How Fast Is Your Finger? An Introduction to Photogate Use

Gardner, John

doi:doi:10.1119/1.1557511

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The Physics Teacher -- March 2003 -- Volume 41, Issue 3, pp. 181

How Fast Is Your Finger? An Introduction to Photogate Use

John Gardner^1,2

¹Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
²Mattoon High School, Mattoon, IL

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The arrival of a full set of photogate timers¹ to our high school classroom has enabled a rewarding variety of mechanics experiments. The initial use of photogates, however, presents a vocabulary challenge to students. What do “gate mode” and “pulse mode” mean? I've devised a simple motivating experiment appropriate to early mechanics study to demonstrate these terms. The purpose of the experiment is to find the speed of a flicking finger. Just how fast can a finger be flicked (wrist snap allowed)? Can a fingertip momentarily move as fast as a walker at 1 or 2 m∕s? How about a sprinter at 8 m∕s? Or perhaps a fastball at 40 m∕s? Or greater? By the end of the experiment, students know, and they've used both gate mode and pulse mode to find the answer.