Electric motor
Parts Electric motor, found under shelf C1… Continue reading »
Demonstrations
TBD
Parts Found under shelf C1… Continue reading »
Bricks
Parts Bricks, found below shelf D1. Continue reading »
Electric switches
Parts Electric switches, found on shelf D1 … Continue reading »
Circular track with gap
Purpose Which way will a steel ball rolling along a circular track travel if the track ends? This demonstration should allow you to determine this experimentally Parts THe fully-assembled demo is found on shelf D1 Set up Take steel ball and roll quickly along track, noting… Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts The apparatus is found on shelf D1 Set up… Continue reading »
Beach ball
Parts The beach ball is found on shelf D1 … Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts All parts of the apparatus are found on shelf D1 Set up… Continue reading »
Air pulley
Purpose To use in experiments requiring near-frictionless pulleys. Parts The air-powered pulley is found on shelf D1 Set up Secure pulley, attach to air supply, and use as desired. Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts Set up… Continue reading »
Gyroscope
Purpose To illustrate circular motion concepts such as moment of inertia. Parts The gyroscope is found on shelf D3 Set up Plug gyroscope into outlet, turn on power switch, and use as you please to demonstrate circular motion concepts. … Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts Set up … 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 »
Tennis balls attached to rope
Purpose Parts Set up … Continue reading »
Tops and related props
Purpose To illustrate angular momentum and related concepts. Parts The assorted tops are found on shelf D3 Includes special top capable of flipping itself around while spinning Set up Spin the tops as desired. … Continue reading »
Circular motion props
Purpose To illustrate various concepts of circular motion. Parts All parts are found on shelf D3. Crank to transfer hand motion into bit rotation Various attachments… Continue reading »
Angular momentum conservation demo
Purpose To visually demonstrate the conservation of angular momentum Parts The apparatus is found fully-assembled on shelf D3. Set up No set up required. Simply spin the two-ball system using the textured knob in the center, and then squeeze handles as much as possible. Notice that… Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts Set up … Continue reading »
“Doppler Rocket”
Purpose To illustrate the Doppler shift. Parts The Doppler Rocket is found fully-assembled on shelf D3 Set up Turn power switch on and spin the “Rocket” body using the attached string; notice the Doppler shift in action. Continue reading »
Ringing bell in vacuum
Purpose To illustrate some basic properties of sound waves; namely, that they don’t propagate in a vacuum. Parts Glass vacuum cover with bell assembly(shelf D4 or D1) Vacuum pump base plate (shelf D1) Vacuum pump (between shelves C and D) Power source? (shelf ?)… Continue reading »
TBD
Purpose Parts The device is found fully-assembled on shelf D4. Set up … Continue reading »
“Inertia Wands”
Purpose To illustrate the concept of moment of inertia. Parts Blue and red “Inertia Wands” located between shelves C and D Set up As per the manufacturer website (pasco.com), spin red and blue wands about center using hands; the difference in moment of inertial among the… Continue reading »
Falling objects in vacuum
Purpose To illustrate that all objects in vacuum accelerate at the same rate under the influence of gravity (assuming the objects are, of course, sufficiently close together and acted upon by the same gravitational field). Parts Glass tube containing light and heavy object Air pump… Continue reading »
Tennis balls on stand
Purpose Parts All parts are found on shelf C1… Continue reading »
Electric motor
Parts The electric motor is found on shelf C1… Continue reading »
Buoyancy props
Purpose To illustrate the concept of bouyancy Parts All parts may be found on shelf C1: Wash basin Huge plastic ducky Custom-made aluminum sailboat Set up Fill the wash basin with water and place objects inside to illustrate concept of buoyancy. Continue reading »
Force meter
Parts The force meter is found fully-assembled on shelf C1… Continue reading »
Smoke ring gun
Purpose Parts All parts are found on shelf C2: Smoke gun Special smoke solution Set up Make sure smoke gun has working batteries and fill smoke gun with the smoke fluid. Use as desired. Continue reading »
Scales with weights
Parts Found on shelf C2… Continue reading »
Sliding ramp/pulley system
Purpose An interesting example to illustrate force components and related concepts. Parts The system is found fully-assembled on shelf C2 Set up The system is already assembled; one may pull on the pulley manually or attach weight/force mater as 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 »
Lever paradox and scales
Purpose To illustrate the concepts of torque and levers. Parts The lever paradox may be found fully-assembled on shelf C3 A balance scale using the principle illustrated by the lever paradox is also found fully-assembled on shelf C3 Setup… Continue reading »
Two-body system
Purpose May be used to demonstrate the principle of center of mass and circular motion Parts The two-body system is found fully-assembled on shelf C3. Setup No setup required. simply twirl the system as in the photo below to illustrate concepts of center of mass and circular motion. 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 »
Shadow projection of circular motion
Purpose: Describe Simple Harmonic motion as projection of circular motion. Parts: Turntable Ball with a metal stand(cylinder) Pendulum Setup: Keep the ball on the metal cylinder and place it on the turntable as shown in the picture. Adjust the height of the pendulum, so that two balls are in… Continue reading »
