Smartphones as Mobile Minilabs in Physics

392 Pages·2022·16.786 MB·English

by  Jochen Kuhn (editor), Patrik Vogt (editor)

Jochen Kuhn
Patrik Vogt Editors
Smartphones as
Mobile Minilabs
in Physics
Edited Volume Featuring more than
70 Examples from 10 Years
The Physics Teacher-column
iPhysicsLabs
Smartphones as Mobile Minilabs in Physics
(cid:129)
Jochen Kuhn Patrik Vogt
Editors
Smartphones as Mobile
Minilabs in Physics
Edited Volume Featuring more than
The Physics
70 Examples from 10 Years
Teacher
-column iPhysicsLabs
Editors
JochenKuhn PatrikVogt
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität InstituteofTeacherTraining(ILF)Mainz
München(LMUMunich) Mainz,Germany
FacultyofPhysics,ChairofPhysics
Education
Munich,Germany
ISBN978-3-030-94043-0 ISBN978-3-030-94044-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94044-7
#TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerland
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Foreword
SwissPocketknife,indeed!Thismetaphormightneedsomeexplanationforsome,
butitdoesseemrightontargettome,sopleaseindulgemewhileIreminisceabit.In
my younger days, I kept an actual Swiss Pocket knife with me all the time, and it
seemedacriticalpartofthepreparedphysicsteacher’sequipment—Ifoundmyself
usingmyitmosteverydaytocutstringorducttape,ortoopenboxesordigholesor
fashion cardboard lens holders or any number of other essential physics teacher
tasks. But then 9/11 happened and if you traveled much at all, you couldn’t risk
carrying your Swiss Pocket knife on your person and having it confiscated and
yourself detained, so it went into back drawer somewhere and saw much less use
than before.NowI nolonger carry aknife inmypocket,buttheessential piece of
physicsteacherequipmentthathasreplaceditinmanyregards,isthecellphone,at
leastinmycase.Itismoreversatilethantheknifeinmanyregards,butinmyideal
worldI’dhavethembothatmyfingertipswhenteaching.
When Jochen Kuhn and Patrik Vogt first proposed a column for The Physics
Teacheronthetopicofusingcellphonesintheclassroom,Icanimaginetherewere
many skeptics—after all, some teachers were still not allowing calculators in the
classroom,ifIremembercorrectly!Theirfirstcolumnwasabeautifulpiece1about
using a cell phone to detect diffraction from an infrared remote-control device,
inspiringly simple and satisfyingly packaged, but could there be enough other
goodideas to generate aqualityarticle every month?It seemseventhe TPTeditor
at the time, Karl Mamola, was unsure whether this idea would be sustainable as a
regularTPTfeature.
Infact,the“ColumnEditor’sNote”thatservedtointroducethisnewTPTfeature
toreadersincludedthiscaveat,“Wewillpublish‘iPhysicsLabs’onatrialbasisfora
numberofmonths;dependingonreaderresponseitmayevolveintoaregularTPT
column.”
However,evenbackinFebruary2012,whenthisfirstcolumnappearedinTPT,
KuhnandVogtseemedtoknowthatthisbitoftechnologywastobeakeypartofthe
physics teacher’s tool kit for many years to come. In describing the kinds of
submissions they hoped to receive, this wildly optimistic pair of physicists had
1Phys.Teach.50,118(2012);https://doi.org/10.1119/1.3677292
vv
vi Foreword
clear ideas about what would work best, writing: “The column will feature short
papers (generally less than 1000 words) describing experiments that make use
of the sophisticated features of mobile media devices produced by various
manufacturers ... The contributions should include some theoretical background,
a description of the experimental setup and procedure, and a discussion of typical
results.” Kuhn and Vogt have stayed true to this original vision, describing many
dozens of clever physics experiments described within the column, and providing
teachers everywhere with a host of options for tomorrow’s classroom. Some ideas
came from Kuhn and Vogt directly while many others were contributed by TPT
readers—apparentlyreadersweresoresponsivethatthecolumnisstillgoingstrong
after 10 years! ... And such variety! Topics range from acoustics to mechanics to
optics to electromagnetism to radioactivity to thermodynamics to astronomy to
almost anything that an introductory physics teacher could imagine wanting to
presentintheirclassroom.
