Using Excel to measure time intervals in the Physics lab

Abstract

We report on this work on the use of the Excel datasheet for data acquisition and analysis in a classroom physics laboratory, particularly for measurements of time intervals. The data acquisition system is connected to the digital game port of a PC sound card. The optical system uses infrared sensors while an Excel macro reads the digital entrance (with a specific DLL archive). Two didactical experiments are illustrated: a damped pendulum and a rotating top. Freeware datasheets constructed by us are available on the Web.

data acquisition; time measurements; damped pendulum; rotating top; Excel; VBA