Forces

Dinner Table

Purpose: Illustrate Newton’s First law of motion(Law of inertia). Parts: Dinnerware (Plate, cup, glass and utensils Table cloth (sheet of paper) Setup: Setup the table with dinnerware(should be heavy, paper plates cups won’t work) and the cloth or sheet of paper(picture… Continue reading »

Newton’s cradle

Purpose: Explain momentum conservation and Collisions. Parts: Newton’s Cradle Setup : No setting up required. Pull the ball on one end  aside and allow to swing as a pendulum. It hits the… Continue reading »

Spinning masses and pulley

Purpose To illustrate the concepts of angular momentum and gravity. Parts The system of masses and pulleys is found on shelf D2 Set up Clamp system down on table. Thread attached string through pulley. Attach weight if desired.  … Continue reading »

Spring scales

Purpose May be used as demo to illustrate gravity/springs and relationships among the associated forces. Parts A lot of scales, found on shelf C2 More scales, found under shelf C1 Ring stand and clamp… Continue reading »

Mass on spring (incomplete)

Purpose: Investigate the dependence of the period of the system on the mass, spring constant and the amplitude. Parts: Two masses Two springs Holder Setup: Setup contains two hanging masses from springs. The spring constant/mass(k/m) ratio for  spring+mass systems are same. So that the frequency of oscillations or the time… Continue reading »

Rotating Platform

Purpose: Conservation of Angular Momentum. Parts: Rotating platform Weights Bicycle wheel Setup: Keep the platform on the floor, let a volunteer stand on it(feet should spread out and align the body so that the center of mass is right over the center of mass of the platform). Continue reading »

Steelyard

Purpose The steelyard balance has been around since ancient times. It works by employing a counterweight and lever to weigh objects. Leverage is adjusted by sliding the counterweight on a metal arm. The balance may be used to demonstrate the principles of torque and center of mass. Parts The steelyard… Continue reading »

Magdeburg Hemispheres

Purpose: Illustrate the concept of Atmospheric pressure. Parts: Two hemispheres Vacuum pump Setup: Setup contains a pair of hemispheres with mating rims. One of them have a tube connection attached to the pump.  Keep the two hemispheres together (keep the two circular cross sections together) and suck the… Continue reading »

Pail of water

Purpose: Illustrate the idea of centripetal and centrifugal forces and accelerations. Parts: Bucket with water, or glass of water on the base shown in the pictures. Setup: Hold the setup from the hanger and spin it around in a vertical circle with a certain speed. The water stays inside… Continue reading »

Atwood Machine (incomplete)

Purpose: Demonstrates basic principles of dynamics and acceleration. Parts: Pulleys String Set of masses Pulley holder. Setup: Set it up as shown in the pictures. The velocities/accelerations can be logged using Labquest interface box. Change the hanging masses and watch the accelerations. Continue reading »

Falling Drops

Falling drops setup

Introduction The falling drops demonstration is a way for students to observe the motion of an object under a constant acceleration (in this case, from gravity). By timing the flashing of a strobe light to sync with a water pump, fluorescing falling water drops appear to freeze midair. Students can… Continue reading »

Feather and Penny

Purpose The feather and penny demonstration shows how air resistance affects falling objects. A penny and feather are in a tube, and when the tube is flipped, the feather takes more time to fall than the penny. But when the air is evacuated from the tube, both fall in the… Continue reading »

Galileo Ramp

Galileo drop final set up

Introduction Final set up of Galileo drop To observe the displacement of an object at constant acceleration, a cart is sent down an inclined air track, with flags or sticky notes marking positions on the track. These positions correspond to the increasing distances traveled over equal time intervals. A… Continue reading »