Their column has become one of the most long-running columns in TPT, being
downloaded many times by teachers all over the world within a short period after
appearing. In late 2013, when I inherited The Physics Teacher editorial role from
Karl Mamola,theiPhysicscolumnwasfirmlyestablished asaregularfeature with
Kuhn and Vogt as Column Editors. I am so glad that they persisted these past 10
yearstoproducesuchapowerfulcollectionofphysicsexperimentsthatcanbedone
withapocketdevice.Tohavethemallinoneplace,completewithanintroductory
piece to flesh out some of the logic behind why mobile phone media can be a key
parttoeffectivephysicspedagogy,isarealbenefittothephysicsteachingcommu-
nity.Thankyou,JochenandPatrik,forsharingyourknowledgeandexperiencesin
thisway,andcongratulationsonthetenthanniversaryofatrulyvaluableenterprise!
AmericanAssociationofPhysicsTeachers GaryWhite
CollegePark
MD,USA
Contents
PartI Introduction
1 SmartphonesandTabletPCs:ExcellentDigitalSwissPocket
KnivesforPhysicsEducation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
JochenKuhnandPatrikVogt
PartII KinematicsandDynamics
2 DeterminingBallVelocitieswithSmartphones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
PatrikVogt,JochenKuhn,andDenisNeuschwander
3 AnExperimentofRelativeVelocityinaTrainUsing
aSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
AanPriyanto,Yusmantoro,andMahardikaPrasetyaAji
4 LEDGatesforMeasuringKinematicParametersUsing
theAmbientLightSensorofaSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
WitchayapornNamchanthraandChokchaiPuttharugsa
5 LocatingaSmartphone’sAccelerometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
SidneyMau,FrancescoInsulla,ElliotE.Pickens,ZihaoDing,
andScottC.Dudley
6 AnalyzingFreeFallwithaSmartphoneAccelerationSensor. . . . . 33
PatrikVogtandJochenKuhn
7 GoingNuts:MeasuringFree-FallAccelerationbyAnalyzing
theSoundofFallingMetalPieces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
FlorianTheilmann
8 TheAtwoodMachineRevisitedUsingSmartphones. . . . . . . . . . . . 43
MartínMonteiro,CeciliaStari,CeciliaCabeza,andArturoC.Marti
9 StudyofaVariableMassAtwood’sMachineUsing
aSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
DanyLópez,IsidoraCaprile,FernandoCorvacho,andOrfaReyes
vviiii
viii Contents
PartIII MomentumandCollision
10 AnalyzingCollisionProcesseswiththeSmartphone
AccelerationSensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
PatrikVogtandJochenKuhn
11 TheDynamicsoftheMagneticLinearAcceleratorExamined
byVideoMotionAnalysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
SebastianBecker-Genschow,MichaelThees,andJochenKuhn
12 AcousticMeasurementsofBouncingBallsandtheDetermination
ofGravitationalAcceleration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
OliverSchwarz,PatrikVogt,andJochenKuhn
13 Studying3DCollisionswithSmartphones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
VandaPereira,PabloMartín-Ramos,PedroPereiradaSilva,
andManuelaRamosSilva
PartIV Rotation
14 MeasuringAverageAngularVelocitywithaSmartphone
MagneticFieldSensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
UnofrePiliandRenanteViolanda
15 VisualizingAccelerationwithAccelVisu2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
ThomasWilhelm,Jan-PhilippBurde,andStephanLück
16 AnalyzingRadialAccelerationwithaSmartphoneAcceleration
Sensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
PatrikVogtandJochenKuhn
17 DetectEarth’sRotationUsingYourSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
JulienVandermarlière
18 AngularVelocityandCentripetalAccelerationRelationship. . . . . . 107
MartínMonteiro,CeciliaCabeza,ArturoC.Marti,PatrikVogt,
andJochenKuhn
19 DeterminationoftheRadiusofCurvesandRoundaboutswith
aSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
ChristophFahslandPatrikVogt
20 UnderstandingCoffeeSpillsUsingaSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
FernandoTornaría,MartínMonteiro,andArturoC.Marti
