Squeeze, Plants, & Cars
Squeeze, Plants, & Cars
Power of Pressure
Using Physics Toolbox's Barometer to Make Sense of Ambient Pressure
Earlier this month, we were at AAPT's Winter Meeting and were graced by the presence of San Francisco Exploratorium's Zeke Kossover and Bree Barnett Dreyfuss. They spent their evening snagging poster session attendees to provide some education about relative pressures.
Using a simple "shopvac" vacuum, the air can be removed around a participant enclosed in a plastic bag. The earie feeling makes the participant feel completely compressed by the surrounding air. Note my statement near the end, "It's so much pressure!"
Yet, the data reveals something interesting, and appears to conflict with my statement. Take a look!
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Quick Lab Ideas
Beats: Check out this article in a Spanish engineering education journal to see another way to emphasize the superposition of waves in the production of beats. While in prevous posts we've encouraged users to consider using three smartphones to (1) produce one tone, (2) produce a second tone of slight difference in Hz, and (3) visualize the pulsating wave form on the Oscilloscope, consider using the third smartphone to (3) visualize changes in sound intensity using the Sound Meter. This activity will emphasize the dramatic change in amplitude experienced during beats.
Elevators: The idea of using smartphones for elevator studies has circulated a few times (perhaps starting with this article by Martin Monteiro and Arturo Marti), but another take on this fun experiment relating pressure, displacement, and speed is available from Fucina delle Scienze in Italian by Umberto Rubino. Excellent data visuals are available.
Pendula: A brave soul from Italy recently shared a video on his Twitter post showing the use of the Proximeter Sensor. Although we typically see this used by having the pendulum swing above the smartphone, Flavio Ciprani decided to use his faith in conservation of energy to measure full periods of the pendulum as the pendulum bob came toward the smartphone. (Note: If you decide to do this, "release" the pendulum bob -- never push -- and be aware of the risks!)
Physics Toolbox around the Web
We are always curious to learn about how Physics Toolbox is being employed in education and industry around the world. Here are a few references using or citing the work of the Physics Toolbox team.
Farmers and agricultural scientists find utility in Physics Toolbox to measure chlorophyll concentration, a proxy for soil nitrogen and overall plant health. The models to make these measurements quickly and efficiently are "urgently needed to increase farmers' profits while reducing environmental concerns."
Smartphone accelerometers are used to measure car motions in this Polish-language article. "The article presents the following signal processing: 3D acceleration --> longitudinal vehicle acceleration --> vehicle speed --> resultant power --> power transmitted from the propulsion system.
More Outreach Days with Physics Toolbox Play
If you haven't gotten Physics Toolbox Play yet, please consider checking it out and providing feedback. So far, we've had a lot more fun with programming at Alexandria Public Library and at the U.S. Federal Agency STEM Volunteer Fair. We look forward to a number of programs with local middle and high school students over the next few months.
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