Instructions
How to Track the Motion of an Object using the Physlets.org Tracker
The purpose of this guide is to familiarize the user with basic operation of the physlets.org tracker software.
Step 1: Go to the following website: https://physlets.org/tracker/trackerJS/index_ff.html
Step 2: Near the top of the webpage, click “Video”.
Figure 1. Image of software with video button highlighted. (Screenshot by: Liam Martin)
Step 3: Click “Import” from the drop-down menu.
Step 4: Click the video you want to import from your computer.
Step 5: Click the “Open” button.
Step 6: Using either the scroll bar or the blue arrows to the right of it, navigate to the point in the video where motion begins.
Figure 2. Image of software with lines pointing to the scroll bar and arrows. (Screenshot by Liam Martin)
Step 7: Click on the calibration stick icon on the toolbar near the top of the screen.
Step 8: From the dropdown menu that appears, click “New”.
Step 9: Click “Calibration Stick”.
Figure 3. Calibration stick icon. (Screenshot by Liam Martin)
Step 10: Click and hold to drag the ends of the calibration stick that pops up so that it approximately matches the length of 1 meter in the video.
Figure 4. Image with arrow pointing to properly-oriented calibration stick. (Screenshot by Liam Martin)
Step 11: Click the axis icon (the pink intersecting lines) on the toolbar, right underneath the “Coordinate” icon.
Step 12: Click and hold to drag the point where the lines intersect to the spot where the motion begins.
Figure 5. The axis icon (Screenshot by Liam Martin)
Step 13: Click the “Track” button near the top of the screen.
Step 14: From the dropdown, click “New”.
Step 15: From the second dropdown, click “Point Mass” to make a graph and a table pop up on the left side of the screen.
Step 16: Simultaneously hold down the shift key and click on the center of the moving object.
Step 17: Repeat step 16 until you have reached the end of the motion.
Figure 6. Image of tracker software with data points for tracked object beginning to appear in graph and table. (Screenshot by Liam Martin)