Sonic Ranger in Water: Will it Track Ball Velocity?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the functionality of a sonic ranger when tracking a ball's motion in water, as opposed to air. It is established that the sonic ranger can track the ball's velocity, provided the transmitter and receiver are submerged in the water. The difference in the speed of sound between air and water introduces potential errors, which can be calculated to obtain a relative velocity-time graph. The user intends to utilize this setup to explore the relationship between drag force and velocity, contingent upon accurate error calculations.

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  • Understanding of sonic ranger technology
  • Knowledge of fluid dynamics, particularly drag force concepts
  • Familiarity with sound propagation in different mediums
  • Basic skills in experimental design and data analysis
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  • Research the principles of sound propagation in water versus air
  • Learn about calculating error margins in velocity measurements
  • Study the relationship between drag force and velocity in fluid dynamics
  • Explore experimental setups for measuring drag force using sonic rangers
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Researchers, physics students, and engineers interested in fluid dynamics, experimental physics, and the application of sonic rangers in various mediums.

silentstorm
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i was wondering if a sonic ranger works fine if a ball were dropped in a viscous medium, say water, instead of air. Will it still be able to track the motion of the ball and give me the velocity-time graph?
 
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Depends on how it works but your transmitter/reciever would have to be in the water as well, presumably. Otherwise since the speed of sound in water is different from air, you'll have some sort of error (but that should be easily calculated). You'll get a relative speed/time graph with some sort of conversion factor (using the ranger outside water).
 
thanks, actually my idea was to use this concept to devise an experiment to deduce the relationship between drag force and velocity. do you think it will work (after the error calculation that is..)?
 

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