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Lab 1 - Introduction to Capstone

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2 views

Lab 1 - Introduction to Capstone

Uploaded by

ghatacan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Capstone

August 31, 2023

Equipment:

– PASCO motion detector – power cord


– PASCO interface
– USB cord – laptop

Purpose: This lab is a basic introduction to using Capstone. You will learn today
how to set up a motion detector with the PASCO interface to connect to the Capstone
software, how to produce simple plots of position, velocity, and acceleration, and how to
obtain useful information from the plots such as fit lines and statistics.

Procedure: Connect the motion detector to the Pasco interface. Ensure that the Pasco
interface is plugged into an outlet (available above the lab tables) and plugged into the
laptop. Bring up the Capstone software by clicking on the Course Programs folder on the
Desktop, choosing the Physics folder, and clicking on Capstone.

Part 1: Introduction
Today, we will go through the basic graphing options with the motion detector. First,
select Table & Graph from the QuickStart templates. On the graph, click on the label of
the y-axis: a list of options should pop up, from which you can select position, velocity, or
acceleration. Select position, and the x-axis will automatically change to time. At the top
of each column in the table, you will also have to manually select the appropriate matching
labels to your graph.
Data is collected by pressing the play button in the bottom-left corner of the Capstone
GUI. Data collection is stopped by clicking on the same button. Play around with collecting
data by waving your hand or other objects in front of the motion detector. After each data
collection run, the graph can be scaled by clicking the autoscale button, which is the

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rightmost icon at the top of the graph. Once you have taken some data, please answer the
following questions:

1. What are the units on each axis of your graph?

2. What is the frequency of the timing between data points? What is the time between
subsequent data points?

3. From the row of icons at the top of the graph, find the icons for highlighting sections
of data and fitting curves to data. Record the location of these icons.

4. Are there any other icons you think might be useful for future labs? Play around
with them, and record their locations and uses!

Part 2: Some Simple Plots


In this section, you will learn how to reproduce a few simple plots.
Begin on the graph with a table again. The following figure contains two example
plots of position vs. time for you to reproduce in Capstone. Once you have reproduced
the example plots to a reasonable degree of accuracy, record the answers to the following
questions.
position

position

time time

1. How quickly did you have to move to produce the vertical lines in the first graph?
Was it even possible to produce vertical lines?

2. What sort of motion was required to produce the second position vs. time graph?

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Next, add a new graph by clicking on the ”add new plot area” icon (which looks like a
small graph!). Your lab instructor will have drawn some addition plots on the whiteboard.
Recreate each of these plots on your new graph. What sort of motion was required for each
plot? Be sure to pay attention to the axes!

Part 3: Fitting Lines and Analyzing Data


In this section, you will learn how to use the tools provided by Capstone to accomplish
some simple data analysis.
Open a new page with a full page graph. Start by opening a new page with the blank
page icon next to the Page # 1 tab. Select Graph on the right side of the screen, under
Displays. This should bring up a full page graph. Reproduce the graph below:
position

time

Once you have reproduced the plot to a reasonable level of accuracy, follow the steps
below to add a linear fit to your plot:

1. Determine which section of your data is actually linear (hint: if you didn’t start
moving until after you began recording data, you will not want to fit from t = 0!).

2. Use the highlighting tool to highlight the linear section of your data.

3. Go to the fit menu and select linear fit from the drop down menu.

You should see a linear fit appear on your data, with the slope, intercept, and R values
all labeled. Record the values for your fit and R in the blank space below. Is this a good
fit? How do you know?

Next, create a new full page graph. Find the icon for adding new graphs on the same
page, and add two more graphs. Label them, from top to bottom, as position, velocity,

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and acceleration. Recreate the position vs. time graph from the beginning of this section,
and record the shapes of the corresponding velocity and acceleration graphs. Can you say
anything about the relationship between the three plots?
You are welcome to spend a few more minutes testing other options for generating and
manipulating graphs with the motion detector and Capstone software at this time. Your
lab instructor and TAs are excellent resources who will be happy to answer any remaining
questions you may have about the software (or at least do our best to answer your questions,
as even instructors and TAs don’t always know all the answers!).

Questions
Part 1
1. What are the units on each axis of your graph?

2. What is the frequency of the timing between data points? What is the time between
subsequent data points?

3. From the row of icons at the top of the graph, find the icons for highlighting sections
of data and fitting curves to data. What are the locations of these icons?

4. Are there any other icons you think might be useful for future labs?

Part 2
1. How quickly did you have to move to produce the vertical lines in the first graph?
Was it even possible to produce vertical lines?

2. What sort of motion was required to produce the second position vs. time graph?

3. What sort of motion was required for each additional plot?

Part 3
1. Is this a good fit? How do you know?

2. Can you say anything about the relationship between the three plots?

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