Plate!

There was a recent article in the American Journal of Physics (the first article listed below) that described some nice experiments using a custom-built force plate. The author commented that a good physics department should be able to reproduce the setup for about $5000. We've been able to do a little better than that: our new Force Plate is $199, and comes with two detachable handles.

About the size of a bathroom scale, the Vernier Force Plate measures forces of stepping, jumping, and other human-scale actions. For example, you can observe the change in normal force during an elevator ride, or measure the impulse delivered by the floor when you jump. You can use the Force Plate with any of our interfaces, along with Logger Pro for computers, DataMate for TI calculators, and Data Pro for Palm OS.

Here are some things you can do with the Force Plate:

1. Analyze a crouched jump.
2. Do expensive running shoes measurably reduce heel strike force?
3. Compare the measured impulse to the mechanical work done when lifting a large weight.
4. Investigate the forces involved during the technique known as "unweighting" during ski or snowboard turns.
5. Hang the Force Plate on the wall and measure the reaction force as you lean on the plate. Does the wall push back on you?

Check out these physics journal articles and additional activities that can be done with our new Force Plate: N. P. Linthorne, "Analysis of Standing Vertical Jumps Using a Force Platform," Am. J. Phys. 69 (November 2001), 1198-1204.
Ole Anton Haugland, "Physics Measurements for Sports," The Physics Teacher 39 (Sept 2001), 350-353.
Ron Cross, "Standing, Walking, Running, and Jumping on a Force Plate," Am. J. Phys. 67 (April 1999), 304-309.