timer program

#$&*

Phy 201

Your 'timer program' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.

** TIMER program_labelMessages **

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40 minutes

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Using the TIMER program

This experiment is self-explanatory.  Student report time of completion ranging from 10 minutes to 1 hour, with 30 minutes being the most typical.

Downloading and/or running the TIMER program

If you have a Macintosh computer the preferred timer.exe program might not work (it will if your computer has a Windows emulator), but the alternative Java applet should work just fine. 

timer.exe

The program timer.exe should be downloaded to your hard drive and/or flash drive so you have access to it whenever you need it. 

There is an alternative Java applet (see the heading timer java applet below) , but the .exe option is preferable. It is worth 15 minutes of effort to get the program working on your hard drive, after which you will have it and won't need Internet access to run it.  It will start up instantly, it runs in a small window, and it has the ability to file your data.  However if you can't get it working in 15 minutes with the instructions given below, just move on the the Java version.

To use the Windows version:

If you are using a Windows PC, or a Mac with Windows emulator, first take a few seconds to run the program q a prelim.  As soon as the form opens on your screen, you can close it.  Nothing needs to be submitted.  The first thing this program does is to create the c:\vhmthphy folder on your hard drive.  As an alternative you can also create a c:\vhmthphy folder.

The timer.exe program opens in a small window and can be run side-by-side with other windows applications on your computer (just size the second window so it leaves room for the Timer program).

Run the program now.  If it fails to work then try the following, in order:

• If you got the Run-time Error 76, it can be corrected by the step given earlier.  That instruction is repeated below:Run the program q a prelim.  As soon as the form opens on your screen, you can close it.  Nothing needs to be submitted.  The first thing this program does is to create the c:\vhmthphy folder on your hard drive.  As an alternative you can manually create this folder.   

• If this doesn't work, follow the link COMDLG32 to access simple instructions for fixing the problem. Then run timer.exe .

To use the Java version:

Windows users:

The Java applet does require that the Java Runtime Environment be installed.  Almost every Apple computer, and most Windows computers, will have this environment installed.  If your computer will not run the Java applet, the installation is simple and quick.  If you search under 'Java Runtime Environment', using any search engine, you will find information on the Java Runtime Environment and on the installation.  You should satisfy yourself that you are downloading from a verifiable, trusted source.

Mac users: 

Apple supplies their own version of Java. Use the Software Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.

 should check the Apple site for the Software Update feature (available on the Apple menu) to check that you have the most up-to-date version of Java for your Mac.

The Java Applet at the link Timer-Java will work fine for the current experiment, and will do just about everything the timer.exe program will do.  The Java applet has a few more or less minor inconveniences and one that's not quite as minor:

• You can't put the Java applet on your hard drive or flash drive, so you have to pull it off the Web every time you want to use it.

• The applet won't file your data.  However it will let you copy and paste your data into a text editor.

• If your machine doesn't run Java applets, you would have to set it up to do so (just search the web under 'Java Runtime Environment', which is free and installs easily).  This software is pretty standard, and is already installed on most machines.

Operating the TIMER program

It is easy to operate the Timer program.  All you have to do is click on the button labeled Click to Time Event.

Click that button about 10 times and describe what you see.

 I am using the Mac JAVA version. In the first column, the number of times you click is recorded to make rows based on the first click. second click, etc. The second column gives you the time since the beginning to the first click, time since the beginning to the second click, etc. The third column gives you the difference between the second and first click, third and second click, etc.

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Now click on Initialize Counter, which will clear all the data from the timer window.  Click the mouse as fast as you can until the TIMER window fills up.  Be sure you get at least 20 time intervals.

If you miss a click, try again.  Keep trying until you get at least 20 intervals without a missed or delayed click.

