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CaliperTHEA Publication for Usersof Vernier Products

FALL 2018Vol. 35 • No. 2

Collect sound data wirelessly with the snap of yourfingers. With sound-triggered data collection,Go Direct® Sound provides students with an easy way tocapture and evaluate waveforms.

Measure wave amplitude and sound intensity level atthe same time to investigate the decibel scale, or takethe sensor outside the classroom to discover sounds intheir natural environment.Learn more about Go Direct Sound atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1822

Graphical Analysis™ 4 app keeps getting better. New in thelast several releases is support for photogates, which meansyou can now use your Vernier photogates with aChromebook.™ The much-requested photogate feature ispart of a project to give physics instructors more tools inour free Graphical Analysis app, including support for theMotion Encoder Cart, Rotary Motion Sensors (Go DirectRotary Motion Sensor and Rotary Motion Sensor versions),the Projectile Launcher, and the novel new Go DirectSound, which combines waveform and sound intensitymeasurements.

In addition, with new tablet versions now available,Graphical Analysis has the same core feature set andappearance on Windows®, macOS®, ChromeOS™, Android™,and iOS. You can have a mixed set ofdevices in a classroom, and everyonecan do a full spectrum ofexperiments, regardless ofdevice. Procedures learned onone platform workeverywhere. Files saved onone device can be opened onanother, even if it is adifferent platform. Becausedevice screen sizes varywidely, there is now an optionto increase the size of text andother labels so that graphs aremore readable on large screens.

Read more about how GraphicalAnalysis 4 is ready for physics—and chemistry and biology atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1823

VR158096V £121

NEW Go Direct Sound

The All-New G raphicalAnalysis 4 is Better Than Ever!

The tangent function inGraphical Analysis allows studentsto compare instantaneous velocityon a position graph with the velocityvalue at a given time.

Go Direct Sound can capture the beatsproduced by two sound waves.

The Centripetal Force Apparatus Goes WirelessThe new Go Direct Centripetal Force Apparatus makes it easierthan ever to investigate rotational dynamics. To investigate therelationships among force, mass, and radius wirelessly, all you need isthe Centripetal Force Apparatus, a Go Direct Force and AccelerationSensor, and a device running our free Graphical Analysis™ 4 app.

With Go Direct Force and Acceleration mounted on the apparatus’beam, you are ready to investigate centripetal acceleration. Attachthe mass carriage, and you can explore Newton’s second law as itapplies to rotational dynamics— no tangled wires to worry about.

Learn more about the Go Direct Centripetal Force Apparatus atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1827

Go Direct Sensors Can Be UsedWith LabQuest 2!You already know that Go Direct® sensors are the mostversatile sensors around— they can be used via USB orBluetooth® wireless technology on Chromebooks™,computers, iOS®, and Android™ devices. But did you knowthat they can now be used with LabQuest® 2?

Imagine studying motion with Go Direct Sensor Carts,testing acids and bases with Go Direct pH, or wading into astream with Go Direct Optical Dissolved Oxygen, allwithout wires. You can even mix and match Go Directsensors and LabQuest sensors on LabQuest 2 for maximumflexibility. Just update your LabQuest App to version 2.8.3or newer, and your students can connect Go Direct sensorswirelessly or by USB. (Some older LabQuest 2 interfacesrequire additional hardware to communicate withGo Direct sensors wirelessly.)

Download the latest LabQuest update atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1824

Applying a curve fit to the raw data will provide studentswith clues to the nature of this relationship.

Students gather data alonga transect in their schoolyard.

VR158128V £406

2 THE CALIPER | Fall 2016 • Vernier Software & Technology | www.vernier.com Instruments Direct Services Ltd • www.inds.co.uk2 THE CALIPER • FALL 2018

Combining the power of LabVIEW™ software with the flexibility of our wirelessGo Direct® sensors opens the door to engaging coding projects and uniquemonitoring applications.On our website, you can find free LabVIEW code that can help you and yourstudents incorporate Go Direct sensors into custom LabVIEW programs.

A nice example of combining LabVIEW with Go Direct sensors is a program thatdetermines the pitch and roll of a toy airplane using the readings fromGo Direct Acceleration.

Find out how at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1830

INNOVATIVE USE

Determine Pitch and Rollwith LabVIEW and Go Direct Acceleration

Why Teach Coding in the Classroom?

You don’t have to spend much time oneducation websites, blogs, or socialmedia before you run into the termcoding. Why is coding, or computerprogramming, getting so muchattention right now?Coding engages students in newways, providing practical applicationsfor math and science skills.

