The iPhone is particularly suitable for mechanics experiments using the in-built acceleration sensor
or accelerometer in-conjunction with the on-board data collection facility and a downloadable
so-called ‘app’. In this work the iPhone has been used to investigate the acceleration due to
gravity and determine the coefficient of kinetic friction, μ k of the iPhone as an object sliding
down an inclined plane. This method is more accurate than that usually employed in the laboratory
where the ‘fits and starts’ of the block sliding down the inclined plane potentially invalidate the
required assumption that the velocity is constant. In its simplest form the measurement of
acceleration is required to be undertaken for only 2 angles.