LoggerPro--SHS User’s Guide—Beginner’s
hints
Once you have logged onto the school network, you have
access to the LoggerPro program:
-
Open
“My Computer”
à open
“shssvrlib”
à open
“Apps” folder
à open
“shortcuts” folder
à open
“Science” folder
à open
“LoggerPro”
When you open the program, you should see a grid in the main
window, and a data table with 2 columns on the left.
A. I highly recommend that your first
steps would be to enter in the Name
and units for each of the variables
(manipulated variable in the x column; responding variable in the y column)
-
double
click on one of the column headings (i.e. double-click on the black “X”)
-
In
the pop-up dialogue box, enter the name of the measurement (i.e. Mass) and the
units in the appropriate spaces. “Short
Name” is what will appear in the data table column if you insert a very long
name—so sometimes you’ll want to add an abbreviation, or you can just put the label
a second time.
-
Repeat
this step for the second column for your other variable.
B. Entering your measurements:
-
Enter
your values, but watch where they go—LoggerPro typically will automatically
move across (i.e. X, Y, X, Y, X, Y…) rather than allowing you to fill in all of
one column first
-
As
you enter data, points should automatically appear on the graph.
-
Once
you have entered data for each column, double-click on the column heading. When the dialogue box appears, click on the
tab for “options”.
o
Point Protectors: allows you to change the
appearance of the points that will show on the graph for the responding
(Y-axis) variable
o
Color: allows you to change the color of the point
protectors
o
Displayed Precision: allows you to change the number
of sig. figs. in a column—either by specifying a specific number of decimal places
(important if it’s a measured quantity), or by specifying a specific number of
sig. figs. (handy when you are having LoggerPro
created a column of calculated data for you!)
o
Error Bar Calculations (IB ONLY):
Use this to insert error bars for your MEASURED variable(s). Remember, we are not going to report
quantitative uncertainties for calculated values.
-
The
error bars can be a fixed value (your absolute uncertainty)—use this if the
error is the same for each measurement.
-
The
error bars can also be different sizes for each data point—choose the “Use
Column” option, and then use data from a 3rd column that you add to
the data table (see below for instructions…)
You may need to add more than just the two data
columns. For example, if you have
specific absolute uncertainties for each measurement, you will need a third
column to show that:
A. Manually entering data:
In the “Data” section of the menu bar, select “New Manual Column…”
o
A
window will appear that will allow you to enter the label and units for this
new column. The new column will then be
added to the existing data table.
B. “New Calculated Column”—Use this if you are calculating a value that is derived
from the two original columns. For
example, if you are graphing “distance vs. time squared”, and you measured
distance and time, then the calculated column would be added for the “time
squared” piece. This option isn’t used
very often, but comes in handy sometimes.
C. Plotting multiple lines:
If you need to plot multiple data sets (i.e. energy vs. time—you’re
measuring potential energy and kinetic energy, with time as your manipulated
variable (x-axis). Double-click on the graph and bring up the Axes Options tab
in the pop-up window. There you will be
able to select all the columns of data that you would like to use for the responding
variable (y-axis) information
A. Best-fit line:
On the top menu bar, choose Analyze,
and select Curve Fit…
. Choose the type of function that your data shows (Linear,
quadratic, and inverse are probably the most common possibilities). Double click on the general equation name, or single-click and then click “Try Fit”. If the line is acceptable for you, then hit
“OK”.
B. Legend:
If you have more than one line on a single graph, you MUST include a
legend (key). Double-click on the
graph. On the graph options window that
pops up, make sure “legend” is checked.
The individual data columns MUST be labeled for this to work properly.