| DCS # |
Demonstration |
Abstract |
| 1A10.20 |
standards of mass |
Show students 1 lb, 1 kg, 1 slug masses. |
| 1A10.35 |
meter stick |
Set out a standard meter. |
| 1A40.10 |
components of a vector |
Arrows define a three dimensional coordinate system. An arbitrary
vector is viewed in the three planes. |
| 1A50.10 |
radian disc |
A flexible strip of plastic equal to the radius is bent around the
edge of a circle. |
| 1A60.10 |
Powers of Ten |
"Powers of Ten" is a film covering scales from the universe to
sub-atomic. |
| 1C10.10 |
bulldozer on moving sheet/2D |
A bulldozer runs at constant speed on a moving paper to show how
velocities add and subtract. |
| 1C20.10 |
penny and feather |
Drop a penny and feather in a glass tube, first full of air and then
evacuated. |
| 1C30.10 |
free fall timer |
A ball is timed as it drops .5m, 1m, 1.5m, or 2m. |
| 1D15.10 |
ultrasonic detector and students |
Have a student walk to and from a sonic ranger while observing plots
of position, velocity, and acc. |
| 1D40.10 |
throw objects |
A light disc contains a heavy slug that can be shifted from the center
to side. Mark the center of mass. |
| 1D50.10 |
ball on a string |
Tie a lightweight ball to a sting and twirl around in a vertical
circle. |
| 1D50.40 |
pail of water |
Swing a bucket of water in a verticle circle over your head. |
| 1D60.10 |
howitzer and tunnel |
A ball fired vertically from cart moving horizontally falls back into
the muzzle. |
| 1D60.20 |
simultaneous fall |
Two balls simultaneously dropped and projected horizontally hit the
floor together. |
| 1D60.30 |
monkey and hunter |
A gun shoots at a target, released when the gun is fired. The ball
hits the target in midair. |
| 1F20.10 |
inertia balls |
Break the string on the top or bottom of a suspended mass. |
| 1F30.10 |
persistence of motion (air track) |
A single cart on the air track. |
| 1G10.40 |
Atwood's machine |
Two equal masses are hung from a light pulley. A small percentage of
one mass is moved to the other side. |
| 1H10.10 |
push me pull me carts |
Two people stand on roller carts and both pull on a rope or push with
a long stick. |
| 1H11.20 |
tennis ball cannon |
A cannon on wheels shoots a tennis ball. |
| 1J10.10 |
map of state |
Suspend a map of the state from holes drilled at large cities to find
the "center of the state". |
| 1J11.20 |
leaning tower of Lire |
Stack blocks stairstep fashion until the top block sticks out beyond
any part of the bottom block. |
| 1J30.10 |
suspended block |
Forces parallel and perpendicular to the plane will support the car
midair when the plane is removed. |
| 1J30.25 |
rope and three students |
Two large strong students pull on the ends of a rope and a small
student pushes down in the middle. |
| 1J40.10 |
grip bar |
A thin rod mounted perpendicular to a broom handle holds a 1 Kg mass
on a sliding collar. |
| 1J40.20 |
meter stick balance |
Hang weights from a beam that pivots in the center on a knife
edge. |
| 1K10.20 |
ladder against a wall |
Set a model ladder against a box and move a weight up a rung at a
time. |
| 1K10.30 |
walking the spool |
Pull at various angles on the cord wrapped around the hub of a spool
to move the spool forward or back. |
| 1K20.10 |
friction blocks - surface material |
Pull a block with four different surfaces with a spring scale. |
| 1K20.30 |
static vs. sliding friction |
Use a spring scale and block to show that static friction is greater
than sliding friction . |
| 1K30.10 |
bed of nails |
Lie down on a bed of 16d nails on 1" centers. |
| 1L10.10 |
Cavendish balance film loop |
Time lapse of the Cavendish experiment. |
| 1M10.20 |
pile driver |
