A new system for tracking a metal ball rolling on the slope of the touch panel of a tablet computer was developed. The widespread introduction of tablets in educational environments allows the use of a convenient dynamic measurement in schools.

A smartphone is a powerful learning aid in the hands of a large section of students around the world. The camera of the phone can be used for several learning purposes apart from its obvious purpose of photographing. If the focal length of the lens of the camera can be determined, several experiments in optics can be performed with it. In some…

With the development of digital technology, plentiful sensors are embedded in the smartphone, which makes it a valuable tool for teaching elementary experimental physics. For instance, the magnetic field sensor of the smartphone has been used to measure gravitational acceleration by measuring the magnetic pendulum's oscillation period. The…

In this study, we propose a novel and direct method of determining the focal length of a converging or diverging lens using a smartphone. The standard optical sensor used in modern smartphone cameras is an active-pixel sensor called the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). The CMOS is covered by an assembly of five to seven camera…

As smartphones have become a part of our everyday life, their sensors have successfully been used to allow data acquisition with these readily available devices in a variety of different smartphone-based school experiments. Such experiments most commonly take advantage of the accelerometer and gyroscope. A less frequently used sensor in…

In conventional physics teaching, acceleration measurement is demonstrated using motion sensors and carts on inclined tracks, and relevant data are collected using specific professional software. This approach entails the connection of computers and interface boxes, and requires high cost and large space. Air-track carts can be used to perform…

There are many examples of using smartphones in physics experiments. Students and teachers can easily perform many physics experiments with the help of smartphone sensors, even experiments for which high-cost materials are needed. There are different types of such experiments in which various kinds of sensors are used. Many physical quantities can…

Ever wonder how an astronaut's mass is measured in space? Of course, a weight scale is of no use, because the astronaut and the scale are in free fall. Measuring the period of a spring mass oscillator is one way to measure mass. In this article, we will demonstrate a method to measure mass using a smartphone, a rubber band, and an app called…

In recent years, do-it-yourself microcontrollers and sensors have gained increased attention as measurement devices for physics teaching (see, for example, Refs. 1-5). This is not surprising, since Arduinos are relatively cheap and ubiquitous, the code base and design are open source, and there is a wide variety of sensors available. Arduinos can…

A smartphone magnetometer is used to record the magnetic field of a freely falling point dipole magnet. The recorded magnetic field vs. time data are analyzed in accordance with the spatial dependence of the magnetic field to calculate the acceleration due to gravity g. The experiment gives local g to be 9.79 ± 1.9% m/s[superscript 2].

During the last decade there has been a noticeable increase in the number and use of smartphones around the world, a fact evinced in the latest reports by the Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association (GSMA). Nowadays, 1 in 2 people in the world own and use a smartphone.

In physics lessons at secondary school and experimental physics courses at universities, the magnetic field inside a current-carrying solenoid is considered quantitatively. The corresponding equations and theories are supported by measuring the magnetic flux density inside the solenoid with a Hall probe. It has already been shown that smartphones…

A simple experimental setup using a smartphone and a pair of speakers is presented to perform an accurate experiment on interference of two point sources. The proposed experiment allows simple but interesting measurements to be done to introduce students to interference and diffraction phenomena. As such, the experiment effectively introduces the…

The standing vertical jump (SVJ) is a classical topic in Newtonian mechanics (Fig. 1). Although the topic has also been treated by others (other terms used are "standing high jump" or "squat jump"), the present paper shows how a smartphone can be used to capture video of a jump and determine the jump height. A crucial…

The typical sound of George Lucas' laser blaster in the "Star Wars" series is well known. What does a laser blaster in "Star Wars" sound like, and why? Here we show a simple way to produce this sound by using low-cost lab material, like a spring or a Slinky. Building on the work of Crawford, who analyzed the sound of a Slinky…