User's Manual

Ballistic Pendulum Accessory Model No. ME-9845

8. Loop the thread to the white track clip on the peg at the end of the track. (See Figure 4.)

Taking Measurements and Collecting Data

Part I: Measuring the Velocity of the Car:

Option 1: Measuring the Car’s Velocity with Photogates and a Computer Interface

1. Place a Photogate on the last peg of the Roller Coaster track. This allows the measurement of

the speed of the car just before it runs off the track and into the catcher.

2. Connect the Photogate to a Smart Timer or to a computer interface (ScienceWorkshop or

PASPORT).

a) For the Smart Timer, choose “speed” and “one gate.” The Smart Timer will automatically

calculate and display the velocity.

b) For PASPORT interfaces: Plug the photogate into a PASPORT Photogate Port; then plug

the port into the computer interface. Setup your experiment in DataStudio (For instruc-

tions, see Appendix A). DataStudio will prompt you for the flag spacing and automatically

calculate the velocity.

c) For ScienceWorkshop interfaces: Plug the photogate into a ScienceWorkshop interface. Set

up your experiment in DataStudio. Use the calculator function to create an equation for the

velocity. Enter the spacing on the flag. (See Appendix A for DataStudio setup.)

thread

thread clip

Figure 4: Attaching the Catcher Thread to the Track