Innovative science experiments using Phoenix
Bharat Kumar, V V Satyanarayana, Kundan Singh, Parmanand Singh · Physics Education · 2009
A simple, flexible and very low cost hardware plus software framework for developing computer-interfaced science experiments is presented. It can be used for developing computer-interfaced science experiments without getting into the details of electronics or computer programming. For developing experiments this is a middle path between push-button systems and the develop-from-scratch approach. Emphasis is on leveraging the power of personal computers for experiment control, data acquisition and the mathematical analysis of data. The language 'Python' is chosen for data acquisition and analysis. This article explains the architecture of Phoenix (Physics with Home-made Equipment and Innovative Experiments) along with some sample experiments. The hardware design is open and the project is totally based on free software.