The act of coding— an iterativeprocess of building, testing, andrefining a program— parallels thescientific method in many respects.Students must construct detailedmodels, plan carefully, anticipatesources of error, analyse data, anddocument their work. Additionally,

many programming projects requirethe application of specific scienceknowledge, such as understandingthe motion of a uniformlyaccelerating object, in order tosuccessfully accomplish a task.

Programmable robots, such as mBot™and mBot Ranger from Makeblock®,are a great, hands-on way tointroduce coding to students becauserobots take abstract code from thescreen and translate it into actions inthe real world. The newest member ofthe Makeblock family of robots isCodey Rocky, perfect for elementary-and middle-school students who arenew to coding. Codey Rocky does notrequire any construction

and can be programmed through afree app on computers, tablets, orsmartphones.

See more about what we offer forcoding atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1829

Robots and Grade Level

• mBot, K– 8 and High School• mBot Ranger, Middle and High

School• Codey Rocky, K– 8• Neuron Inventor Kit, K– 8

By George Hademenos,Richardson High School

In my 17-plus years of teaching, Ihave found that project-basedlearning is one of the most effectiveinstructional approaches to engagingstudents in STEM education.Students really start tounderstand— and master— theconcepts being taught in classwhen they are given the opportunityto collect, display, and analyse datain an interesting, relative, andhands-on way.

The ROAVEE (Remotely OperatedAmphibious Vehicle for EnvironmentalExploration) project is a great exampleof effective project-based learning inaction.Students are challenged to design,model, construct, test, and navigate arobotic vehicle. The goal is for theROAVEE to collect environmental datafrom areas not easily or safelyaccessible to students, such as in alake and inside a drainage tunnel.More details about this project,including a video, are available atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1831

Taking Project-Based Learning to New Levels with Vernier

VR157768V £134

22 STEMactivities

included withpurchaseof mBot

Instruments Direct Services Ltd • www.inds.co.uk THE C A L I P E R • F A L L 2018 3

Vernier Structures & Materials Tester Usedin Nashville Bridge Competition

Robotic Hand ProjectWe have had a lot of fun with the Robotic Hand project, which wediscovered in the Hacking STEM Library from Microsoft.® Using our Low-gAccelerometer, an Arduino™, and our Vernier Arduino Interface Shield, wemodified the project to create an easier control system.

See this robotic hand in action at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1835

By Janey Camp, Vanderbilt EngineeringFaculty Member On March 3, 2018, the Nashville

Branch of the American Society ofCivil Engineers (ASCE) hosted its 10thMusic City Bridge Competition with 54bridges submitted for qualificationstesting and 38 bridges tested tofailure. The competition is open to anyand all high school students in MiddleTennessee and serves as a qualifyingcompetition for the Illinois Institute ofTechnology’s International BridgeBuilding Contest. Winners of theMusic City Bridge Competition arebased upon a calculated efficiency ofhow much mass the bridge holdsdivided by the mass of the bridge.

For the past two years students haveused the Vernier Structures &Materials Tester (VSMT) to test theirbridges. The VSMT allows students totest bridges faster and easily displaythe results of bridge performance.

Learn about this year’s winners atwww.vernier.com/r1832

You can now use our wirelessGo Direct sensors with the DigitalControl Unit (DCU) to control smallelectronic devices (e.g., motors,LEDs, and lights). Last year, you mayrecall, we added the capability tocontrol the DCU from LabQuest® 2.This year, when LabQuest 2 gainedthe ability to connect withGo Direct sensors, we

once again expanded the DCU’scapability.Wirelessly connect your Go Directsensor(s) to LabQuest 2, connect theDCU to LabQuest 2, and program theDCU to turn on components based onthe sensor values.

With Go Direct sensors and the DCU,you can use output from a heart ratemonitor to light up LEDs that help testsubjects maintain a target heart rate.Or, if your students struggle to stayawake, you can have them create analarm that triggers when carbondioxide levels get too high in yourclassroom. You could even program afan to turn on and bring in some freshair!

Learn more atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1833

INNOVATIVE USE

Video Analysis of Loop-the-LoopRichard Born, from DeKalb, Illinois,has written another greatexperiment that uses data takenwith Video Physics™ on iOS andthen analyses it with Logger Pro. Hemounts an inexpensive flashing LEDon a Hot Wheels® toy car and sendsit through a loop-the-loop. Aftervideo analysis, you get someinteresting graphs.

Download the complete experimentwith sample videos atwww.inds.co.uk/s/r1825


What’s New with the DCU?


