Utilizing smartphone proximity sensor to analyse accelerated motion of object in an inclined plane and determine the acceleration and kinetic friction coefficient

Abstract In this work, we launched smartphones with a moving object to analyse the motion on an inclined plane. The data of time versus distance was acquired by utilizing a smartphone proximity sensor to record time intervals between detection objects whose distance had been set beforehand. The plot of time versus distance was used to analyze the characteristics of accelerated motion. Meanwhile, time squared versus distance was used to determine acceleration. The inclination angle was varied to observe the effect on the motion characteristic and acceleration value. Furthermore, kinetic friction coefficient existing along the object’s motion was also calculated.