Abstract
The purpose of this contribution is to propose a workshop for acquiring data through the use of a smartphone, not necessarily high end, equipped with a camera and the required application installed. With a smartphone and the free Physics Toolbox application, it is possible to study the oscillatory motion of both simple and vertical pendulums. This is possible by measuring the components of acceleration on the three axes by means of a reading from the internal accelerometers of the smartphone. The vertical motion of the pendulum brings to light the concept of elasticity. Thanks to the Tracker software it is possible to study the damped oscillatory motion of a moving body on a semi-circular drive through the video analysis of the motion itself. Tracker is a free video analysis and modelling tool built on the Open Source Physics Java framework. Given the simplicity of the acquisition procedure and data analysis it is possible to study the motion of circular bodies of different sizes and materials in a short amount of time. The activity relating the vertical motion of the pendulum study also allows for the comparison between the classical procedure, using a stopwatch and both proposals procedures, using smartphones and Tracker. The analysis of subsequent data acquisition must be carried out using standard spreadsheet calculations by introducing the concept of error and the techniques to make it as small as possible. The use of the new widespread technologies allows students to approach the physical concepts even outside of a classic laboratory. The ease of use and low cost allow any school environment to propose activities to the entire class by offering more contemporary workstations and organizing groups of a few students.
Highlights
The course that has been proposed is a part of the course for the teaching qualification, designed as a series of laboratory activities suited to secondary school
Tracker is a free video analysis and modelling tool built on the Open Source Physics Java framework
The experimental measurement is carried out, similar to the pendulum one, using your smartphone as a mass m and “Physics Toolbox accelerometer” to acquire the period of oscillation of the vertical pendulum: the use of a smartphone as mass is not the best choice to study the motion of vertical pendulum (Fig. 4 – it’s very difficult to get perfect vertical oscillations due to the size and mass of the smartphone)
Summary
The course that has been proposed is a part of the course for the teaching qualification, designed as a series of laboratory activities suited to secondary school. By measuring the acceleration components on the three axes by the internal accelerometer of the telephone, it is possible to study the oscillatory motion of a simple pendulum and a vertical pendulum. Experience of simple pendulum Using a smartphone as a mass it is possible to build a pendulum (Vogt & Kuhn 2012) of length l and measuring the period of oscillation by acquiring the data through the application “Physics Toolbox accelerometer” (Fig. 1). This App is free downloadable both for Android and iOS.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
