Insights An Accurate Simple Harmonic Oscillator Laboratory - Comments

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The discussion centers around a new blog post by Greg Bernhardt on an accurate simple harmonic oscillator laboratory experiment. The experiment is noted for its simplicity, requiring only basic counting skills, but is still considered effective for educational purposes. Participants emphasize the importance of incorporating tracking software into education, highlighting its potential to enhance experimental design and accuracy. One contributor recalls a high school experiment using video technology to demonstrate sinusoidal motion, reinforcing the value of modern tools like Tracker for obtaining precise results with minimal equipment. Overall, the conversation advocates for the integration of technology in physics education to improve learning outcomes.
Dr. Courtney
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Greg Bernhardt submitted a new blog post

An Accurate Simple Harmonic Oscillator Laboratory
Simple_Harmonic_Oscillator_Laboratory.png


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Requires students to be able to count to ten. Effectively unusable. :rolleyes:

Just kidding. Even today it is a good experiment. Including tracking software into education needs to be promoted more. Back in high-school I did a similar experiment with a wheel and a VCR to prove to my teacher that the height of a point on the perimiter as a function of time was a sinusoid, not a cycloid (that’s as a function of horizontal displacement). I still recall going frame by frame.
 
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Orodruin said:
Including tracking software into education needs to be promoted more. Back in high-school I did a similar experiment with a wheel and a VCR to prove to my teacher that the height of a point on the perimiter as a function of time was a sinusoid, not a cycloid (that’s as a function of horizontal displacement). I still recall going frame by frame.

Agreed. With some careful experimental design, getting accurate results with Tracker is just so easy with little more than a video camera and a computer.
 

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