Simple vertical upward motion experiment using smartphone based phyphox app for physics learning

Abstract

A simple experiment of vertical upward motion had been carried out using the smartphone-based Phyphox application (Phyphox app) and a ping-pong ball. A special feature of the Phyphox app utilized in this experiment was the acoustic stopwatch. This feature can measure the time duration between two sound signals using the sensor in the smartphone. This simple experiment coould be used for physics learning or practicum at the high school level. Because of its simplicity, this experiment could be conducted in long distance learning, especially in this pandemic situation. The objectives in this study were i) conducting an experiment of vertical upward motion using the Phyphox app and a ping-pong ball, ii) producing a graph of the height vs time (h vs t) for the vertical upward motion of the ping-pong ball, iii) determining the acceleration of gravity (g) from the h vs t graph, and iv) determining the initial speed (vo) of the ping-pong ball from the h vs t graph. The experiment was done by flicking the ping-pong ball from a height of h until it hit the surface of a book. The Phyphox app then measured the time of the ping-pong from being flicked until it hit the book. In this case, h was varied and the time duration of the ping-pong ball was determined. The experiment of vertical upaward motion of a ping-pong ball using the Phyhox app had produced a graph of h vs t. The results showed that g was obtained with a value of 10.1 m/s2 with a relative error of 3% and the vo of the ping-pong ball was 4.2 m/s.