Last week's "what the heck is this?" winner is Greg Utecht.
The answer is a tape timer. Basically, (just like Greg said) you take this pressure sensitive tape and run it though. I don't have any of the tape, but this is basically what it would look like:
That little clicker thing moves up and down at a constant frequency and makes little dots ont he moving tape. Since the time interval between clicks is constant, you can determine the motion by measuring the distance between dots.
I like this device because it wasn't all too long ago that we didn't have these fancy motion detectors and video analysis. We had to collect motion data in a more abstract manner. What are the different methods for measuring motion? Here are a few that I can think of:
- Measuring the distance and then using a stop watch (or your own pulse if you don't have a watch).
- Spark timer. This is essentially the same thing as above but it uses a high voltage source to make dots by sparking.
- Photo gates. This device uses some a stopwatch that is triggered when a light source is interupted. You can have this collect data from just a timer. The other option would be to have the data go into a computer.
- Motion detector. Surely you have seen these devices. Both PASCO and Vernier make these things. Both work quite well.
- Video analysis. Make a video and then look at what you have.
Note: What the heck is this? Will take a Thanksgiving break this week.
