Investigating the Torricelli law using a pressure sensor with the Arduino and MakerPlot

摘要

This paper examines the Torricelli law for the flow of liquid from a small drain hole in a container.It shows how the system can be modelled using either a traditional calculus-based approach or a non-calculus step-wise computer method appropriate to the background of the student group.An experiment to measure the head of out-flowing liquid as a function of time is then described.The conventional method of manual timing is replaced by a pressure-sensing technique involving use of the Arduino microcontroller and MakerPlot graphing software.