C2-51: KINEMATICS WITH ULTRASONIC RANGER

The ultrasonic range detector is used with a computer to plot graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration. Linear motion can be created by a person walking along a line in front of the ultrasonic ranger. A large piece of styrofoam sheet can be used as a reflector for the ultrasound, to keep the curves as smooth as possible. Graphs of x, v, and a can be easily displayed individually or in any combination.

The graphs of position and velocity are quite nice, but the acceleration can be a bit noisy, because it is obtained by differentiation of the position vs. time data. Try this before class.