Tuesday, 01 July 2014

For accessing Data from all channels of ExpEYES we need a GUI which can plot graphs, something like a data logger. Today I started working on python code to develop a GUI to assess channels A1, A2, IN1, IN2 and SEN. Used the program written by Dr. Ajith Kumar as the base and started developing the code. Spent a lot of time …..happy that the result is awesome…..

datacapture

One strange thing is happening. If I touch a wire attached to A1. I am getting a waveform similar to beats in sound. Need to explore and find the reason.

beatslike wave

With this GUI we can fetch data from any channel and save it to a dat file and see the plot in real time. It is time to forget all costly and closed source dataloggers…..ExpEYES can do a better job….most affordable…..open source….respects your freedom….. 🙂 My mentors will be very happy to see this….:)

Monday, 30th June 2014

Continued to do the experimental with Doppler Effect using a pizzo buzzer as a source and a simple mic as a detector. Facing difficulties is calculating apparent frequency in case of oscillating source.

It is easy to calculate Doppler frequency shift in case of a source moving with constant velocity. Both the experimental setups are ready. Created a draft document for experimental procedures. Need to review and finalize the document. Also worked on the required python code to fetch data from detector and get the Doppler Shift.

 

Sunday, 29th June 2014

Since yesterday I am working on setting up of an experiment to study Doppler effect in sound.

If the source of sound or the detector is in motion relative to the medium of propagation, the frequency of the waves that are emitted  appears to be changed due to Doppler Effect. This is an interesting experiment at Higher Secondary level.

The experimental set-up is ready. I have used the linear air track and fixed the source of sound on the glider. the emitted sound waves can be detected by a microphone fixed in ExpEYES. We can determine the original frequency of the source using ExpEYES and then the source is set in to motion and again frequency is determined.  A photo-gate is used to measure the speed of the source.

The apparent frequency is related to the speed and the original frequency. The experimental results can be verified by theoretical calculations.

Practical Application:

  1. General Study of Doppler Effect
  2. For different frequencies, measure the Doppler shift with different velocities of the sound emitter. Compare the theoretical and experimental results.

 

The python code required for measuring frequency and also to determine speed using photo-gate  is already written. I could get good results in my experimental trials.

Tomorrow I will work on developing a separate code for a simple GUI for this experiment.

Saturday, 28th June 2014

Today I started working on an interesting experiment in sound and Waves. It is very  difficult to do experiments involving Doppler Effect in conventional laboratory. But with the help of ExpEYES Doppler Effect can be Demonstrated very easily.

The experimental set-up for demonstration of Doppler effect is ready. We need a moving source relative to the detector. Detector is the simple mic inside ExpEYES. For getting  a source which is harmonically oscillating, I used A buzzer attached to a spiral spring and made it oscillate in-front of the mic.

First, the frequency of the emitted signal is measured at rest. Then, the frequency shift that is caused by the oscillating source is measured. this can easily demonstrate ‘the apparent change in the frequency due to Doppler Effect.

My next step is to develop a set-up to measure Doppler Shift in case of a moving source with constant velocity. For this I am planning to use my linear air track which is developed for mechanics experiments, so that the cost can be reduced.

 

 

Thursday, 26th June 2014

In an experiment  to study oscillations of a loaded spring, we could obtain position time data and plot graph.

To determine the spring constant of the given spiral spring we need to measure frequency and time periodic time.

Today I could get this done by fitting the data by writing the following code…

from pylab import *
import expeyes.eyesj, time
import expeyes.eyemath as em

p = expeyes.eyesj.open()
p.set_state(10,1)
f = open(‘srf.dat’,’r+’)
ta = []
da = []
strt = time.time()
et =0
while et < 30:
dist = p.srfechotime(8,3)
et = time.time() – strt
ta.append(et)
da.append(dist)
s = ‘%5.3f\t %d’%(et,dist)
#s = ‘%d\t %d’%(et,dist)
f.write(s + ‘\n’)
print s
time.sleep(0.1)
vfit, par = em.fit_sine(ta,da)
print par
plot(ta, vfit)
plot(ta,da)
#plot(t,v)
show()

 

par[1] gives frequency of oscillations..

Now I will create the  GUI and the experiment will be completely ready…. 🙂

Tuesday, 24th June 2014

Today I could complete set-up of a mechanics experiment to study conservation of momentum. In this experiment we can determine momentum of both gliders on air track, before and after collision. Different types of collisions can also be studied.  Wrote  python code to get the data. Need to debug the errors and develop a GUI, where user can enter the values of masses of both the vehicles and get the value of momentum, which is the product of mass and velocity.

Today we could also design an instrument using  a  pulley and a photo-gate to measure acceleration. ( thanks to open educational resources for the idea..)

Tomorrow I will work on setting up of this new instrument for different experiments involving friction.

 

 

 

Monday, 23rd June 2014

Explored possibilities of obtaining Lissajous Figures using Square waves with various values of phase difference. Repeated the experiment with sine waves. Phase difference can be added with a capacitor and resistor circuit.