Copy your data starting in the next line:

  1 2.194 2.194

2 2.326 0.132

3 2.54 0.214

4 2.753 0.213

5 2.96 0.207

6 3.148 0.188

7 3.36 0.212

8 3.543 0.183

9 3.738 0.195

10 3.933 0.195

11 4.133 0.2

12 4.335 0.202

13 4.548 0.213

14 4.743 0.195

15 4.936 0.193

16 5.15 0.214

17 5.354 0.204

18 5.587 0.233

19 5.764 0.177

20 5.98 0.216

21 6.189 0.209

22 6.387 0.198

23 6.59 0.203

24 6.784 0.194

25 6.972 0.188

26 7.166 0.194

27 7.357 0.191

28 7.56 0.203

29 7.768 0.208

30 7.957 0.189

31 8.158 0.201

 

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You got at least 20 time intervals.  Based on your data what was the average of the first 20 time intervals?  Note that you could get this average by averaging the first 20 intervals.  My first few intervals were .15625, .15625, .1875, .171875, etc; I could just add up the first 20 intervals and divide by 20 to get the average.  However there is an easier and quicker way to get the result, so use the easier way if you can.

Give your result, number only, in the first line, and starting in the second line explain how you got it.

 0.19975

I had to add up the first 20 intervals and divide by 20 to get the average.

 

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When I did this activity the first few lines of my data were as follows:

event number

clock time

time interval

1

11.67188

11.67188

2

11.875

0.203125

3

12.0625

0.1875

4

12.20313

0.140625

5

12.375

0.171875

6

12.54688

0.171875

7

12.73438

0.1875

8

12.92188

0.1875

9

13.10938

0.1875

10

13.28125

0.171875

11

13.4375

0.15625

It looks like the same intervals keep popping up.  For example .1875 seconds occurs 5 times out of the first 10 intervals, .171875 seconds occurs three times, and .203125 seconds, .140625 seconds and .15625 seconds each occur once.

A frequency distribution for my time intervals would be as follows:

time interval

frequency

,140625

1

.15625

1

.171875

3

.1875

5

.203125

1

What different time intervals did you observe in your first 20 intervals, and how many times did each occur?  List below the different time intervals you observed and the number of times each occurred.  List from the shortest to the longest interval, and use a comma between the time interval and its frequency.  For example my data above would be listed at

.140625, 1

.1565, 1

.171875, 3

.1875, 5

.203125, 1

Your list should be in exactly this format, with no other symbols or characters.

 0.132, 1

0.177, 1

0.183, 1

0.188, 1

0.193, 1

0.195, 3

0.2, 1

0.202, 1

0.204, 1

0.207, 1

0.212, 1

0.213, 2

0.214, 2

0.216, 1

0.233, 1

 

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You may make any comments or ask any question about the process so far in the box below

 ####What is the easier and quicker way to find the average of the intervals?

 

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@&

I would subtract the second clock time from the 21st and divide by 20.

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On the 10 intervals I've shown you, do you really think I managed to get a time of .1875 seconds, accurate to 4 significant figures, on half of the intervals?  If you do, I'm grateful for your confidence but I'm just not that good.  No human being has that much neurological and muscular control.

So why do you think the TIMER program reported that time so frequently?  Why weren't there times like .1830 seconds, or .1769 seconds?  Does this mean that the TIMER program is flawed?  Does that mean it's useless?

 I think that the timer program just rounded up to make it more convenient. The extra 0.0001 added or subtracted really doesn't make a huge difference in terms of seconds because that sliver of time is hard to grasp or imagine. The TIMER program is not flawed. It is not useless either. The rounding makes it easier to understand and compare as well. It would be very tedious trying to look at those numbers with four decimal places.

 

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Here are a few more lines of data, with an added column showing the difference between each time interval and the next.

clock time

time interval

difference from one time interval to next

9

13.10938

0.1875

-0.01563

10

13.28125

0.171875

-0.01563

11

13.4375

0.15625

0.03125

12

13.625

0.1875

-0.01563

13

13.79688

0.171875

0.015625

14

13.98438

0.1875

0.015625

15

14.1875

0.203125

-0.03125

16

14.35938

0.171875

-0.01563

17

14.51563

0.15625

0.03125

Take a good look at that last column and tell us what you see in those numbers, and what this tells you about the TIMER program

 I see basically two numbers 0.015625 and 0.03125 with maybe an extra decimal place or a negative sign. This tells me that the TIMER program is very accurate but it rounds the intervals so that they are those two numbers away from each other. This makes it very precise and easier to understand.

