3B SCIENTIFIC® PHYSICS
1
Free Fall Apparatus U8400830
Instruction sheet
01/10 TLE/ALF
1 Base
plate
2
Stop socket
3 Ground
socket
4 Start
socket
5
Socket for stand rod with fixing
screw
6 Contact
plate
7
Stand rod with scale
8 Steel
ball
9
Start fitting with release mechanism
10 Retaining lug with micro-magnet
11 Release
lever
12 Clamping lever for start fitting
1. Description
System for measuring the time it takes a steel ball
to fall from a height which can be precisely set to
between 20 and 960 mm.
A stand rod with a height scale is attached to a
base plate with a built-in contact surface. A start
fitting is attached to the rod at a height that can be
accurately adjusted. The start fitting includes a
mechanism to release the falling object (a steel
ball). Underneath the release mechanism there are
three contact pins that ensure that the initial posi-
tion of the ball is precisely defined. The contacts
and the conducting surface of the ball form a
switch that opens when the ball starts to fall away.
A retaining lug with a micro-magnet at its tip holds
the ball in its initial position. Measurement of the
fall time is halted when the ball strikes a contact
plate at the bottom of the apparatus. The contact
plate is designed in such a way that when the ball
hits it, it stops dead and remains on the plate
rather than bouncing away onto the floor.
Measurements can be reproduced with a high de-
gree of reliability.
