phyphox – The Conference – Posters

Experiments illustrating quantum phenomena are often difficult to implement in education. Even experiments that use classical light to demonstrate key quantum concepts can require costly, alignment-sensitive, and technically demanding optical setups. We present a novel, modular photonics platform designed to lower these barriers through 3D-printed optomechanical components, low-cost sensors, and ESP32-based electronics. Using the phyphox Arduino library, measurement data are transmitted directly to students’ smartphones, where phyphox provides an accessible interface for real-time visualization, data analysis, and experiment control. The poster presents the educational rationale, outlines the hardware and software architecture, and illustrates the platform’s application through selected experiments.

Phyphox is an extremely powerful and flexible measurement tool. Especially, because it allows to read out external sensors via Bluetooth. The goal of the Laborino project is to make use of this external sensor capability and provide users with a cheap option to realize their own measurement unit. This contribution introduces the main ideas and design guidelines of the Laborino project and its current status. Laborino is an open educational resource, i.e. everything is for free!

As part of a Bachelor’s thesis, experiments were developed and tested for the playground to help school pupils in (lower) secondary education, as well as interested amateurs (children or adults who have not studied physics since leaving school), to experience key mechanical concepts such as speed, acceleration and force. Using the phyphox app, everyday movements – such as swinging or spinning on a merry-go-round – can be transformed into quantifiable measurement processes, thereby establishing a close link between physical experience and the modelling of physical phenomena. Instructions for carrying out the experiments and tasks for evaluating and interpreting the measurement data were created with reference to research into pupils’ conceptual understanding. The experiments investigate the period, velocity and acceleration on a swing, and the centripetal acceleration on a merry-go-round. Initial feedback from 36 pupils indicates not only a high level of motivation and positive response, but also great potential for explaining physical phenomena clearly and supporting learning processes in the long term. The design of the experiments and the results of initial trials are presented in the poster.

This study is a STEM + Sport case study conducted with four 11th-grade students in Türkiye. The biomechanics of rowing strokes were examined using acceleration data collected via the Phyphox mobile app, analyzed through Python code generated with ChatGPT in Google Colab. Students tested carbon fibre, aluminium, and composite oars under both with-current and against-current flow conditions, calculating stroke period via autocorrelation analysis. Results showed carbon fibre oars produced the shortest stroke periods (3.0 s with current, 3.2 s against current) and highest average acceleration (~2.0 m/s²), while aluminium oars had the longest periods (3.17–3.35 s) and lowest acceleration. Students demonstrated conceptual progress, linking acceleration to force via Newton’s second law and connecting autocorrelation patterns to periodic motion. The study highlights how combining sport-based contexts, smartphone sensors, and AI-assisted coding can boost STEM engagement and identity.

Skills in research data management (RDM) have become increasingly relevant for a range of professional roles, including data steward/engineer/scientist and RDM tool ambassador/community manager/liaison officer. For these roles, experience in data generation and a sense of dataset ownership are essential. The German National Research Data Infrastructure for Engineering Sciences (NFDI4ING) has recently implemented an innovative summer school concept for RDM. Here we present an adaptation thereof.

Chemical kinetics is a fundamental topic studied in both secondary education and chemistry undergraduate courses. Basic concepts such as reaction rate, rate equation, and reaction order are introduced. To help students fully grasp these ideas, practical laboratory sessions are beneficial. A common tool used for these experiments is the UV-VIS spectrometer, where the variations of sample absorbance are used to follow the time evolution of the chemical reaction. However, these devices may present some disadvantages that can restrict their educational use. As an alternative, a smartphone can be used to record a video of the chemical reaction, analysing afterwards with Tracker software the RGB channel intensities over time. In this poster, we present an experimental laboratory activity based on a smartphone low-cost modular DIY device, and applied in two case studies: the thermal bleaching of malachite green, and the photoisomerization of methyl blue.

The research approach aims to increase acceptance of smartphone experiments in physics lessons by distributing materials and offering teacher support for these experiments using the free phyphox app, which turns smartphones into mobile measuring instruments. The phyphox:kit includes worksheets, accompanying materials, and accessories for experiments across the core physics curriculum for students aged 10 to 16 as well as materials for a 90-minute introductory lesson. A study is evaluating the materials in the kit as they are used in school practice. Up to 23 schools are currently participating in the ongoing pilot study. The study also examines possible changes in teachers’ attitudes towards the use of smartphone experiments in science lessons when they are supported with comprehensive materials for introducing the experiments.

This poster describes a phyphox-based physics lesson for Grade 11 students in Japan. Students measured the acceleration of a tablet suspended from a vertical spring in real time and compared small and large amplitude oscillations. The graphs showed that acceleration changed periodically, that larger oscillations produced larger acceleration amplitudes, and that the period changed very little. The poster also explains how to mount the tablet safely for classroom use.

In our first year course Mechanics and Relativity, students perform a gyroscope practical to study precession, which is measured with a TI SensorTag CC2650 wireless sensor communicating with phyphox. Nutation is often observed in the practical in addition to precession and the nutation period is easily derived from the precession measurement. Analysis of nutation (not discussed in the accompanying lectures) is optional for students and it may give them information about a topic they do not learn about otherwise. Precession and nutation measurements are presented and reports are investigated to check how many students recognize nutation in the lab and if they do, how they take it into account in their analysis.Student use of phyphox and wireless sensors in later project practicals will also be discussed. Some examples of using phyphox (and a wireless sensor) in a lecture demonstration and in experiments in more daily life, outside the physics lab, will be presented as well.

