PC Sound Card: Transformation to High Technology Physics Experiment

Abstract

Experiments are not only an essential component in expanding our knowledge but also play as a significant role in learning and teaching, especially in physics. Normally, some physics experiments are performed using specialize and expensive equipment. Due to the high cost, it is a major challenge financially to acquire, maintain and upgrade the equipment. These relatively expensive and specialize equipment make it difficult for many schools to be involved in laboratory work. Hence, students are deprived from performing some basics experiments, which are important in explaining the fundamental principal of physics. In order to create more conducive and engaging environment, we investigate the possibility of utilizing the PC sound card as sensors to determine the speed of sound directly. A special emphasis is given on easy to assemble experiments that can fit within the budget of any schools. The PC Sound Card and the utilization of Soundcard Scope overcome the technical difficulty to probe the time travel, t by sound in a short distance. Hence it enables us to determine the speed of sound directly by adopting the definition of speed. The result is compared with the experiment using Phyphox applications and resonance method. The speed of sound in air is found to be (340 ± 2) ms−1 as compared to the value measured using the echo method of Phyphox applications which is (341.2 ± 1.2) ms−1 and (340.6 ± 6.3) ms−1 using resonance method. Three selected experts in physics education have been involved to determine the validity of the experimental module while 31 trainee teachers from UPSI’s Physics Education Program have been engaged to study the usability of the experimental module using random cluster sampling techniques. It has been found that the agreement among the experts which is 100% for face validity and 98.33% for content validity. The finding from the usability study shows that all items obtained a high mean score value with a range of 3.55-3.90. Therefore, it is concluded that the technique and the experiment have a high potential to be used as a hand-on and an alternative method to directly determine the speed of sound in school.