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The value of video analysis in physics education is well established,1,2 and both commercial and free educational video analysis programs are readily available.3 The video format is familiar to students, contains a wealth of spatial and temporal data, and provides a bridge between direct observations and abstract representations of physical phenomena. This has made video analysis attractive for many 2D (and sometimes 3D) motion experiments including projectiles, oscillations, collisions, rotations, and even Brownian motion.4 This paper describes the use of Tracker,5 a free Java video analysis tool developed by the Open Source Physics Project,6 to extend video analysis beyond these traditional applications. Specifically, we discuss the following introductory physics video experiments, all of which are available for download from comPADRE or the BQ Learning database:71). 2D collisions in a center-of-mass reference frame. 2). Modeling the air resistance force on falling cupcake cups. 3). Thermal expansion using single-slit diffraction. 4). Nonthermal emission spectra of lasers, gases, fluorescent dyes, and fluorescent lamps.
Brown et al. (Fri,) studied this question.