We present an 18-channel visible/NIR spectrophotometer (410-940 nm) for secondary schools. Built with a SparkFun Triad AS7265x sensor, an ESP32, and phyphox via Bluetooth Low Energy, the hardware costs under €100. A single firmware supports three phyphox experiments: Triad_Spectra, Triad_Ratio, and Triad_NDVI. Triad_Spectra displays full spectra using dark and white calibration. It yields transmittance and corrects sensor gain artifacts, supporting Beer-Lambert curves and chlorophyll photometry. Triad_Ratio computes any two-channel ratio, facilitating various applications such as olive-oil authentication and turbidity checks. Triad_NDVI computes (NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red) at leaf scale, the contrast satellites use for vegetation monitoring, requiring white-paper reference calibration. The software was developed iteratively with AI assistance (Claude, Anthropic), an approach we believe can substantially shorten the development cycle of such instructional instruments.

This project presents an open-source collection of wireless sensor boxes designed for secondary school physics — suitable for student experiments and teacher demonstrations.Each box is built around an ESP32 microcontroller transmitting data via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), housed in a custom 3D-printed enclosure. The collection includes sensors for force, distance, magnetic field, pressure, temperature, light gates, and a DC multimeter. Data is visualized in real time using phyphox.

A standard empty plastic water bottle can be used to test the ideal gas law, provided the experimenter (student or educator) travels to a location with a significantly different altitude than that of their school laboratory—or takes a flight.At the initial location, with the bottle open and its initial volume known, the experimenter records atmospheric pressure using the Phyphox app and temperature using a portable thermometer or a Bluetooth (BLE) sensor. The bottle is then sealed airtight with its cap.Upon returning to the school lab, pressure and temperature are measured once again, while the bottle’s new (altered) volume is determined using a large graduated cylinder. Using these paired measurements, one can test whether the relationship PV/T=constant holds true.Tests have yielded results that usually differ by less than 2%.

This paper presents the development and validation of a browser-based 2-Degree-of-Freedom (2-DOF) digital model for rotating machinery vibration analysis. The simulation extends a classical rotor model by incorporating an anisotropic stator base, four-pole induction motor kinematics, and a decoupled 100 Hz data acquisition system. Physical measurements were obtained using a smartphone accelerometer (Phyphox) on a variable-frequency drive test rig operating at 60 Hz.

Unexpected faults in rotating machinery can cause equipment damage, downtime and increased maintenance costs. This project proposes a low-cost IoT-based condition monitoring system using a smartphone as a vibration sensor and the phyphox application for data acquisition and visualisation. Three-axis acceleration data from a rotary test rig will be collected through the phone’s built-in accelerometer and analysed using time-domain and frequency-domain techniques. Features such as RMS, standard deviation, peak-to-peak value, crest factor, skewness, kurtosis, and rotational frequency components will be extracted. The system will be developed to identify normal operation, single imbalance, coupled imbalance and misalignment. Its performance will be evaluated in terms of classification accuracy, repeatability, response time and cost. The proposed system aims to provide an accessible solution for fault detection and predictive maintenance in rotating machinery.

What your body feels in swings, carousels or rollercoasters is related to the forces required to change motion. These forces can measured by a smartphone accelerometer. The embodied experiences depend on the equivalence between inertial and gravitational mass, which often leads to surprising consequences, that can deepen the understanding of Newton’s laws. A number of visual examples of experiments, demonstrations and analyses are presented that can challenge incomplete understanding.

For the past decade, the phyphox smartphone application has enabled students, educators, and science enthusiasts to perform hands-on experiments using the sensors available in everyday mobile devices. By providing access to real-time measurements and intuitive data visualization, phyphox has become a valuable tool for STEM education.This poster demonstrates how Bosch Sensortec technologies extend these capabilities through Bluetooth® Low Energy connected sensor platforms featuring inertial, environmental, pressure, and air-quality sensors. Live demonstrations show how wireless sensor nodes and smartphones can be combined to investigate motion, environmental conditions, and measurement accuracy.By linking physical phenomena to real-time data acquisition and analysis, phyphox and Bosch Sensortec sensors support inquiry-based learning and make experimental science accessible, engaging, and relevant for the next generation of scientists and engineers.

phyphox provides outstanding flexibility by supporting external data acquisition via Bluetooth. To exploit this feature, we designed an extracurricular workshop for secondary school students (grades 9–13) who assemble custom sensor boxes using a guided approach. Participants acquire foundational skills in 3D printing, soldering, and coding by specifically modifying provided STL files and script templates. The finished boxes enable individual research projects as well as standard classroom activities. This contribution provides insights into the workshop’s practical schedule and outlines its underlying pedagogical concept. The technical engineering of the hardware is detailed in the companion presentation “External Sensors for Phyphox: The Laborino project”.

Closing the door of a refrigerator or freezer is a familiar everyday action, often followed by a brief difficulty in reopening it. This common experience reflects transient pressure changes inside the appliance that can be recorded and analyzed using a smartphone barometer. In this activity, pressure changes inside a refrigerator and freezers are monitored around the time of door closure, during the subsequent closed period, and upon reopening.