Experiment in an Aircraft Cabin

Students have been taught that atmospheric temperature drops linearly with altitude, up to approximately 15 km. However, even after completing an undergraduate degree program, most students have only memorized such information and have never had the experience of measuring it. Students often assume that experimental tasks must involve the use of complex techniques and equipment. For example, they may assume that atmospheric temperatures can be measured using only advanced tools, such as a balloon equipped with a radiosonde or satellites equipped with sensors and transmitters. Actually, some measurement tasks can easily be accomplished using tools that are already available around us or simple equipment that can be self-designed. Here, we report on an experiment where students measure temperature vs. atmospheric height while seated on a commercial airplane.