Data Collection at the Amusement Park

A popular use of our sensors and LabPro or CBL 2 is collecting data at amusement parks. The most commonly used sensors are the Low-g Accelerometer, 3-Axis Accelerometer, and Barometer. The accelerometers are used to measure the accelerations experienced in rides, and the Barometer is used to measure relative heights.

You could also use our new Wireless Dynamics Sensor System, which is perfect for roller coaster data collection.

Data Collection at the Amusement Park contains more information on the technical aspects of amusement park physics. It is written by Clarence Bakken, a physics teacher at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. Clarence has been collecting data at amusement parks since 1995. This manual gathers together information from a number of sources including our Logger Pro and DataMate guidebooks, LabPro User�s Manual, and Physics with Calculators experiment workbook. Much of the manual is built around Clarence�s use of our equipment at the Paramount�s Great America Physics Day event in Santa Clara, California. He provides specific instruction on the use of sensors, Logger Pro computer software, and the DataMate and Physics calculator programs.

The manual available for download along with Logger Pro experiment files to get you started collecting data in amusement parks!

Download the "Data Collection at the Amusement Park" manual. (Updated March 2007)

The Data Collection at the Amusement Park manual mentions Logger Pro experiment files that help you begin collecting data with accelerometers and barometers. Choose the appropriate download based on your operating system and version of Logger Pro.

For Logger Pro 3

Windows (16.0 KB compressed file)
Macintosh (190 KB compressed file)

For Logger Pro 2.2.1

Windows (24.8 KB executable)
Macintosh (192 KB compressed file)

The following experiment files are included in the download:

AMUSE1: Uses a Low-g Accelerometer in Channel 1
AMUSE1B: Uses a Low-g Accelerometer in Channel 1 and a Barometer in Channel 2
AMUSE3: Uses a 3-Axis Accelerometer plugged into Channels 1, 2, and 3
AMUSE3B: Uses a 3-Axis Accelerometer plugged into Channels 1, 2, 3, and a Barometer in Channel 4

Related Links
	Amusement Park Physics Day support material from NASA
	Physics Central - your one-stop source for physics with Vernier.
	Vernier Wireless Dynamics Sensor System
	Amusement Park Physics
	Clarence Bakken's Physics Day Web Site
	Vernier DataVest - an easy way to take a LabPro on an amusement park without worrying about dropping it!