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Lab4Physics offers five tools that can be used in a variety of labs and tests. We will use some of them together and you are welcome to explroe them all for a full year thanks to a generous sponsorship from Lab4U.
GETTING STARTED DIRECTIONS
Download Lab4Phsysics App (App Store, Google Play)
OPTION 1 Register on the app. Email Dr. Shirey the email address that you used to register and I will get you UNLOCKED.
OPTION 2 Email Dr. Shirey the email address that you'd like to use on the app. I'll ask Lab4Physics to make a password for you and I'll send it back to you. Don't register, just log in with the email and the password from Lab4Physics.
Which Lab4Physics tool should I choose?
Which Lab4Physics tool should I choose?
They're all good for different things, depending on what you want to measure:
Accelerometer. This tool uses your phone's internal accelerometer to measure speed and changes in speed. You can put it in your pocket when you run to get the acceleration. Or you can put your phone into a safe housing (like a pouch on a string or a secure spot on a rolling skateboard) and it will measure the acceleration by itself
Camera. This tool is great for tracking the motion of something moving, flying, or falling.
Help me with the camera tool
Help me with the camera tool
WATCH THE LAB4PHYSICS CAMERA TUTORIAL VIDEO
Tips from Dr. Shirey
Always hold the camera still, maybe even set it on something still.
You will also want to know a SCALE that is in the frame. For instance, your height can be the scale, or a ruler/meterstick in the frame. Even the width of a ball can be a scale because that is a standard width.
Use the camera to capture video and say Use.
Set the scale by putting a line from point to point and setting that equivalent distance and correct units. For instance, if I use the football field as a scale, then I know each yard line is 5 meters apart so I can trace a line between yard lines and note that it is the length of 5 m.
Adjust axis coordinate. This sets the Zero or the origin point. Put the origin on the ground or at the start of the motion.
Add points to track. Drag the double circle over the ball or object (usually the center of mass is a good idea, as in, the center of the object or its average location.) Tap to place a dot on the object. The frame will automatically advance. Drag the circles of the next location and repeat.
Press the green arrow when you've tracked the ball at all locations
You will see a graph starting with position versus time. You can click on any point to read its coordinates. The graphs relate to each other! Check out more on that here.
For acceleration, go to acceleration versus time. Estimate the acceleration as best as possible. It is also the slope of the velocity graph.
Help me with the speedometer
Help me with the speedometer
Lab4Physics has a great help page for the speedometer.
OTHER PHYSICS APPS
Lab 4 Chemistry is also from Lab4U. Supports chemistry experiments.
Graphical GW from Graphical Analysis (iOS) has a nice simple ball toss data set example.
Video Physics from Vernier (iOS only) allows you to import video, not just take a new video. Exports video with dots, and exports data file to open with free Graphical Analysis on the computer. (Graphical Analysis works on any computer)
Phyphox (iOS or Android) has a ton of sensor set-ups with accelerometer and sound, no camera.
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