Clive and I have set up the air track. The entire table can be rolled out into the lecture hall, with the help of a student.
The air blower should be plugged in and turned on. Remove the tarp.
There are 2 carts on the track. One can be lauched with a push or with the rubber band to show constant velocity (the other cart should be remove d first). You can discuss what happens to the velocity after collision with the end. You can also compare to the sliding of a book on the table top.
The second glider has a string with small weight (a penny) attached. When the string passes over the pully, the cart can be released to illustrate constant acceleration. Note: the penny is 2.5 grams and the cart is 300 grams. You can ask them what happens if the weight would be increased.
You can also do collisions just for fun (but not to fast!)
Unfortunately the video disk player that goes with the computer cart is broken (tray is jammed). I will give it to Ron Zettlemoyer to look at.
In the mean time the other player has been set up to run on the blue cart without the computer. I put some instructions on the cart. It's actually quite easy, you just use the remote to select the chapter you want and then play it. It still uses the overhead and LCD display.
Disk 1 should in the player. Recommended chapters:
Ch 8: Const velocity on air track. Compliments live track, with added timing marks.
Ch 10: Rolling ball incline. Nicely graphs position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time, from rolling ball data.
Ch 14: Guinea and feather. Our live version is not reliable even after pumping out. The feather gets stuck or caught on the coin.
Check out the others just for fun, e.g. dropped flame.