 

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Now initialize the TIMER once more, and take a series of 10 relaxed breaths.  Every time you start to inhale, hit the TIMER button.

My results for the first 7 complete breaths are as follows:

series of relaxed breaths

 

event number

clock time

time interval

difference between time interval and next

1

1569.734

1569.734

 

2

1582.75

13.01563

0.32812

3

1596.094

13.34375

3.90625

4

1613.344

17.25

2.70313

5

1633.297

19.95313

1.35937

6

1654.609

21.3125

4.23438

7

1680.156

25.54688

2.15625

8

1707.859

27.70313

 

I didn't go on because the time between my breaths kept increasing, and I was afraid if I relaxed any more I might stop breathing altogether.  It's going to take either more statistical analysis to determine whether that's a real danger, or a little common sense.

Report your results by just entering your time intervals, one to each line, in the box below.  If I was entering my results I would enter

13.01563

13.34375

17.25

19.95313

21.3125

etc.

Enter your results in the same format:

 2.814

6.414

10.188

13.665

17.379

20.991

24.266

27.667

30.545

33.613

 

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If you have any comments please insert them here

 My intervals stayed pretty steady and changed approximately 3 units apart.

 

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Most likely you did not observe the same exact time interval twice, and if you did it did not happen nearly as often as when you did the fact clicks.

Why do you think this is exactly what we would expect?

 I think people tend to set a pace for themselves when doing a task such as clicking as fast as they can. Even though it's not really as fast as you can, I find myself setting a pace to make it more even. It's just a natural tendency. However, breathing is not as paced. The more deep breaths you take, the more relaxed you become causing you to take even deeper breaths. Not to mention concentrating on breathing can make you lose more oxygen with each breath causing the next breath only to be taken quicker.

 

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Which of the following statements do you think is the most accurate?

a.  The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .1 second.

b.  The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .01 second.

c.  The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .001 second.

d.  The TIMER program is capable of determining the time between two events accurately to within about .0001 second.

Enter your answer and your reasoning below:

 C. because there are odd and even numbers in that thousandths place. However, when looking at the 0.0001 second they are all rounded to the nearest 0.0005.

 

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@&

If the accuracy was .001 second, there would be about 40 possible intervals between .18 sec and .22 sec.

What are the chances you would see a lot of repetition of the same intervals, were the TIMER able to distinguish .001 second differences?

*@

Note that the TIMER.exe program can save your data in a format that can be read by a spreadsheet (the TIMER applet cannot do so).  This will be very handy in the future, so take a minute and do the following:

1.  Click on the button at the lower right of the TIMER form, entitled Click to File Data.

2.  A box will pop up allowing you to include an identifying message. You should generally choose to include such a message; for the data presently on your timer that might be 'series of regular breaths time at beginning of inhalation' or something similar.  Type in whatever you think would serve as a good identifier for this data and OK that box.

3.  A typical Save As window will appear.  Decide where to save your data and what to call it, and proceed to save it.  The program will save the file as a comma-delimited text file.

4.  Open your spreadsheet program (typically Excel) and choose File > Open.  Browse to the folder in which you just saved your data.  Below the File Name line will be a File Type line; set this either to Text Files or All Files so your file will appear.  Open it.

5.  A series of windows will typically appear.  In the first window make sure the file type chosen is Delimited, the proceed to the next window. 

6.  In the second window you will see a series of checkboxes; check the one entitled Comma, in order to select the comma-delimited file, then just click on Finish.

If you can't run the .exe program, you can't do Steps 1-3.  However all you need to do is copy the contents of the program to a text file, using copy-and-paste.  Save that text file, using any filename you wish.  Then proceed with steps 4-6 above.

Your data should appear in your spreadsheet, and can be manipulated as in any spreadsheet.

Copy a few lines of the data from your spreadsheet below:

 1

2.814

2.814

2

6.414

3.6

3

10.188

3.774

4

13.665

3.477

 

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&#Your work looks good. See my notes. Let me know if you have any questions. &#