I'm very new to the use of Arduinos and I've recently have been assigned to code an Arduino to measure the force/mass of unknown objects, however I am not permitted to use a Load Cell is there any other way to measure force/mass. And if so what is the suggested product I should get?
Push it with a known force.
Measure the acceleration.
is that a class project?
if yes, put yourself in your teacher shoes for a moment. It looks like an exercise to work around the concept of mass and physics calculation around it.
@anon56112670 propose you a mean, which rely on a certain equation of kinetic.
do you have your physics lesson near you? can you list every physics parameters which are related to mass and motion? some could be obtain without the help of a scale or cell load.
Please be smart and find us elegant (or just working) solution, I will be very pleased to help you or just see you face this challenge!
Force and mass are two completely different concepts. What, exactly, are you supposed to measure?
Thank you so much for your response, and to answer your following questions, no this is not a class project rather a Science Olympiad event. I have no prior background about physic and was rather thrusted into this subject, would you any equations or suggest of physics concepts that can help me expand on my knowledge of this.
You will need to learn how force and mass are defined, before starting this project. An introductory physics text would be a place to start.
We are supposed to measure both mass and force with the same device, therefore I just generalized it into one topic question.
You can't do that. Post the actual assignment, rather than your misunderstanding of it.
Detector Building : "In this event, teams will build a durable Mass/Force Sensing Device that will accurately measure and display both voltage and actual masses of different solid samples ranging from 20 to 1,000 grams."
That assignment expects you to measure unknown masses, not force, and for some reason, a voltage.
It is poorly worded, so ask what the voltage measurement is for.
Voltage was included as another component we are supposed to measure, they also included it last year alongside temperature.
Weird. But have fun.
there is a prize to share so! (and physics basics to learn!)
the force of an object under acceleration is: F=m*a (Semperldem hint). So the mass of the object is a/F. Simple with math, but I cant imagine how to simply determine the force F.
EDIT: WRONG thanks to @jremington the period of a pendulum is also a function of the mass. imagine a simple hook at the end of a rope you put in transversal motion. It will oscillate at a certain frequency F0. Attach the object with unknown mass on the hook, it will oscillate at a certain frequency F1. the difference between F1 and F0 is related to the mass of your object.
and finally: if you are able to transfer the energy (friction with air and surface will lower the quantity of energy transfered) of your unknow object to another object with a know mass (like 2 snooker balls hitting each others), the 2nd object will support acceleration related to the mass of the first object.
we are far from coding here. I hope you will find an experiment that suits your needs.
You can use (or make) one of these:
https://www.hgsind.com/products/spring-loaded-linear-potentiometers
No, only the length of the pendulum.
The oscillation period of a mass bobbing up and down on a spring does depend on the mass.
thanks for the correction.
You might want to correct that before you cause confusion...
Nope
I am glad that you added that
...and the local values of π and the acceleration due to gravity.