Designing a simple apparatus for measuring kinematic variables

Abstract

This study was conducted to develop a simple and inexpensive experimental apparatus that can measure the position of an object moving along a straight line at certain time intervals. For the construction of the apparatus, a battery-powered toy car, a fine-tipped paint brush, gouache (or watercolour) paint and paper tape were used. The working principle of the device is this: a short time after the toy car is turned on, its wheels start to turn with a constant angular velocity. A paint brush attached to one wheel also turns with a constant angular velocity. The paper tape is placed at a distance where the brush can touch it. Thus, with each round of the wheel, the brush lightly touches the paper tape and leaves a paint mark. Since the wheel turns at a constant angular velocity, the brush touches the tape once in each turn and leaves behind an equal amount of paint at equal intervals (one cycle at (T) time intervals). When the paper tape is pulled by attaching it to the object for which the motion is to be analyzed, lines are formed on the paper. By measuring the distance between the lines, the motion of the object can be analyzed and the position of the object can be identified at various moments. In this way, the speed and acceleration of the object can be measured.