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    Home » Primary Science » Key Stage 1 Science » Test Your Reaction Time

    Test Your Reaction Time

    August 31, 2022 By Emma Vanstone 1 Comment

    Do you think you have fast reactions? Have you ever measured your reaction time? There’s an easy way to test reaction times using just a ruler.

    Reaction time is the time taken for a person to respond to a stimulus. For example if you touch something very cold, there is a slight delay between you touching it and moving your hand away, because it takes time for the information to travel from your hand, to your brain where it is processed and then a response started. Many sports and activities require fast reactions!

    Reactions are different to reflexes which are involuntary. Reflexes are faster than reactions.

    You can test reaction time using just a ruler.

    Simple ruler drop reaction time test

    What you need

    30cm ruler

    Pen and Paper

    Friends

    How to test your reaction time

    Hold the top of the ruler with your arm stretched out. Your fingers should be on the highest measurement.

    Ask a friend to put their thumb and index finger slightly open at the bottom of the ruler, with the ruler between their fingers.

    Drop the ruler and record the measurement on the ruler where the other persons fingers are.

    Repeat for all participants. Let each person have three attempts and record the average value.

    The person with the fastest reaction time is the one who catches the ruler at the lowest measurement, as the sooner the ruler is caught the less time it has had to fall.

    Hand about to catch a ruler for a reaction time test
    Reaction Time Test

    How does this work?

    Our eyes see that the ruler has been dropped and send a signal to the brain, which sends a signal to the muscles in the arm and hand to tell them to catch the ruler. Our body is very clever and these signals travel very, very quickly.

    Information from the eyes is sent to the brain and then to the hand via neurons. The brain processes the information and decides what to do next. The human brain contains around 100 billion neurons!

    Your reaction time depends on the time taken for the signals to travel between your eye, brain and hand.

    Reaction Time Challenges

    Design a table to record the results.

    Investigate to discover whether reaction time can be improved with practice. Does muscle memory help speed up your reaction time?

    a piece of paper with the results from a reaction time test written in pencil

    Download the instructions

    ruler reaction time test instructions printable sheet
    Reaction Time Test Instructions

    More Reaction Time Tests

    Repeat the investigation using your non dominant hand, is your reaction time slower?

    Design an investigation where you work out the average reaction time for different age groups.

    How about tying a piece of string to a toy car, and letting it run down a ramp? You could measure the distance the car travels before you stop it.

    Can you think of any more ways to test reaction time? What would you consider a slow reaction time?

    Learn more about the brain with our play dough brain model.

    If you like this activity you might also like our collection of sporty science experiments for kids.

    Quick Summary

    Reaction time is the time it takes you to react to a stimulus.

    Information is sent around the body via nerve cells called neurones. These form the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord.

    labelled diagram of a neuron showing nucleus, axon, myelin sheath, dendrites and axon terminal

    Science Concepts

    • Reaction time
    • Nervous system
    • Stimuli
    Easy reaction time test using a ruler - #reactiontimetest #scienceforkids

    Last Updated on August 31, 2022 by Emma Vanstone

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    Safety Notice

    Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

    These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Anonymous

      November 05, 2019 at 7:41 pm

      I was going to do a grade 8 science fair. and I decided to do reaction times. Thank you for giving me a way to test reaction times!

      Reply

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