Activities for the Wireless Dynamics Sensor System - Vernier ...
Activities for the Wireless Dynamics Sensor System - Vernier ...
Activities for the Wireless Dynamics Sensor System - Vernier ...
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<strong>Activities</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Wireless</strong> <strong>Dynamics</strong> <strong>Sensor</strong> <strong>System</strong>TEACHER INFORMATIONWDSS Bungee Jumper1. A bungee jump provides an excellent opportunity to let students see a link between<strong>for</strong>ce and acceleration, assuming that <strong>the</strong>y first have an understanding of what eachmeans.2. Here are a number of web sites with in<strong>for</strong>mation on <strong>the</strong> technology of bungeejumping, its history, some fantastic images and <strong>the</strong> physics involved.• Reporter’s Notebook: South Pacific Ritual Bungee Jumping – This is a newsreport on <strong>the</strong> land diving ritual, <strong>the</strong> Naghol, per<strong>for</strong>med on Pentecost Island, one ofmany making up Vanuatu.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1125_021126_TVVanuatu.html• Steve Fettke Bungee Jumping – This site contains lots of bungee facts, detailsabout <strong>the</strong> equipment used, photographs, and videos.http://www.fettke.com/bungee/equip.htm• The Ox<strong>for</strong>d Stunt Factory – This organization per<strong>for</strong>med <strong>the</strong> bungee jump shownin <strong>the</strong> Bond movie Golden Eye. Images of this and o<strong>the</strong>r stunts are available here.http://www.ox<strong>for</strong>dstuntfactory.com/html/stunts.htm• Vertige Aventures – This company manufactures bungee ropes and providesin<strong>for</strong>mation on <strong>the</strong>ir construction.http://www.bungee-jump.com/xvms.htm3. The bungee cord needs to be selected <strong>for</strong> reasonable elasticity. The rubber cord usedin a paddle-ball toy works well <strong>for</strong> this experiment. You can also create a cord byconnecting several smaller rubber bands toge<strong>the</strong>r.4. When discussing <strong>the</strong> accelerometer reading, it is proper to refer to it as a measure ofNormal Force per Unit Mass, with units of N/kg, where “normal” is in <strong>the</strong> directionof that particular accelerometer. This is what <strong>the</strong> accelerometer is actually measuring.(Note that it is not <strong>the</strong> net <strong>for</strong>ce per unit mass which would be acceleration.) Amotionless accelerometer oriented in <strong>the</strong> vertical direction will give a reading of+9.8 N/kg when pointed up and –9.8 N/kg when pointed down. A motionlessaccelerometer oriented in <strong>the</strong> horizontal direction will read 0 N/kg. An accelerometerin freefall will give a value of 0 N/kg regardless of its orientation. Since most peopleprefer <strong>the</strong> measurement be in m/s 2 , we have used <strong>the</strong>se units in this manual.6 © 2007 - <strong>Vernier</strong> Software & Technology