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At 08:49 AM 12/11/97 -0500, Rick T. wrote:We have used air tracks with motion detectors for years and have gotten good
(snip)
One experiment I try every
year is using a tilted air track to study accelerated motion and in part to
measure the acceleration due to gravity. This never works very well (the
technique requires a photo-gate to be triggered AS SOON AS the cart starts
to move down the incline and that is difficult to set up properly).
(snip)
I
thought that using a motion sensor, an air track, and a cart with a
reflector might be the answer. A couple of us set up the experiment, took
the data, and tried the analysis. What we got was GARBAGE. Ultimately we
recognized that we did have to average over longer time periods, but even
then the quality of the data was crap.
Motion detectors often don't work well with air tracks. The air turbulence
above the track interferes with the desired sound propagation.
__________________________________Jim Riley