Educational experiments
The Pico Technology library of science projects contains a number of educational experiments suitable for use with our oscilloscope and data logging products.
If you are involved in the teaching of science we would love to hear from you. We are looking for people willing to perform and write up new experiments for this collection. For a limited time Pico Technology is willing to donate a DrDAQ data logger in return for a suitable experiment. For more details on this, please read our guidelines on submitting science projects.
PicoScope 5000 Series
Flexible resolution oscilloscopes
High speed and high resolution. Breakthrough ADC technology switches from 8 to 16 bits in the same oscilloscope.
- Calculating heart rate
- Looking at the aerobic respiration of peas
- Investigating the effect of acid on indigestion tablets
- Respiration of maggots
- Transpiration
- Dawn Chorus. Use light and sound level sensors to measure the dawn chorus.
- Day and Night. Plot temperature, light and humidity over a 24 hour period.
- Fermentation of Grass Cuttings. Measure the temperature of grass cuttings or a compost heap.
- Acid Rain. Measure the pH of collected rainwater. Needs careful calibration.
Ideas for Biology Experiments
(If you are interested in performing and writing up one of these experiments, please get in touch.)
- Testing the pH level of common drinks using DrDAQ as a pH meter
- Freezing of pure and salt water
- Acid-base titrations
- Burning oxygen - how much oxygen is required to sustain a flame
- Exploding photographic film case
- Investigating the effect of temperature changes during a rate of reaction assessed practical
- Measuring the pH of milk
- Monitoring the rate of reaction between two liquids
- Four-channel pH measurements using an ADC-16 Data Logger
- The rusting of iron
- Acid Base Titration. Monitor the pH and Temperature.
- Exothermic Reactions. Measure the temperature and pH as sodium hydroxide is dissolved in water.
- Endothermic Reactions. Measure the temperature as ammonium nitrate is dissolved in water.
- Fermentation of Grass Cuttings. Measure the temperature of grass cuttings or a compost heap.
- Acid Rain. Measure the pH of collected rainwater. Needs careful calibration.
Ideas for Chemistry Experiments
(If you are interested in performing and writing up one of these experiments, please get in touch.)
- Experiments with a capacitor
- Recording Earth field magnetometer
- Observing the changes in the charge in the atmosphere close to the surface of the Earth
- Measuring the swing of a pendulum
- Flickering lights
- Speed of a pulse along a coaxial cable
- Runaway train science experiment
- Scalextric Subaru Challenge Two
- Proving the formulae for series and parallel resistance
- Effect of temperature on a solar panel
- Experiment to look at serial data communications
- Measuring switch bounce
- Experiment to view T1 clock recovery
- Scalextric Subaru Challenge
- Fruit Power. Make a fruit battery. Experiment with different fruits and electrodes.
- Capacitor charge/discharge. Experiment with different component values.
- Infra red remote controls. Use a photo diode to view the invisible.
- Output of a solar cell. What factors affect the output voltage and power available.
Ideas for Electronics Experiments
(If you are interested in performing and writing up one of these experiments, please get in touch.)
- Global warming
- Guidelines for submitting educational experiments
- Logging in the lab
- Dawn Chorus. Use light and sound level sensors to measure the dawn chorus.
- Sound waveforms. Use PicoScope oscilloscope to show the soundwaveforms produced by someone whistling, speaking or singing. Switch on the spectrum analyser to see the frequency components — who’s whistle has the highest frequency, who can whistle the loudest?
- Sound Decay. Use a sound source with a constant level and plot how it decays with distance
- Sound Insulation. Use a sound source with a constant level and experiment with different insulating materials
- Sound waveforms of musical Instruments. Look at the scope waveform and FFT spectrum of different musical instruments
- Light decay (inverse square law). How does light level decay with distance from source
- Light Insulation. Experiment with different materials to see which cuts out the most light. Does using two bits of insulation have twice the effect?
- Day and Night. Plot temperature, light and humidity over a 24 hour period.
- Fruit Power. Make a fruit battery. Experiment with different fruits and electrodes.
- Acid Rain. Measure the pH of collected rainwater. Needs careful calibration.
- Output of a solar cell. What factors affect the output voltage and power available.
- Heat Insulation. Wrap test tubes in different insulating materials. Compare wet and dry insulation.
