Innovative Uses of Vernier Technology

Collecting data to calculate the primary productivity of an aquatic sample just got easier with our new Primary Productivity Kit. This kit contains seven bottles and stoppers designed for measuring dissolved oxygen (DO) in dark and light environments. The special shape of the bottles prevents air entrapment and makes it easy to collect data with…

Subjects: Advanced Biology, Biology, Environmental Science

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

Photosynthesis and respiration of plants are fundamental concepts in biology and agricultural science. Our CO2 and O2 Gas Sensors make it easy for your students to study these concepts, producing beautiful data as shown here. However, you can’t just place one leaf in a chamber with a light bulb and expect great results. Our resident…

Subjects: Agricultural Science, Biology

Bio-Rad Laboratories has developed an exciting new kit for investigating enzyme action as part of making biofuels that can be used with our SpectroVis Plus spectrophotometer. This is an excellent investigation for AP biology and college biology courses. The BioFuel Enzyme Kit measures the enzymatic activity of cellobiase. The reaction of the enzyme, cellobiase, breaking…

Subjects: Advanced Biology, Biology

Laura Cerletty, an anatomy and physiology teacher at Whitnall High School in Greenfield, WI, and her students modified our CO2 to O2 Tee for improved performance when connecting the Oxygen Gas Sensor to the Spirometer. We were inspired to create the new O2 Gas Sensor to Spirometer adapter that replaces the CO2 to O2 Tee.…

Subjects: Biology, Human Physiology

We recently visited Dr. Deborah Schenberger’s biomechanics research lab at the University of Portland in Portland, OR. She has designed some experiments to look at issues related to barefoot running, a running trend popularized by Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run. Without the padding provided by traditional running shoes, barefoot runners minimize their heel strike,…

Subjects: Biology, Human Physiology

Richard Taylor (physics teacher at Hockaday School, Dallas, TX), recently bought an all-electric Chevrolet Volt. He quickly used our Watts Up Pro to monitor the charging cycle. Here is a graph of charging power vs. time for the Volt after Richard drove it 26.7 miles (43.0 km). Charging at a fairly constant current and voltage…

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