Production of stroboscopic photographs without the use of a stroboscopic lamp

Abstract

Most High School Physics programs begin with the study of
motion. In order to understand the basic concepts it is necessary to
quantify phenomena, which is not trivial, so, seldom used in the
school classroom. Within the techniques that allow the necessary
precise time measurements, the stroboscopic photography has
been a good solution, in spite of the requirement of equipment such
as a special lamp and the use of analogical photography
or, alternatively, of a Polaroid camera that gives immediate results.
A possible answer is to produce stroboscopic digital pictures
of motions, using two accessories at the disposal of most
teachers and at very low cost: a digital camera, to produce a video
of the phenomenon in study and a PC Computer together with a
free software, VirtualDub and ImageJ to produce the stroboscopic
picture. The data for analysis may be obtained in analogical
or digital format, show good quality, as seen in the examples
presented.