Innovative Uses of Vernier Technology

Introduction Different types of hot dogs will cool at different rates after they have been cooked. This activity takes the first steps in investigating this phenomenon by measuring the rate that a warmed hot dog cools. Students can compare the ingredients of various types of hot dogs (all-beef, veggie, turkey, etc.) to help explain the…

Subjects: Middle School Science

The halfpipe used by skateboarders and BMX bike riders allows for some spectacular tricks. Given that the riders can rise nearly two meters above the top of the pipe, which is itself about three meters high, the forces and accelerations must be fairly large. It is the magnitude and timing of those forces that we…

Subjects: Physics

The March 30 issue of USA Today featured a story on students of Jim Jordon and George Irwin (Lamar University) flying on the KC-135, known as the “Vomit Comet.” This plane flies in a pattern of 40 flight parabolas to produce periods of “weightlessness.” It is used to train astronauts and was used for filming…

Subjects: Physics

Vernier sensors have been used for exciting data-collection activities in some interesting locations over the years. We can now count Antarctica among these. From January 5 to February 7, 2001, chemistry teacher Kevin LaVigne from Hanover HS, NH, participated in a program called “Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic.” Kevin joined a research team under…

Subjects: Environmental Science

The March, 1999 issue of The Physics Teacher includes an article entitled “Measuring Equilibrants with a Bracket-Mounted Force Sensor” by Robert Kingman and David Maddox (Andrews University, MI). The article shows how to use our Dual-Range Force Sensor and a force table for vector resolution labs and get great results. The Force Sensor is clamped…

Subjects: Physics

John Fischer, Ashwaubenon HS, Green Bay, WI, has created an artificial “Two Liter Creek” in his classroom for water quality studies in the middle of a Wisconsin winter. It is simply a 50-gallon aquarium with a pump that lifts water into an array of 15 two-liter bottles that have been mounted on a pegboard. This…

Subjects: Water Quality

Jake Niemand, a high school student from Montevideo, MN, has used LabPro and some of our sensors for some remarkable data collection. He constructed TOTO (TOtable Tornado Observatory) II. TOTO II is loaded into a pick-up truck and driven to a location where severe weather is approaching. It can be left at the location to…

Subjects: Physics

Tom Bird (Austin Community College) uses our Gas Pressure Sensor to study the launches of Stomp Rockets. This is a light-weight, inexpensive toy rocket, powered by air that is compressed by stomping on a plastic air chamber. He drilled and tapped a threaded hole and installed a pressure tap, which he connected to a Biology…

Subjects: Middle School Science

An interesting article by Inge H. A. Pettersen (Stavanger, Norway) called “Speed of Sound in Gases Using an Ultrasonic Motion Detector” appears in the May 2002 issue of The Physics Teacher. It provides a good lesson in how motion detectors work, and on how the speed of sound varies. The motion detector is placed pointed…

Subjects: Physics

Our Sound Level Meter (SLM-BTA, $209) offers lots of possibilities for the kind of investigations that students really get into. Here are some ideas: Some hair dryers are really noisy, and the noise source is right next to your ear. This inspired us to do a little checking. We tested five hair dryers, recording the…

Subjects: Human Physiology