PicoScope 7 Software
Available on Windows, Mac and Linux
High speed and high resolution. Breakthrough ADC technology switches from 8 to 16 bits in the same oscilloscope.
The pressure law states that for a constant volume of gas in a sealed container the temperature of the gas is directly proportional to its pressure. This can be easily understood by visualising the particles of gas in the container moving with a greater energy when the temperature is increased. This means that they have more collisions with each other and the sides of the container and hence the pressure is increased.
If V is a constant, the P/T will be a constant — Pressure Law
where V= Volume, P= Pressure and T= Temperature.
If we consider a squash ball to be the sealed container of gas, then the pressure of the gas will vary according to the pressure law. We cannot measure the pressure inside a squash ball, so we make the assumption that the bounce of the ball will be directly proportional to the pressure in the ball. By measuring the “hang time” (the time between the first and the second bounce) we can make a judgement about what is happening to the pressure inside the squash ball.
The microphone on the DrDAQ data logger will be used to measure the hang time of the squash ball.
Using the graph feature in the software we can calculate the hang time of the squash ball. Zoom in on the graph (shown in Figure 2) to show clearly the peaks of the first and second bounces. Now use the cursor place it over the first peak, the time of the first peak will now be shown on the screen (see Figure 2), repeat this for the second peak. By subtracting these two values you have calculated the hang time. This means that you can then plot a graph of temperature vs the average hang time.