Lenses (incomplete)
Colored lasers (incomplete)
Polaroids
sheets of polaroid… Continue reading »
Amici prism (incomplete)
OHP prism (incomplete)
Black board optics (incomplete)
Buzzer in vacuum (incomplete)
Long slinky
Purpose For use in demonstrations about waves. Basic modes/ phase shift , resonance etc. Parts The “slinky” is found on shelf D1 Set up Use as desired. Continue reading »
Rod with ball (incomplete)
Slinging rod (incomplete)
Laser and slits (incomplete)
Purpose: Diffraction through one/multiple slits Parts: Optical bench & screen Laser light PASCO single slit set Setup: Screen, laser and the slit setup is altogether on the optical bench, so just take it and plug to the wall outlet. You can… 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 »
Collision carts (incomplete)
Ballistic pendulum (incomplete)
Inchworm gliders (incomplete)
Very similar to 2 coupled gliders, but without extra springs on the ends… Continue reading »
Stability (incomplete)
Purpose: Explain stability of a system. Parts: Setup: … Continue reading »
Two coupled gliders with springs (incomplete)
Large pendulum (incomplete)
Purpose: Describes Newton’s Laws applied to circular motion Parts: Spring scale hanging from the string Big wooden mass Setup: Setup:… Continue reading »
Cart oscillator (driven and undriven) (incomplete)
Purpose: Parts: Setup:… Continue reading »
Matched forks (incomplete)
Chladni plates (incomplete)
Break the Wine glass (incomplete)
Purpose: Illustrate the resonance frequency of sound. Parts: Function generators Speaker w/stand Wine glass Volume controller Setup: Set the resonance frequency(which is pre measured and noted) on the signal generator. The top signal generator is used to get more precise display of frequency. There is also a fine frequency controller… 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 »
Young’s modulus (incomplete)
Hydraulic jack (incomplete)
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 »
Crush the can (incomplete)
Manometer (incomplete)
Bernoulli ball (incomplete)
Venturi tube (incomplete)
Transverse and longitudinal waves (incomplete)
Wave addition (incomplete)
Pink string (incomplete)
Purpose: Parts: Setup: … Continue reading »
Loop the loop
Purpose This demonstration may be used to illustrate the concepts involved in circular motion. For example, one can perform a calculation to determine the minimum height of release required for the steel ball to make it through the loop. Parts All required parts other than ring stand are found on… Continue reading »
Pegged pendulum (incomplete)
Block and tackle (incomplete)
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 »
Ball in a bowl
Purpose: Explain the force and acceleration in Circular motion Parts: Tray with a circular track made with clay & steel ball. Setup: Let the ball go along the circular path and guess what path will it take at the end 1,2,3 or 4 ?… Continue reading »
Penny on turntable
Purpose: Motion of an object traveling in a circle. Parts: Turntable Penny Setup: Plug the turn table lead to the wall outlet, set a desired speed. Place few pennies with different distances from the center. Turn the table ON with the little black switch. Continue reading »
Ball on string (incomplete)
Purpose: Illustrate uniform and nonuniform circular motion. Parts: Tennis ball attached to a rope(or string) Setup:… Continue reading »
Friction ramp (incomplete)
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 Chimney (incomplete)
Shoot the monkey (incomplete)
Purpose: Introduce two dimensional motion. Parts: Monkey Launcher Projectiles and the loader Hanging setup Small box which connects launcher to the hanger… Continue reading »
Horizontal/vertical gun (incomplete)
Ballistic Cart (incomplete)
Spring Scale (incomplete)
Vector Arrows
Purpose These props may be used to illustrate basic properties of vectors such as vector addition. Parts All parts except for ring stand may be found on shelf C3. A ring stand may be found in front of shelves N and M. Multiple arrows that resemble vectors Cartesian coordinate axes… Continue reading »
Falling Drops
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
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 »
Fan Cart and Motor Cart
Fan cart final setup Introduction The motion of different types of carts on a track, one with a fan that creates a constant acceleration, the other with a motor that creates a constant velocity, can be graphed onto a classroom computer by a sonic ranger. Weights are available for… Continue reading »
Large Caliper with Vernier Scale
A large wooden caliper is available for teaching students to read the Vernier scale. The caliper is located in room 215A, the storage room for room 215 on shelf D5. For a reminder on… Continue reading »
Density of Balls in Navy Beans
This is a fun demonstration for explaining the concept of density. It requires a plastic container, filled halfway with navy beans. The container is located in room 202, the lecture prep demonstration room, on the floor beneath shelf F. Continue reading »
Sets of Calibrated Masses and Equal Arm Balance
Calibrated masses are available for demonstration of mass (ex. showing the difference between 100 grams and 1 kilogram). They are located on shelf J2 in room 202, the lecture prep demonstration room. An equal arm balance is located on shelf B4 for comparing different masses. Continue reading »
Standard 1/2 Meter Stick
The physics department has a genuine standard 1/2 meter stick, kept in a glass case. The meter stick is located in room 202, the lecture demonstration prep room. It is above shelves A and B and pushed back against the wall. This standard meter stick is available for a demonstration,… Continue reading »