Physics Innovative Uses

Original Source: “iPad and Weightlessness,”” The Physics Teacher, May 2012, by Taoufik Nadji. Now that cell phones and tablet computers have built-in accelerometers, it is natural that physics instructors would want to use them for experiments. In this article, Nadji suggests (carefully) dropping an iPad® onto an outstretched sheet held by students. Since our Graphical…

Subjects: Physics

Analyzing Times from the Hundred-Meter Dash Many students were fascinated by the recent Olympics. One way to capitalize on this interest is to have the students use Olympic results to improve their graphing skills and learn some kinematics. We have created a Logger Pro file that uses historic times for the 100-meter dash to simulate…

Subjects: Physics

Many parts of the country experienced extremely hot and dry weather this past summer. One effect of this was increased electricity demand for air conditioning in houses and places of business. An air conditioner works by compressing a refrigerant gas, which increases its temperature. The hot gas is contained in coils and outside air is…

Subjects: Physics

Many homeowners in damp climates such as Oregon keep mold at bay with an electronic dehumidifier. These tend to be large, loud devices. We wondered just how much energy a dehumidifier uses? To find out, a Watts Up Pro was used with a LabQuest interface to collect real-time power consumption data. A Relative Humidity Sensor…

Subjects: Physics

Teachers Share Video Analysis Ideas on Twitter. Students always have a lot of fun analyzing motion in their own videos using Vernier Video Physics or Logger Pro 3. Another way to encourage interesting discussion of the nature of motion is to analyze movies that appear to defy the laws of physics, such as viral videos…

Subjects: Physics

In her article, “Cooking with Quadratics,” published in the November 2010 issue of Mathematics Teacher, Luajean Bryan examines the math behind solar cookers. Bryan’s students at Walker Valley High School in Cleveland, TN, designed solar cookers and analyzed their properties using Vernier sensors. The cookers are three-dimensional parabolic dishes designed through the understanding of quadratic…

Subjects: Engineering Education, Physics

Inspired to instruct students about renewable energy, professor Richard G. Born, from Northern Illinois University, developed a lab to investigate the relationship between hydroelectric power and the volume of water that moves a turbine in a given amount of time. Born connected a small water wheel and dynamo to a Vernier Circuit Board and added…

Subjects: Environmental Science, Physics

In the search for life beyond our planet, Astronomers are particularly interested in planets outside our solar system (extrasolar planets). Since these planets are too far away to be visible, finding and studying them can be a challenge. One way to locate and study extrasolar planets is to observe the light from a star as…

Subjects: Physics

Lots of physics instructors use photogates, but did you know that you can use other sensors at the same time as photogates? For example, you can use a force sensor along with a photogate. You can use this sensor combination in the standard momentum impulse experiment where one measures the velocity of a dynamics cart…

Subjects: Physics

How would you make a derivative machine? Here’s an unexpected way: Faraday’s law states that there is an induced emf in a coil, proportional to the time rate of change of the magnetic flux Φ through that coil, or where N is the number of turns in the coil. You can do this experiment with…

Subjects: Physics