Meteor Monitor
Stephen Nicoletti
North Little Rock High School
North Little Rock, Arkansas
In this advanced physics and astronomy lesson, students measure sporadic
meteor activity (SMA) with a laptop computer. Students construct dipole
antennae, and build, test and wire a full-wave diode rectifier between the
dipole antenna and the laptop. A voltage program measures voltage across
the rectifier output to detect radio waves scattered off meteor trails.
Students use a histograph to verify that they are measuring SMA. SMA is
applied to mobile communications equipment, and the "meteor channel" is
explained in terms of an ellipsoid. Students use their SMA data to calculate
how many words per minute the meteor channel can support as a function of
keying speed.
Download Meteor Monitor: meteor.pdf
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Earth & Space Science
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