Please note that this is not a complete list of the activities that can be performed with the DrDAQ data logger. If you require any further advice, have any suggestions, or additional helpful notes please e-mail support@picotech.com.
Chapter 1: Imaging
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 30D | Distance measurement with ultrasound | DrDAQ at the time of writing does not have an optional ultrasonic motion sensor. To perform this demonstration with DrDAQ, a third party sensor with a voltage output will be required. As an alternative, the ADC200/50 oscilloscope could easily be used with either audible sound or ultrasonic signals. A good starting point for this would be to modify our speed of sound experiment. Rather than measure the speed of sound, use the known value to calculate distance. |
Chapter 2: Sensing
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 10D | Logging in the Lab | Use the internal sound level, light and temperature sensors. Door angle can be sensed with a 100 kΩ potentiometer connected to the resistance input. |
| 350P | Patterns in electrical measurements | DrDAQ can measure the voltage and light level using the internal sensors. For current measurement, use a small resistor (10 ohms for 250mA max) as suggested. This resistor should be connected between the RESISTANCE input and ground (in effect the resistance input measures voltage). Contact Pico technical support if you have problems scaling this input to read current. |
| 100E | Using a wide range of kinds of sensor | DrDAQ is ideal for this experiment. If using thermocouples, more information on how they work and how to use them can be found in our thermocouple application note |
| 260E | Monitoring rapid changes in intensity | The light sensor on the DrDAQ is ideal for monitoring the flicker of televisions and lights due to its high sample rate. |
| 320E | The oscillations of a hacksaw blade | This is experiment is more suited to our PC based scopes |
| 280E | Measuring Rainfall | Rather than using a voltmeter, use the DrDAQ to log rainfall. Either use the potential divider shown and connect into the voltage input, or simply connect the potentiometer to the resistance input. |
| 300E | Using temperature sensors | Although the notes suggest the use of an oscilloscope (for speed), DrDAQ is easily fast enough for this experiment (it can take several thousand readings per second). For the thermistor use the optional external temperature probe, for the thermocouple connect using the amplifier to the voltage input as described in the text. |
| 340E | Sensor Project Briefing
(build & test your own sensor) | With DrDAQ you can make your own sensors to connect to the external sensor sockets. These sensors can be made to auto ID when plugged in and also can have their own scaling files. Most of the examples suggested could be done with DrDAQ in this way. The thermocouple suggestion would perhaps be best suited to a talented student who could make use of the on board temperature sensor for cold junction compensation (see our thermocouple application note). For less talented students a simpler approach would be to use resistive based sensors connected to the resistance input of the DrDAQ. |
| 340E | Sensor Project Briefing
(test & evaluate a sensor) | Lots of interesting sensors have voltage or resistance outputs suitable for connection to DrDAQ. Our How To Measure pages give some advice on different sensors. If you have any questions about the suitability of particular sensors contact Pico technical support. |
| 340E | Sensor Project Briefing
(Use a sensor to make a measurement) | The onboard and optional external sensors make DrDAQ ideal for this. |
Chapter 4: Testing Materials
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 60E | Comparing thermal conductivities | DrDAQ only has 2 external temperature sensors (the third is internal). One approach is to connect another temperature sensor (thermistor or semiconductor type) to the resistance or voltage inputs. An alternative would be to use 2 DrDAQs on the same PC (requires 2 parallel ports). Another method would be to use our low cost 3 channel temperature data logger the TH03. |
Chapter 6: Wave Behaviour
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 40E | Mixing waves in time | DrDAQ is used to investigate the pattern produced when two waves of similar frequency arrive together, using the onboard microphone. |
Chapter 8: Mapping Space and Time
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 10E | Measuring speed with a light gate | See our note on light gates on the Advancing Physics page. |
Chapter 9: Computing the Next Move
Chapter 10: Creating Models
Chapter 11: Out into Space
Chapter 12 : Our Place in the Universe
Chapter 13: Matter Very Simple
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 160D | Brownian motion | As an aside, the light sensor of DrDAQ could be used to observe the drop in light intensity from the ray box across the tube, as the bromine diffuses. |
| 210E | A solar panel | The temperature sensor on the DrDAQ would be ideal. |
| 220E | Measuring the specific thermal capacity of a metal | The temperature sensor on the DrDAQ would be ideal. |
Chapter 14 : Matter Very Simple
| Activity | Name | Notes |
| 240E | Conduction in a semiconductor | DrDAQ’s could be used here to measure voltage and temperature. |
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