This morning I thought about a fun science experiment for kids: Use a laptop with a sound analysis program such as fldigi to use its FFT to measure the audio doppler shift from an oscillator carried aboard an oncoming bicycle or car. If you know the frequency of the audio source and the velocity of the vehicle, you can calculate the speed of sound. Then, having measured the speed of sound, you can use the laptop to sample and display the varying velocity of a vehicle. A GPS might be good for calibrating the initial vehicle velocity measurement.

Or, you could just skip the experiment and do it all in The Matrix.

- posted by Leigh @ 20:44 z