Eight student-designed labs built around a DIY smart cart and photogate — complete with answer keys and 3D-printable apparatus, free to download.
Every lab is built from the ground up to give Physics 1 students a genuinely hands-on experience for each unit of the course — pairing conceptual depth with apparatus students can actually touch, measure, and (sometimes) break.
The 3D-printed components mean any school with a printer can replicate the exact setup. No expensive specialty equipment required beyond a DIY smart cart or photogate — everything is designed for reproducibility and accuracy.
Each lab is a student-designed experiment with a full answer key and custom 3D-printable apparatus. Click any card to download the PDF.
Built around two pieces of modern, low-cost data-collection equipment that make quantitative physics accurate and accessible.
A DIY smart cart logs real-time force, velocity, and acceleration over Bluetooth. The 3D-printed parts in every lab kit mount straight onto it, so setup is fast and results are reliable.
A 3D-printed, open-source photogate gives precise timing for kinematics, momentum, and oscillation labs — no proprietary software required. Time motion right inside the Physics Cart app.