Started working on an experimental setup to produce these pattern in 3 Dimensions using Laser and Speakers. For this I need an amplifier to drive two speakers. Sine waves and the required phase difference can be obtained from ExpEYES with python code. I could get beautiful  Lissajous figures using manual method . Used two speakers with amplifiers and laser. Sine waves are obtained from AFO.

Need to do this with ExpEYES. It will be a very compact and most affordable set-up to produce Laser Lissajous Figures in 3D.

these concepts have been included in First Year B.Sc. Course of most of Indian universities. Students study these things only in theory and the never get to see the real Lissajous figures. . Our project has a potential to change this effectively. Hope it will be ready soon…..

Tonight, Evaluation Links will be enabled on Google-melange site. Need to prepare and submit the mid-term evaluation.

Sunday, 22nd June 2014

Continued to work on experiments to produce Lissajous Figures. Generated two square waves with a phase co relation between  them. Used Capture2 function to capture data and plot graphs. The figures are sensitive to phase difference and the ratio of frequencies.

This is the code used.

from pylab import *
import expeyes.eyesj
p = expeyes.eyesj.open()

#p.set_sqr1(8000)
#p.set_sqr2(4000)
p.set_sqrs(8000,13)

t1,v1,t2,v2 = p.capture2(1, 2, 400, 16)
figure(3)
plot(v1,v2)
show()

These are the patterns obtained…

lissa7

lisa4

lissa1

lissa6

lisa3

lissa2

The smooth Lissajous Figures are expected if we use two sine waves instead of square waves. Working on the module to generate two sine  waves of variable frequency.

Thats all for today…….:)

 

Saturday, 21st June 2014

Today worked on an experiment to produce Lissajous figures using two square waves. Wrote Program in python and tested the same. Could obtain various Lissajous patterns.

In the code we used Capture2 function from ExpEYES library to plot the figures. Here is the example…

_________________________________________________________________________

from pylab import *
import expeyes.eyesj
p = expeyes.eyesj.open()
from pylab import *
t1,v1,t2,v2 = p.capture2(1, 2, 300, 100)
figure(1)
plot(t1,v1)
figure(2)
plot(t1,v1, t2,v2)
figure(3)
plot(v1,v2)
show()

__________________________________________________________________________

figure 1 is a sine wave connected to channel A1

sine

figure2 shows the phase different introduced using a 1 microfarad capacitor and 1kilo ohm resistor.

lisawaves

this is the resulting Lissajous pattern…..

lissaellipse

Need to create a GUI where user can change the phase between the two waves and can obtain different patterns.

Tomorrow I will be working on the same experiment to produce different patterns.

 Following is the related information

Source :

  1. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/343305/Lissajous-figure
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissajous_curve

Lissajous figure, also called Bowditch Curve, pattern produced by the intersection of two sinusoidal curves the axes of which are at right angles to each other.

If the frequency and phase angle of the two curves are identical, the resultant is a straight line lying at 45° (and 225°) to the coordinate axes. If one of the curves is 180° out of phase with respect to the other, another straight line is produced lying 90° away from the line produced where the curves are in phase (i.e., at 135° and 315°).

Otherwise, with identical amplitude and frequency but a varying phase relation, ellipses are formed with varying angular positions, except that a phase difference of 90° (or 270°) produces a circle around the origin. If the curves are out of phase and differing in frequency, intricate meshing figures are formed.

The appearance of the figure is highly sensitive to the ratio a/b. For a ratio of 1, the figure is an ellipse, with special cases including circles (A = B, δ = π/2 radians) and lines (δ = 0). Another simple Lissajous figure is the parabola (a/b = 2, δ = π/4). Other ratios produce more complicated curves, which are closed only if a/b is rational. The visual form of these curves is often suggestive of a three-dimensional knot, and indeed many kinds of knots, including those known as Lissajous knots, project to the plane as Lissajous figures. (REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissajous_curve)

  • a = 1, b = 2 (1:2)
  • a = 3, b = 2 (3:2)
  • a = 3, b = 4 (3:4)
  • a = 5, b = 4 (5:4)

Friday, 20th June 2014

Continued working on the experiments. Here are the screen shots of the experiment with spring oscillations..

Screenshot from 2014-06-21 00:04:36

Screenshot from 2014-06-20 23:55:05

This is the experimental setup…
IMG_20140620_234908
IMG_20140621_000239

Plots obtained are good. Now we need to write python code to fit the curve and get the frequency.
Form the frequency and the load attached to the spiral spring, its Force constant or Spring constant can be determined.

One more positive development that has happened is…now we are able to access ExpEYES with android phone or tablets….Thanks to Jitin B.P. for this application.

I could connect ExpEYES to my Micromax Canvas 4 Phone…the screen shots shows sine waves and squarewaves connected to different channels….Screenshot_2014-06-20-22-34-15
Screenshot_2014-06-20-22-36-15

I have also added some simple python programs required for time measurements and plots to git repo.