We have developed the means to measure position rapidly and precisely as a function of time in the general physics laboratory. These measurements are of sufficient quality that velocities and accelerations can be calculated from the position data using numerical derivatives. The precision of the measurements is such that any disagreement between theoretical expectations and experimental measurements is less than a few percent. Measurements of the system under study can be made as rapidly as every 200 μs, which is faster than the typical time scales over which the system changes. Measuring rapidly also allows one to investigate additional phenomena not previously accessible and to see features of the physics previously unobserved. The measurement system is based on commercially available sensors, computer hardware, and computer software (LABVIEW™). Many general physics laboratories based on this system have been developed but only an investigation of Newton’s second law will be described here.
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December 2002
APPARATUS AND DEMONSTRATION NOTES|
December 01 2002
Studying collisions in the general physics laboratory with quadrature light emitting diode sensors
P. A. DeYoung;
P. A. DeYoung
Department of Physics and Engineering, Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49422-9000
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B. Mulder
B. Mulder
Department of Physics and Engineering, Hope College, Holland, Michigan 49422-9000
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Am. J. Phys. 70, 1226–1230 (2002)
Article history
Received:
July 30 2001
Accepted:
April 05 2002
Citation
P. A. DeYoung, B. Mulder; Studying collisions in the general physics laboratory with quadrature light emitting diode sensors. Am. J. Phys. 1 December 2002; 70 (12): 1226–1230. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1482066
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