Absorbance vs. wavelength of a blue solution with wavelengthof maximum absorbance selected

Whether you are teaching general or upper-level collegechemistry courses, our affordable sensors andinstrumentation make it possible for every student toparticipate in hands-on learning. Our combination ofsensors, software, college-level experiments, andinstructional resources engage students and instructors inscientific discovery. We have assembled a collection ofproducts and experiments for commonly taught collegechemistry courses.

• General Chemistry: Complete an acid-base titration withour pH probes that have 0.1 pH unit accuracy and a dropcounter that accurately converts drops to volume.

• Organic Chemistry: Measure and analyse the GCretention times of a Fischer esterification reactionmixture using the Mini GC Plus Gas Chromatograph withroom air as the carrier gas.

• Biochemistry: The Vernier UV-VIS Spectrophotometer canbe used to measure the 260/280 nm ratio when purifyingproteins and DNA. Its range, 220 nm to 850 nm and 3 nmoptical resolution, makes it ideal for biologicalapplications.

• Analytical Chemistry: Investigate redox reactions with apotentiometric titration using an ORP (oxidation-reduction potential) sensor.

• Physical Chemistry: Explore excited-state dynamics withone of our free experiments that walks students throughthe heavy-atom quenching of quinine fluorescence usingthe Vernier Fluorescence/UV-VIS Spectrophotometer.

A full list of recommendations for college chemistry isavailable at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1838

INNOVATIVE USE

Discover the Wavelength

When conducting Beer’s law and kinetics experiments,students must choose a specific wavelength to conduct theexperiment. Students are expected to understand andexplain why they would choose one wavelength overanother. A spectrophotometer, such as Go DirectSpectroVis Plus, is just the tool for this. Unfortunately,many schools can’t afford a class set of spectrophotometers.So how can you use a single spectrophotometer and a classset of Colorimeters to have your students discover the bestwavelength of light to use?

We’ve written an experiment that allows you to do just that.Using a coloured solution, your students will test eachwavelength on their Colorimeter, then record and comparethe absorbance at each wavelength. You will capture anabsorbance spectrum with a spectrophotometer for thesame solution that the students are using.The discussion that follows should help your studentsunderstand why they would choose one wavelength, λmax,over another for a particular solution and also for a specificexperiment.

Download this experiment at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1836

The Vernier Advantage for College Chemistry

Vernier Mini GC Plus Gas Chromatograph

The Mini GC Plus is a portable instrument for separating,analysing, and identifying substances contained in a volatileliquid or gaseous sample.

Developed by Seacoast Science, the MiniGC Plus uses an efficient, software-controlled internal pump system. Thisdesign allows our Mini GC Plus touse room air as the carrier gas.

Use Vernier’s award-winningsoftware for column control,collection, and peak integration.With either Logger Pro or theLabQuest App, peak integrationanalysis and retention-timedetermination are built right into thesoftware.

More information is available at www.inds.co.uk/s/minigc

Logger Pro displays peak retention times and areas as a graph and as atable


Algae beads, along with the Go Direct® SpectroVis® PlusSpectrophotometer, provide a great way to studyphotosynthesis and respiration. Algae beads consist offreshwater algal cells suspended in sodium alginate andhardened in calcium chloride solution. In this suspension,the algal cells can still undergo cellular respiration andphotosynthesis, exchanging gases with the liquid aroundthem. Traditionally, a CO2 indicator solution is used toqualitatively observe that dissolved CO2 increases duringcellular respiration and decreases during photosynthesis.However, in an experiment we’ve adapted from the Bio-RadExplorer™ Program, students use a Go Direct SpectroVis PlusSpectrophotometer to quantify these changes.

In the experiment, algae beads are placed in cuvettescontaining CO2 indicator solution and incubated either inthe dark or the light. Students measure the absorbance onceevery 5 minutes using Go Direct SpectroVis PlusSpectrophotometer and our free Spectral Analysis™ app.

Download the experiment at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1840

Study Photosynthesis and Respiration with Bio-Rad® AlgaeBeads and Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer

Easily Record and Analyse EMGswith Go Direct EKG

Many teachers are interested in using our EKG sensors torecord an electromyogram (EMG), the electrical activityproduced from muscle contractions. Recording an EMG isstraightforward, but there are multiple ways that an EMGcan be analysed. The most robust technique is to measurethe integral of the rectified EMG signal, which can easily bedone using Go Direct EKG.