Drive a nail into a block of wood with a model pile driver. |
| 1M40.10 |
nose basher |
A bowling ball pendulum is held against the nose and allowed to swing
out and back. |
| 1M40.15 |
stopped pendulum |
A pendulum started at the height of a reference line reaches the same
height when a stop is inserted. |
| 1M40.20 |
loop the loop |
A ball rools down an incline and then around a vertical circle. |
| 1N10.20 |
egg in sheet |
Throw an egg into a sheet held by two students. |
| 1N20.20 |
sprring apart air track gliders |
Burn a string holding a compressed spring between two air
gliders. |
| 1N22.10 |
fire extinguisher wagon |
Mount a fire extinguisher on a cart and take a ride. |
| 1N22.20 |
water rocket |
Pump a toy water rocket the same number of times, first with only air,
and then with water. |
| 1N30.10 |
collision balls |
Two balls or many balls on bifilar suspension. |
| 1Q10.10 |
inertia wands and two students |
Students twirl equal mass wands, one with the mass at the ends and the
other with the mass at the middle. |
| 1Q10.30 |
ring, disc, and sphere |
A ring, disc, and sphere of the same diameter are rolled down an
incline. |
| 1Q20.10 |
whirlybird (adj. ang. mom.) |
A weight on a string wrapped around a wheel drives a radial rod with
adjustable weights. |
| 1Q30.10 |
passing the wheel |
Pass a bicycle wheel back and forth to a person on a rotating
stool. |
| 1Q40.10 |
rotating stool and weights |
Spin on a rotating stool with a dumbell in each hand. |
| 1Q40.30 |
rotating stool and bicycle wheel |
Invert a spinning bike wheel while sitting on a rotating stool. |
| 1Q50.10 |
precessing disc |
Spin a cardboard disc on a pencil inserted in a hole at the center and
touch a finger to the rim. |
| 1Q50.20 |
bicycle wheel gyro |
Spin a bicycle wheel mounted on a long axle with adjustable
counterbalance. |
| 1Q60.10 |
bicycle wheel top |
Extend the axle of a weighted bike wheel and terminate with a rubber
ball. |
| 1R10.10 |
stretching a spring |
Add masses to a pan balance and measure the deflection with a
cathetometer. |
| 1R20.10 |
breaking wire |
Add weights to baling wire attached to the ceiling until the wire
breaks. |
| 1R40.30 |
dead and live balls |
Drop bounce and no-bounce balls. |
| 2A10.20 |
floating metals |
Float needles, paperclips, rings of wire, etc. on water. |
| 2A15.10 |
ring and thread |
A loop of thread in the middle of a soap film forms a circle when the
center is popped. |
| 2B20.10 |
pressure independent of direction |
Insert a rotatable thistle tube with a membrane into a beaker of
water. |
| 2B20.40 |
Pascal's vases |
Six tubes of various shapes are connected to a common water
reservoir. |
| 2B30.10 |
crush the can |
Boil water in a can and cap. As the vapor pressure is reduced by
cooling, the can collapses. |
| 2B30.30 |
Magdeburg hemispheres |
Evacuate Magdeburg hemispheres and try to separate them. |
| 2B40.10 |
weigh submerged block |
Lower a 3 Kg block of aluminum suspended from a spring scale into
water and note the new weight. |
| 2B40.20 |
Archimedes' principle |
Suspend a pail and weight from a spring scale, lower the weight into
water, collect the overflow, pour it into the pail. |
| 2B40.30 |
Cartesian diver |
Push on a diaphram at the top of a large graduate or squeeze a
stoppered whisky flask to make the diver sink. |
| 2C20.30 |
floating ball |
A ball is suspended in an upward jet of air. |
| 2C20.35 |
funnel and ball |
Support a ping pong ball by air or water streaming out of an
upside-down funnel. |
| 2C20.40 |
lifting plate |
Air blows radially out between two plates, supporting weights hung
from the bottom plate. |
| 2C20.60 |
curve ball |
Use a "V" shaped launcher to throw curve balls. |
