Kinematic Labs with Mobile Devices

As technology advances, education has expanded from the classroom into other formats including online delivery, flipped classrooms and hybrid delivery. Congruent with these is the need for alternative formats for laboratory experiences. This explosion in technology has also placed in the hands of a majority of students a sensor suite tucked neatly into their smartphones or smart tablets. The popularity of these devices provides a new avenue for the non-traditional kinematic lab experience. This book addresses this issue by providing 13 labs spanning the common topics in the first semester of university-level physics. Each lab is designed to use only the student’s smartphone, laptop and items easily found and big-box stores or a hobby shop. Each lab contains theory, set-up instructions and basic analysis techniques. All of these labs can be performed outside of the traditional university lab setting and initial costs averaging less than $8 per student, per lab, excluding the smartphone and laptop. This text is not intended to replace in-lab experiences, but instead is designed to be a guide for those situations where an in-lab experience is not feasible. Instructors should feel free to modify the labs and the author looks forward to seeing the modifications and successes achieved.