Quality data makes all the difference in science—and quality data analysis is the key to discovering patterns and making discoveries. With Fathom, students can conduct the thoughtful, thorough data analysis required in the sciences.

Gather real-time data from Vernier sensors, enter laboratory measurements, or explore one of the 40 science-related data sets that comes with Fathom. After graphing, summarizing, and analyzing your data, you can create mathematical models to explore physical phenomena in depth.

To get started, try one of the activities listed below.

• The Case of the Steady Hand: You'll run an experiment to determine how well you can keep a rhythm, by pressing a key repeatedly on your keyboard. Formulas and graphs will show how steady your rhythm is.
• Cooling Water: In this activity you will gather data from a temperature sensor. While the data are being gathered, you will construct a mathematical model of the physical situation, and then you'll see whether the model fits the data. 
• How Fast Do You Walk?: In this activity you will gather data from a motion detector sensor. After the data is gathered, you will construct a mathematical model of the physical situation.
• Timing with Photogates: Suppose you want to measure precisely how long it takes an object to travel a certain distance. You could use a stopwatch, but you would have a lot of reaction time error. When a photogate's light is blocked, it triggers a timer with an error of less than a millisecond. In this activity you'll set up a pair of photogates to make this measurement.