A cheap and accurate technique of measuring the rolling time of cylinders

Abstract

Measuring time of motion using photogates is a good solution when the moving object has plane surfaces or when you can put upon it a plane surface object, which acts as a beam stopper. There are however situations where other devices, and in particular micro-switches, although they are much cheaper than photogates, perform at least as well as photogates. In this frontline, I describe how we can construct an inclined plane equipped with micro-switches and how we can use it in experiments involving rolling cylinders.