21 TiltingMotionandtheMomentofInertiaoftheSmartphone. . . . . 121
A.KapsandF.Stallmach
22 AngularMomentum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
AsifShakurandTaylorSinatra
Contents ix
23 AngularVelocityDirectMeasurementandMomentofInertia
CalculationofaRigidBodyUsingaSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
MatthaiosPatrinopoulosandChrysovalantisKefalis
PartV MechanicsofDeformableBodies
24 SurfaceTensionMeasurementswithaSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Nicolas-AlexandreGoy,ZakariDenis,MaximeLavaud,
AdrianGrolleau,NicolasDufour,AntoineDeblais,
andUlysseDelabre
25 ExploringtheAtmosphereUsingSmartphones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
MartínMonteiro,PatrikVogt,CeciliaStari,CeciliaCabeza,
andArturoC.Marti
26 OntheInflationofaRubberBalloon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
JulienVandermarlière
27 VideoAnalysisonTabletComputerstoInvestigateEffectsofAir
Resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
SebastianBecker-Genschow,PascalKlein,andJochenKuhn
28 DeterminationoftheDragResistanceCoefficientsofDifferent
Vehicles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
ChristophFahslandPatrikVogt
PartVI Pendulums
29 AnalyzingSimplePendulumPhenomenawithaSmartphone
AccelerationSensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
PatrikVogtandJochenKuhn
30 MeasurementofgUsingaMagneticPendulumandaSmartphone
Magnetometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
UnofrePili,RenanteViolanda,andClaudeCeniza
31 DeterminationofGravityAccelerationwithSmartphoneAmbient
LightSensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
JhonAlfredoSilva-Alé
32 AnalyzingSpringPendulumPhenomenawithaSmartphone
AccelerationSensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
JochenKuhnandPatrikVogt
33 UsingtheSmartphoneasOscillationBalance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
A.KapsandF.Stallmach
34 MeasuringaSpringConstantwithaSmartphoneMagneticField
Sensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
UnofrePiliandRenanteViolanda
x Contents
35 AnalyzingElevatorOscillationwiththeSmartphoneAcceleration
Sensors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
JochenKuhn,PatrikVogt,andAndreasMüller
36 CoupledPendulumsonaClothesline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
MichaelThees,SebastianBecker-Genschow,EvaRexigel,
NilsCullman,andJochenKuhn
37 SuperpositionofOscillationontheMetapendulum:Visualization
ofEnergyConservationwiththeSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
DavidWeilerandArneBewersdorff
38 DemonstrationoftheParallelAxisTheoremThrough
aSmartphone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
I.Salinas,M.H.Gimenez,J.A.Monsoriu,andJ.A.Sans
39 RotationalEnergyinaPhysicalPendulum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
MartínMonteiro,CeciliaCabeza,andArturoC.Marti
PartVII AcousticalLoggingandtheSpeedofSound
40 DeterminingtheSpeedofSoundwithStereoHeadphones. . . . . . . . 235
PatrikVogtandJochenKuhn
41 StationaryWavesinTubesandtheSpeedofSound. . . . . . . . . . . . 239
LutzKasper,PatrikVogt,andChristineStrohmeyer
42 TunnelPressureWaves:ASmartphoneInquiryonRailTravel. . . 245
AndreasMüller,MichaelHirth,andJochenKuhn
43 Smartphone-AidedMeasurementsoftheSpeedofSound
inDifferentGaseousMixtures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
SaraOrsolaParolinandGiovanniPezzi
PartVIII Resonators
44 MeasurementofSoundVelocityMadeEasyUsingHarmonic
ResonantFrequencieswithEverydayMobileTechnology. . . . . . . . 259
MichaelHirth,JochenKuhn,andAndreasMüller
45 CorkscrewingandSpeedofSound:ASurprisinglySimple
Experiment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
LutzKasperandPatrikVogt
46 ABottleofTeaasaUniversalHelmholtzResonator. . . . . . . . . . . . 271
MartínMonteiro,CeciliaStari,CeciliaCabeza,andArturoC.Marti
47 MeasuringtheAcousticResponseofHelmholtzResonators. . . . . . 277
MartínMonteiro,ArturoC.Marti,PatrikVogt,LutzKasper,
andDominikQuarthal