Pasco Fan Cart with Motion Detector
PIRA: 1C20.33 / 11H10.20
Overview:
The fan cart shows how motion works by moving the air behind it, and therefore moving the fan and whatever it is connected to forward.
Materials:
PASCO smart cart
Cart fan
4x AA batteries
PASCO Wireless dongle
PASCO track
Cart sail (for Newton’s Third Law, Newton’s Sail)
Wireless Setup (Preferred):
Hardware: Place the PASCO track on the table intended to be used for the demo. Use a spirit level to make sure that the track is level. If not, then twist the legs on the track until it is level. Put the four AA batteries into the cart fan, then place the cart fan onto the smart cart. Place the smart cart onto the track. Place the dongle into a USB port for the computer. There may be a dongle already there that was left for the PASCO smart sensors. For Newton’s Third Law (Newton’s Sail), place the sail next to the track
CHARGE THE SMART CART BEFORE CLASS. The smart cart does not carry a charge very well, and failure to charge will result in you having to use the alternate wired setup.
Software: Open PASCO Capstone on the computer. Click on the sensor data window. Under hardware setup click on the smart cart. Under the QuickStart Experiments select the one labeled Position, Velocity, Acceleration and adjust the frequency to 50Hz. If quickstart experiments do not show up, then click and drag three graphs from the display menu onto the main area, and then on the left hand side of the new graphs click on select measurement and click on position for the top graph velocity for the middle graph and acceleration for the bottom graph. Then at the bottom of the screen adjust the frequency to 50Hz.
How to:
Two people are recommended. Turn on the cart fan and hold the cart in place. At or just before release of the cart, click on record in the capstone software. Just before the smart cart is stopped, click stop in the capstone software. For Newton’s Third Law, place the sail onto the smart cart so that the wind from the fan will hit the sail, then repeat the process with capstone. You may have to adjust the location of the fan.
Safety:
Do not stick fingers near the fan blade
Wired Setup (Alternate):
You will need:
Cart fan
PASCO Cart (smart or regular)
PASCO motion sensor
PASCO universal interface
PASCO track
4x AA batteries
USB extension cable
Cable cover
Hardware: Place the PASCO track on the table intended to be used for the demo. Use a spirit level to make sure that the track is level. If not, then twist the legs on the track until it is level. Place the motion sensor onto the end of the track, then connect the yellow wire to input 1 and the black wire to input 2 on the interface. Plug in the interface to a power outlet, and turn on the interface. Plug in the USB cable to the interface and the USB extension cable. Connect the USB extension cable to the computer that will run capstone, then insert the extension cable into the cable cover and place it where there will be foot traffic from students. Put the 4x AA batteries into the fan and place the fan onto the cart. Place the cart onto the track.
Software: Open PASCO Capstone on the computer. Open up the Hardware Setup window, and select the port that the motion sensor is plugged into. On the drop down menu, select Motion Sensor. On the right hand side of the screen, there is the display menu. Click and drag three graphs from the display menu onto the main area. On the left hand side of the new graphs, click on select measurement and click on Position for the top graph, velocity for the middle graph, and acceleration for the bottom graph. Then at the bottom of the screen adjust the frequency to 50Hz. If data is not smooth, then lower the Hz.