A few years ago, I got ahold of some photogates to use in class. They've got a beam between two points on a gate that start a timer when broken. Not only does it allow for very accurate measurements, it measures to the ten-thousandths of a second.
In class today, we're measuring the acceleration of a golf ball down a ramp (thrilling stuff). I built a wonderful little velocity device out of a hot wheels car and sent it down the ramp. By measuring the length of the card and the times from the photgates, I can calculate the initial/final velocity, the time between the two, and the acceleration.
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