ERIC Number: EJ1074906
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-9120
EISSN: N/A
A Simple Device for Studying the Relativity of Motion
Mayer, V. V.; Varaksina, E. I.
Physics Education, v50 n5 p587-596 Sep 2015
The fundamentals of classical mechanics are the foundation of more complicated and ingenious physical theories. Therefore, an educational experiment revealing to students the physical nature of mechanical phenomena is important. The effectiveness of this experiment manifoldly increases if students not only perform it by themselves, but also make the necessary appliances with their own hands. Such devices should be modern in order to elicit the students' interest, and very simple so that creating them does not require much time and effort. This paper proposes a device that can be used in the experimental study of the relativity of mechanical motion and in the investigation of the motion of the solid mass centre in the Earth's gravitational field. The device is a soft disc into which a power supply, a switch, a pulse generator and two coloured light emitting diodes are fixed, so that the mass centre of the device does not coincide with the geometrical centre of the disc. One of the diodes is placed in the mass centre, and the other is located at the edge of the disc. Several interesting examples are considered as the body mass centre moves along a parabola, a cycloid and a straight line.
Descriptors: Scientific Concepts, Motion, Science Instruction, Science Experiments, Mechanics (Physics), Laboratory Equipment, Science Laboratories
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A