Accelerometer

What is an Accelerometer?

An accelerometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the proper acceleration of a body along the X, Y, and Z axes.

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Experiment: Measuring Acceleration

Learning Objectives

To find the acceleration of a body along different axes in real-time.

Materials Required

• Your Phone or Computer
• The PSLab App installed

Procedure

1. Open the PSLab app.
2. Navigate to the Instruments section and select the Accelerometer.

3. You will see three real-time graphs representing acceleration along the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis.

4. You can configure the Accelerometer (update period, sensor gain, etc.) using the settings menu in the top right corner.

5. Move your device in various directions (up/down, left/right, forward/backward) to observe the changes along each respective axis.

Observations

• As you move the device along different axes, you will immediately see a corresponding change in the acceleration data on the respective tabs.
• The acceleration is represented cleanly in both numerical form and as a continuous scrolling graph for easy analysis.