Personal Technology Project #3 Logger Pro Sensors

For my third tech. project I worked with logger pro and it is a blast!

So, I did work with three sensors, the light sensor, the dual force sensor, and the motion detector, but the motion detector that I checked out didn't work, and I don't have the graph of when I played with it in the tech lab. But I do have the data from the other two probes, as well as a way to really apply the analysis that is available.

The first lab is to sense the effect of light pollution in observing the night sky. First I take measurements in a small computer lab that has some stand by lights on.

As you can see here, about two of these standby lights were easily visible by the sensor. However, the next data run I increased the light pollution by activating all the computer screens while still keeping the room light off. While I could still see the led's you can see from the graph below...

That the sensor couldn't tell the difference, it all basically appeared to be the same level of light. This also can happen with our eyes, making it impossible for us to see the stars.

The next lab was to observe the sinusoidal motion of pendulums. By setting up the motion detector in the plane of motion for the pendulum, you can track its movement and see that it is very much sinusoidal. However, my motion detector did not work for me today.

Lastly, there is a lab that could be really advanced to explain the connection behind force and acceleration. First you would have to have already covered Hooke's Law for springs, Gravity, and the 2nd law of motion. Then by attaching a spring to the dual force sensor and then attaching that spring to a hanging weight, and by setting up the motion detector directly beneath the setup, you now have a complete system to record and analyze force, position, velocity, and acceleration. By setting the mass and spring in motion and recording simultaneously, you can then see the relationship wit

h utmost clarity between position and force in Hooke's law, and the relationship between force and acceleration in Newton's second law of motion.

Here is the graph that I could make with only the force sensor working:

I Learned So much about these probes. There is no way I am not going to have these in my classroom. I learned that they are an incredably robust and effective means to record data for learning science. As I am going to be doing basic mechanics in my physics classes, the force plate, the force probe, the motion detector, and the photogate would probably be the best ones for me to have. But I would love to have them all!