If you were ever curious about how fast the Spring Valley elevator goes and accelerates then here is some data for you. The students in AP Physics used force senors, a weight and Vernier software to measure forces during an elevator trip. Using Newton's Second law and some Calculus functions, students were able to calculate the position, speed and acceleration real time as they rode it. Our elevator hits a top speed of almost 0.7 m/s (1.5 mph)! It has a peak acceleration of 1.6 m/s/s making you feel 16% heavier momentarily. The height of the 3rd floor from the 1st floor is about 8.6 meters or around 28 ft.
