Physics Innovative Uses

Kyle Forinash and Raymond Wisman (Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN) describe their use of LabPro and other interfaces in the article “Simple Internet Data Collection for Physics Laboratories” in the April 2002 issue of The American Journal of Physics. The web site for their software is http://physics.ius.edu/~kyle/K/DataCollect/LabPro.html. LabVIEW programming software provides a feature to…

Subjects: Physics

Eric Muhs and his physics students (Roosevelt HS, Seattle WA) constructed a portable cosmic ray detector and sent it 35 kilometers into the atmosphere, recreating Victor Hess’ Nobel Prize winning discovery of cosmic rays. The cosmic ray detector took two trips aboard a NASA high altitude balloon, along with a Temperature Probe, Magnetic Field Sensor,…

Subjects: Physics

Bill Jameson (DeForest Area HS, DeForest, WI) sent us a clever, inexpensive lab idea for studying centripetal force. This is an improvement on an idea he had written for The Physics Teacher in December 1999. The photo shows the setup. A Dual-Range Force Sensor is mounted on the rotating board. A Light Sensor is fastened…

Subjects: Physics

There is a very interesting article on “Bridge Swinging and the Maximum Tension in a Pendulum String” by Edward P. Wyrembeck (Howards Grove HS, WI) posted on our Vernier Idea Board. In this article, Edward and his students explain how they measure the maximum tension in a pendulum string and compare the results to the…

Subjects: Physics

Curt Witthoff, Secondary Math/Science Specialist for Collier County Public Schools in Naples, FL, recorded this data as Hurricane Charley pounded the coastline near his house. He used Vernier sensors with a LabPro and TI graphing calculator. The equipment was placed in a box with the sensors exposed, and left on his patio. The times on…

Subjects: Physics

One of the “bobs” about to be released. The data collection station. Ken Kessenich at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee, WI found a great way to get his students more involved in his pendulum experiments. Using the laser gate feature of the new Vernier Photogate, Ken used an inexpensive laser to create a gate…

Subjects: Physics