- Global Warming. Show how CO2 can effect warming. Heat two bottles using a lamp. One contains air and the other CO2.
- Heat Loss Through Windows. Compare temperature inside and outside a window over 24 hours. If possible compare single and double glazing.
- Fridges and Freezers. Plot temperature inside a fridge or freezer. Also plot temperature of the heat exchanger on the back. How is temperature affected by opening the door or by adding something hot to the fridge. Can you see the effect of the thermostat?
Ideas General Science Experiments
(If you are interested in performing and writing up one of these experiments, please get in touch.)
- Measuring the speed of light
- Measuring the speed of sound - using 2 microphones a meter apart
- Unusual technical support request
- How does temperature affect the pressure of a gas?
- Which freezes quicker, hot or cold water?
- Measuring angular velocity
- Experiment to measure the deflection of a cantilever beam
- Using an ADC-16 to monitor battery discharge
- Recording Earth field magnetometer
- Acoustic standing waves
- Beagle 2 - landing on Mars
- Efficiency of a light bulb
- Camera shutter speed
- Observing the changes in the charge in the atmosphere close to the surface of the Earth
- Color and temperature
- Light intensity variation across a diffraction pattern
- Doppler effect in air
- DrDAQ magnetic induction
- Electromagnetism - experiments with a simple AC dynamo
- Exchange principles
- Measuring the swing of a pendulum
- Experiment to measure the acceleration due to gravity
- The convection heat transfer coefficient on a vertical plate from surface temperature measurements
- Observing the switching on and off of a filament lamp
- Measurement of reverberation time
- Air stratification experiment
- Explore the forces that arise during a collision
- Fluctuation of mains voltage
- Infrared radiation
- Measuring rainfall
- Speed of a pulse along a coaxial cable
- Magnetic induction: Faraday’s laws
- Can your musical recorder tell you the speed of sound?
- Runaway train science experiment
- Beat patterns in sound waves
- Scalextric Subaru Challenge Two
- Traffic noise
- Investigating the effect of distance from a lamp on its brightness
- Effect of temperature on a solar panel
- Sensing the speed and acceleration of a train
- Investigating heat loss due to radiation using DrDAQ as a temperature probe
- Experiments with a thermoelectric generator
- Predicting the motion of a falling card
- Vibration monitoring with optical fibers
- Wind resistance and terminal velocity
- Investigating surfaces with a penetrometer
- A school seismometer
- Scalextric Subaru Challenge
- Modeling an ultrasound A-scan
- Wave speed in a solid
- Testing the effect of insulators on the rate of cooling of water
- Sound waveforms. Use PicoScope oscilloscope to show the soundwaveforms produced by someone whistling, speaking or singing. Switch on the spectrum analyser to see the frequency components — who’s whistle has the highest frequency, who can whistle the loudest?
- Sound Decay. Use a sound source with a constant level and plot how it decays with distance
- Sound Insulation. Use a sound source with a constant level and experiment with different insulating materials
- Sound waveforms of musical Instruments. Look at the scope waveform and FFT spectrum of different musical instruments
- Light decay (inverse square law). How does light level decay with distance from source
- Light Insulation. Experiment with different materials to see which cuts out the most light. Does using two bits of insulation have twice the effect?
- Day and Night. Plot temperature, light and humidity over a 24 hour period.
- Fruit Power. Make a fruit battery. Experiment with different fruits and electrodes.
- Capacitor charge/discharge. Experiment with different component values.
- Infra red remote controls. Use a photo diode to view the invisible.
- Output of a solar cell. What factors affect the output voltage and power available.
- Heat Insulation. Wrap test tubes in different insulating materials. Compare wet and dry insulation.
- Global Warming. Show how CO2 can effect warming. Heat two bottles using a lamp. One contains air and the other CO2.
- Heat Loss Through Windows. Compare temperature inside and outside a window over 24 hours. If possible compare single and double glazing.
- Fridges and Freezers. Plot temperature inside a fridge or freezer. Also plot temperature of the heat exchanger on the back. How is temperature affected by opening the door or by adding something hot to the fridge. Can you see the effect of the thermostat?
Ideas for Physics Experiments
(If you are interested in performing and writing up one of these experiments, please get in touch.)