PASCO ME-6989 User manual

®
Physics Structures Set
ME-6989
Instruction Manual
012-10658A
*012-10658A*

Physics Structures Set Table of Contents
Included parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
About the parts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Recommended additional equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Replacement parts and spares sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About the experiments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Experiment 1: Acceleration on an inclined plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Experiment 2: Newton’s second law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Experiment 3: Projectile motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Experiment 4: Forces in an Elevator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Experiment 5: Roller Coaster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Experiment 6: Centripetal force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Experiment 7: Impulse and momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Experiment 8: Physical Pendulum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Experiment 9: Resonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Experiment 10: Work and energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Other experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Appendix: DataStudio set-up notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Teachers’ notes and sample data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Physics Structures Set
ME-6989
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1
Included parts
Structure parts1Quantity
1. #1 beams 16
2. #2 beams 16
3. #3 beams 36
4. #4 beams 36
5. #5 beams 16
6. Screws 150
7. Half-round connectors 28
8. XYZ connectors 6
9. Flat round connectors 6
10. 1/4-20 thumbscrews 6
11. 1/4-20 nuts 6
12. Angle connectors 24
13. Straight connectors 24
14. Sliding connectors 12
15. Cord tensioning clips 32
16. Braided nylon cord, 70 m spool 1
1For replacement parts see PASCO parts ME-6993, ME-6990, ME-6997, ME-6999A, and ME-6996,
12345
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15 16
Axles and wheels1Quantity
17. Long axles 2
18. Medium axles 2
19. Short axles 2
20. Pulleys 12
21. O-rings 12
22. Wheels 4
23. Tires 4
24. Collets 24
25. Spacers 12
1For replacement parts see PASCO part ME-6998A
17 18 19
20
21
22
23
24 25

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2
Cars and car parts1Quantity
26. Minicars with thumbscrews 2
27. Minicar bumpers with thumbscrews 2
28. Photogate flags 2
29. Car masses, 0.04 kg 2
30. #8 rubber bands 24
31. #10 rubber bands 24
32. Clay 1
1For replacement parts see PASCO parts ME-6995 and ME-9813
26 27 28
29
30
31
32
Track and track parts1Quantity
33. Track, 3 m 1
34. Track clips 24
35. Track coupler 1
36. Starter bracket 1
1For replacement parts see PASCO parts ME-9814 and ME-6995
34
33 35
36
Other parts1Quantity
37. Clamp-on Super Pulley 1
38. Nylon thread, 130 m spool 1
39. Springs, approximately 2 N/m 4
40. Springs, approximately 1 N/m 4
41. Rod clamps 2
1For replacement parts see PASCO parts ME-9875, ME-9835, ME-9448A, and ME-6986
37 38
39 40
41

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Model No. ME-6989 About the parts
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About the parts
Structure parts
Assembling beams and connectors
Create structures by using thumbscrews to attach beams and connectors. Some of the
ways to assemble beams and connectors are illustrated below:
Connecting a beam to a half-round connector
Connecting two beams with a straight connector
Connecting a beam to a flat round connector with an angle connector. The angle
connector allows adjustment to both the angle and length of the beam.

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Physics Structures Set About the parts
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Connecting two beams with a sliding connector. The larger thumbscrew only needs to
be loosened, never completely removed from the sliding connector.
About beam lengths and triangles
When joined at a 180° angle with a connector, two identical short beams have a
combined length equal to one longer beam.
Isosceles right triangles, which contain only 90° and 45° angles, can be made using
the combinations of beams illustrated below.
#1 #1 #2 #2 #3 #3
#3 #4 #5
#1
#1
#2
#2
#3
#3
#4
#4 #5
#4
#3
#2

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Model No. ME-6989 About the parts
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To make triangles with angles other than 90° and 45°, use two or more angle
connectors. Angle connectors allow both the length and angle to vary.
Example of a triangle using angle connectors
Attaching cords
Use cord tensioning clips to attach cords to connectors. The clips allow the length
tension of the cord to be adjusted easily. Note that each clip consists of two loosely
captured parts that are not meant to be separated.
Axles and wheels
Examples showing uses of axles, pulleys, and wheels are illustrated below. See the
experiments in this manual for other examples.
Axle connected to a half-round connector with a screw
angle
connector
angle
connector

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Physics Structures Set About the parts
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Wheel connected to an axle with a screw
This wheel is free to rotate on the axle attached to two half-round connectors.
This pulley is free to rotate on the axle and is held in place by the collets
Mounting a tire on a wheel and an o-ring on a pulley
Cars and car parts
The three-wheeled minicar is designed to run on the included track.
If you are using a photogate to measure the speed of the car, attach the photogate flag
as pictured. The flag will interrupt the photogate twice as the car passes, allowing the
speed to be calculated.

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Model No. ME-6989 About the parts
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You can increase the mass of the car by placing a 40 g mass in the circular indentation
on the top of the car or by using the thumbscrew to attach the mass to the underside of
the car.
Use the bumper attachments and rubber bands to demonstrate collisions or to couple
two cars together as shown. A small amount of clay can be attached to a bumper to
achieve an inelastic collision. The 6-32 thumbscrew serves as a post for holding a
mass placed on top of the car.
Track and track parts
The flexible track is about 305 cm long and can be cut into shorter pieces. For the
experiments in this manual, cut the track into two pieces of 90 cm and 215 cm. See
“Replacement parts and spares sets” on page 11 for information about ordering
additional track.
Use the track coupler to join two pieces of track.
The track clips to connect the track to the structure beams. Attach the clips to the
channel on the underside of the track with a quarter twist as shown.

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Physics Structures Set About the parts
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Use the starter bracket to help align the wheels of the car on the track. Squeeze the
clip of the starter bracket and insert it into the channel on the underside of the track.
Slide the bracket along the track to the desired position.
Drop the car into the bracket as shown.
When properly aligned on the track, the front wheel of the car runs in the center
groove of the track, and the two back wheels run outside the side ridges.