Vernier Cart Friction Pad and Cart Fan

After working hard to make our dynamics carts very low friction, we've now added some friction back, so that you and your students can study friction in a controlled way. Add a Cart Friction Pad to your Vernier Dynamics System and watch the carts move under very consistent friction force. Here's a graph showing the uniform acceleration due to the pad: The cart was at rest initially, given a nudge, and it then slowed to a stop. Setting the friction amount is as simple as turning a knob.

Several Physics Education Research-informed curricula make use of fans to study motion under a constant force. We now have a two-speed Cart Fan. Attach the fan to a cart, and monitor the cart position with a Motion Detector. You can get a beautiful parabolic position vs. time graph. Both the Fan and Pad attach to a Vernier Cart using the supplied magnets, so they are easy to attach and remove.

Position graph of a cart with friction

Velocity graph of a cart with friction