A normal EMG has both positive and negative deflections. Arectified EMG uses a function that makes all of the EMGdeflections positive. In the past, we have offered specialLogger Pro and LabQuest files that provide the properfiltering and calculated column support to record andanalyse rectified EMGs. But, Go Direct EKG makesrecording settings are required— just change the channelto EMG Rectified and start collecting data. Then simplymeasure the integral of the signal in Graphical Analysis.

Find out how at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1841

What Are the Best Light SourcesFor Photosynthesis?Photosynthetic organisms such as plants and algae useelectromagnetic radiation from the visible spectrum todrive the synthesis of sugar molecules. Special pigmentsin chloroplasts of plant cells absorb the energy ofcertain wavelengths of light, causing a molecular chainreaction known as the light-dependent reactions ofphotosynthesis. The best wavelengths of visible light forphotosynthesis fall within the blue range (425–450 nm)and red range (600–700 nm). Therefore, the best lightsources for photosynthesis should ideally emit light inthe blue and red ranges. In this study, we used aGo Direct SpectroVis Plus

Spectrophotometer with a Vernier SpectrophotometerOptical Fiber and LabQuest® 2 to collect spectra fromfour different light sources. This allowed us todetermine the wavelengths emitted by each source andto determine which ones would be the best forphotosynthesis.

Learn more at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1842

Normal and rectified EMGs recorded from the forearm

Sample data illustrate the inverse relationship between dissolved CO2

concentration and exposure to light.

INNOVATIVE USE

Relative light intensity of four light bulbs across the visible spectrum


Software UpdatesWe regularly release software updates to support new sensors, add new features, and fix the occasional bug. Keeping up todate with software releases is one way to keep things running smoothly in your classroom or lab. Have you updated yourVernier applications in the last few months? Updates are free, and with the shipping of new Go Direct® sensors, we’ve releasedupdates for nearly all our software.

• For updates to Logger Pro for macOS and Windows, as well as for LabQuest App, visit www.inds.co.uk/s/downloads

• Graphical Analysis™ 4 for macOS and Windows detects the availability of an update and notifies you with a red dot on theoverflow menu, found under the three dots in the upper right.

• To update Chrome, iOS, and Android applications, including Graphical Analysis 4 app, search the appropriate app store.Updates will eventually be applied automatically, but you can be sure of the current version by deleting and reinstalling theapp.

Special note for iOS and Android users: We are transitioning from our original Graphical Analysis app to a new version thatshares features and appearance across all platforms. The transition requires that we have two versions of the apps availablesimultaneously in the stores. If you installed Graphical Analysis before July 2018, the app will not update to the new version.Instead, search the appropriate app store and freshly install the new app called Graphical Analysis (the older app willautomatically update and be renamed GraphicalGW). When we release updates of Graphical Analysis in the future, the app willautomatically update as expected.Additional information can be found at www.inds.co.uk/s/til4177

Vernier Sponsors the 2018 KidWind ChallengeTo inspire students to learn about renewable energy and hone theirengineering skills, Vernier supported the 2018 KidWind Challenge, hostedby the KidWind Project. The challenge consists of dozens of local andregional competitions across the country, called KidWind Challenges,during which teams of students test the energy output of wind turbinesthey design and build. Students also present their design processes to apanel of judges and participate in short design or problem-solving taskscalled “Instant Challenges”.

Learn about this year’s winners at www.vernier.com/r1843

GLOBE TakesGo Direct to the FieldIn July, more than 100 students from35 countries used our Go Directsensors to test the water in Ireland’sKillarney National Park as part of the2018 GLOBE Learning Expedition(GLE). This event is part of the

GLOBE Program and is held every fewyears in different locations around theworld. The GLE brings togetherstudents, teachers, and scientists for aweek of sharing and learning aboutscience, the environment, and eachother’s cultures. As part of this year’sstudent field experience, Go Directsensors were used to measuretemperature, pH, conductivity, anddissolved oxygen levels along theDeenagh River. This beautiful river runsalong the edge of the park, near thetown of Killarney. The students’ sensordata, along with a survey ofmacroinvertebrates, indicated that theDeenagh is in excellent health.

Learn more at www.inds.co.uk/s/r1846

Students from Croatia and Japan use Go Directsensors in Killarney National Park.

Science Humor

A dung beetle walks intoa bar and says,

“Excuse me, is this stooltaken?”

Teenager #1:

Did you hear Oxygen andMagnesium got together?

Teenager #2:OMg!

Wind Turbine #1:What kind of music do youlike?

Wind Turbine #2:I’m a big metal fan

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Instruments Direct Services LtdUnit 8, The Courtyard,Stenson Road,Coalville, LE67 4JP

01530 832 [email protected]

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