Re: [Phys-L] ?simple experiment limited by fluctuations

[Anthony Lapinski <alapinski@pds.org>]

Actually, reaction time for #1 was in distance units. They simply measured
the distance on the ruler. No formula to convert to time. For #2 it is
difficult to get the exact diameter of the cut circle. For #5, this lab was
done 30 years ago when I was in grad school. Everyone wore a watch back
then. And there were many shortwave stations I could pick up. WWV in
Colorado still broadcasts the time. Here in NJ kids still wear watches. I
do. Everyone also has a smartphone, so #5 would not be a very useful
activity.

On Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 11:12 AM John Denker via Phys-l <
phys-l@mail.phys-l.org> wrote:

> On 11/21/18 6:33 AM, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
>
> > 1) drop ruler and catch to measure distance
> > 2) measure diameter of circle cut out of cardboard
> > 3) measure height of candle flame
> > 4) measure mass of a piece of dry ice
> > 5) use shortwave radio to measure the time on your watch compared to
> Universal Time
>
> Nice!
>
> I assume the point of (1) is to measure reaction time.
>
> I assume (2) revolves around the idea that you can measure
>  more accurately than you can cut.  Also, paper products
>  change size as a function of humidity, so one could do
>  a longitudinal study.
>
> I assume (5) would use GPS as the reference nowadays,
>  and would measure both slope and intercept ...
>
>  But what is this "watch" whereof you speak?
>  Do students wear watches where you are?  They don't around here.
>  Cellphones are automagically synced to GPS.
>
>  Solution:  Their graphing calculators probably have a time-of-day
>  clock, which (a) is not synced to GPS, and (b) has enough drift
>  to be easily measurable.
> _______________________________________________
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