“Let’s break some stuff, shall we?” Martin excitedly proclaims during his recent review of the Vernier Structures & Materials Tester (VSMT) on NSTA Recommends.
Martin and his physics students at Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana, used the VSMT to investigate the tensile strength of a variety of different pencils, as well as different kinds of popular fishing knots. Martin decided to use the local interest for fly fishing to introduce engineering applications for testing and design. After collecting data with the VSMT, students determined which knots for fishing were best to use in terms of strength.
In the review, “Vernier Structures and Materials Tester: An Engineering Marvel To Test Student’s Engineering Marvels,” Martin Horejsi highlights the functionality of the VSMT, which is designed for all project-based STEM and engineering classrooms. He says:
“Vernier Structures & Materials Tester is truly a piece of engineering elegance. It looks amazing sitting in the classroom and no doubt will inspire innovation and creativity by its mere presence. And its good looks are just the beginning. The dynamics of operation also share the elegance. Using two sensors in tandem, the Vernier Structures & Materials Tester measures both force and displacement. The force sensor has a range from zero up to 1000 newtons with 1 N resolution. And the displacement sensor will measure at tenth-millimeter resolution a distance up to seven centimeters.”