Simple, portable and low-cost experiments as RC and RL series circuits are proposed to experiment with DC circuits. Very common elements are used: a few electronics components (resistors, capacitors, coils and connecting wires) and two smartphones. We consider the charging and discharging of a capacitor in the RC circuit and also that of coil in the RL circuit. Using a smartphone as an oscilloscope we observe voltages variations which are the transient response to a square signal generated in the second smartphone. These voltage variations are directly related to the electrostatic or magnetic energy stored in the circuits. The experimental data have been collected with the smartphone used as an oscilloscope and corroborated with theoretical predictions based on Kirchhoff’s laws. The comparison showed differences of the order of the 1% or less between the calculated capacitance or inductance compared to the manufacturer values. This approach which avoids the use of expensive signal generators, oscilloscopes, or any specialized hardware can be performed in less-favored contexts and even as a home assignment.

Neste trabalho foi utilizado o sensor de aceleração de um smatphone em dois experimentos a fim de estudar o movimento circular uniforme e uniformemente acelerado. Os dados coletados em ambos os experimentos foram usados para obter a velocidade angular e a aceleração angular, respectivamente. Os resultados obtidos com o sensor de aceleração apresentam boa concordância com outros métodos alternativos, como usando gravações em vídeo de ambos experimentos e um modelo físico do segundo experimento.

The acceleration sensor of a smartphone is used for the study of the uniform and uniformly accelerated circular motions in two experiments. Data collected from both experiments are used for obtaining the angular velocity and the angular acceleration, respectively. Results obtained with the acceleration sensor are in good agreement with alternative methods, like using video recordings of both experiments and a physical model of the second experiment.