Describes the Packard's Falling Body Apparatus, invented by John C. Packard, which is essentially an inclined plane combined with a simple and elegant method of measuring the relative time of descent of a steel ball. (JRH)

A PET microcomputer is used as an accurate and programmable timer to support data acquisition from velocity experiments covering falling, rolling, and sliding objects, and human velocity, acceleration, and power measurements. The inexpensive instrumentation is simple and easy to use and compares favorably with conventional, more expensive…

Contends that the nature of physics has been misrepresented by blurring or ignoring important distinctions between "errors" and "discrepancies" and that dealing with these and related problems can improve students' enjoyment of labs and understanding of physics. Nature of physics, role of experiments, experimental errors, and error analysis are…

Discusses the use of microcomputers as a universal instrument to replace more expensive instrumentation in many traditional labs. Describes the availability of microcomputers as inexpensive educational tools which can be used successfully in labs with minimal requirements on the computer. (SK)