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Going Deeper with Newton’s Second Law and PASCO Smart Carts

I’ve been teaching physics for years and for most of the years that meant one thing: ticker tape.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a certain elegance to labs using ticker tape; there just isn’t as much depth.  Enter the PASCO Smart Cart and SparkVue software.

I’ve had the carts for a few years now and I keep learning more things to do with them.  I wanted students to go deeper into Newton’s laws but how could I do that with the Smart Carts and SparkVue?  Here’s what I came up with.

I took my old set-up from the ticker tape days.  Have a cart pulled across a table pulled by a hanging mass over a pulley. Change the amount of mass on the cart and the amount pulling the cart. Calculate the acceleration using kinematics.  Compare the mass times the acceleration to the weight hanging over the edge.

That set-up is lowish friction, which we could hand-wave away, but I never liked doing that.  If we used the carts on a track with the Super pulley would I get better results?  Indeed, I did. Measured accelerations were within 10% of theoretical. Could I do better?

I attached the hook to the carts and used the force sensor to measure the tension pulling the cart.  Using the data from the force sensor I got within 1% of expected values!  This is great accuracy and a starting point for going deeper.  Why does the force sensor start with the force of the hanging mass and then drop?  Why does the force sensor data give better data then using the values of the hanging mass?

The old lab changed the mass on the cart and the mass hanging off the edge to compare the effects of changing the mass of the system or changing the force of the system.  Good but not great. Now I can do the lab over the pulley or run the string through the end stop for increased friction.  The students can compare different variations of the set up in the same amount of time it took with the ticker-tape.

With ticker-tape it took a long time and didn’t go very deep; basic understanding only.  Now with the Smart Carts and SparkVue we can go deeper, quicker.  Isn’t that what we are after?  Critical thinking and deeper learning?  PASCO’s products offer a chance for that and I am grateful for it.


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  • A big thanks for all the help and support you provided – I want to take some time to say a big thanks for all the help and support you provided me to select the best equipment in order to make the best possible use of the funds available. It is really exceptional that you happily connected with me multiple times even during the weekend and was always motivated to help. Please accept my big thanks for this.

    Gurpreet Sidhu | Physics Instructor | University College of North | The Pas, MB

  • Wireless Spectrometer Big Hit With Students – PASCO’s wireless spectrometer has been utilized very well by our earth science and physical science teachers. It’s an excellent piece of equipment and we have very much enjoyed its addition to enriching our classroom. It definitely brings students to a higher level of understanding wave interaction at a molecular level.

    Matt Tumbach | Secondary Instructional Technology Leader | Tommy Douglas Collegiate | Saskatoon, SK

  • Excellent Smart Cart – I thought the cart was excellent. The quick sampling rate for force will be very useful for momentum and collision labs we do. I’m recommending we include this in our order for next school year.

    Reed Jeffrey | Science Department Head | Upper Canada College | Toronto ON

  • Your lab equipment is of the highest quality and technical support is always there to help. During the 25 years we have used a wide array of lab equipment including computer interfacing. Your Pasco line has a high profile in our lab and will continue to do so far into the future.

    Bob Chin | Lab Technician | Kwantlen Polytechnic University | Surrey, BC

  • Datalogging Activities are Cross-Curricular

    Throughout the province of Nova Scotia, PASCO’s probeware technology has been merged with the rollout of the new P-6 curriculum. We chose a number of sensors for use with our project-based activities. Both the functionality and mobility of PASCO’s dataloggers enable students to collect authentic, real-world data, test their hypotheses and build knowledge.

    Mark Richards | Technology Integration Consultant | Annapolis Valley R.S.B. | Nova Scotia

  • We have a large number of PASCO wireless spectrometers and love how they have improved the learning experience for our students.

    Shawn McFadden | Technical Specialist | Ryerson University | Toronto, Ontario

  • During distance learning due to COVID-19 school shut down, I was given a short window to collect what I could from my classroom to teach online. The PASCO wireless sensors and Smart Carts were my top priority to collect to implement distance learning. By sharing experimental data with students via SPARKVue, the sensors were pivotal in creating an online experience that still allowed students to grow with their lab skills. It was easy to record videos of the data collection and share the data with my students. They did a phenomenal job examining and interpreting the data.


    Michelle Brosseau | Physics Teacher | Ursuline College Chatham | Chatham, Ontario

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