| 2C50.10 |
smoke ring |
Tap smoke rings out of a coffee can through a 1" dia. hole. |
| 3A10.10 |
simple pendulum |
Suspend a simple pendulum from a ringstand. |
| 3A15.10 |
physical pendulum |
Any distributed mass pendulum. |
| 3A20.10 |
mass on a spring |
A mass oscillates slowly on a large spring. |
| 3A20.30 |
air track glider and spring |
An air cart is attached to a single horizontal coil spring. |
| 3A40.10 |
circular motion vs. mass on a aspring |
Shadow project a ball at the edge of a disc rotating at the same
frequency as a mass on a spring. |
| 3A40.20 |
circular motion vs. pendulum |
Shadow project a pendulum and turntable which have identical
frequencies. |
| 3A60.10 |
Tacoma Narrows film |
A film of the collapse of the bridge due to resonance. |
| 3A70.10 |
Wilberforce pendulum |
Energy transfers between vertical and torsional modes. |
| 3A70.20 |
coupled pendula |
Hang two or three pendula from a flexible metal frame. |
| 3B10.10 |
pulse on a rope |
Give a heavy peice of stretched rope a quick pulse. |
| 3B10.30 |
Shive (Bell Labs) wave model |
Excite a horizontal torsional wave machine by hand. The other end is
open, clamped, or critically damped. |
| 3B20.10 |
hanging slinky |
A long slinky is supported on bifilar suspension every four
inches. |
| 3B22.10 |
Melde's vibrating string |
Drive one end of a string over a pulley to a mass with variable
frequency SHM |
| 3B30.30 |
bell in a vacuum |
Pump air from a bell jar as a battery powered bell rings inside. |
| 3B40.10 |
doppler buzzer |
Swing a battery powered buzzer on a string around in a horizontal
circle. |
| 3B45.10 |
ripple tank film loops |
A 3:45 film loop shows doppler effect and shock waves. |
| 3B50.40 |
Moire pattern transparencies |
A double slit representation of Moire patterns from two sheets of
semicircular ruled transparencies. |
| 3B55.10 |
two speaker bar |
Two speakers driven from a common source are mounted at the ends of a
long bar. |
| 3B55.40 |
trombone / Quinckes' tube |
A speaker drives two tubes, one variable , that come together into a
common horn. |
| 3B60.10 |
beat forks |
Two tuning forks differing by about 1 Hz are mounted on resonance
boxes. |
| 3B60.20 |
beats on scope |
Two audio transformers are fed thru an audio interstage transformer to
an oscilloscope and audio amp. |
| 3B70.10 |
coupled tuning forks |
Two matched tuning forks are mounted on resonance boxes. Hit one and
the other vibrates too. |
| 3B70.20 |
coupled speaker/tuning forks |
Drive a tuning fork on a resonant box with a speaker. |
| 3C20.10 |
range of hearing |
Use an oscillator driving a good audio system to demonstrate the range
of hearing. |
| 3C50.10 |
Pasco Fourier synthesizer |
The Pasco Fourier synthesizer allows one to build an arbitrary
waveform with up to nine harmonics. |
| 3C50.30 |
Helmholtz resonators and microphone |
Hold a small microphone individually to a set of Helmholtz
resonators. |
| 3D20.10 |
sonometer |
A sounding box with strings, tuning machines, and adjustable
bridges. |
| 3D30.10 |
vertical resonance tube |
Draw a glass tube out of a water bath while holding a tuning fork over
one end. |
| 3D30.70 |
hoot tubes |
A bunsen burner heats a screen in the bottom of a large open vertical
tube. |
| 3D40.20 |
singing rod |
Hold a long aluminum rod at the midpoint and stroke with rosened
fingers. |
| 3D40.30 |
Chladni plate |
Strike or bow a horizontal metal plate covered with sand while
touching the edge at various nodal points. |
| 4A30.10 |
bimetal strip |
Strips of dissimilar metals bonded together bend when heated. |
| 4A30.20 |
balls and ring |
A ring with a set of two balls, one over and one under size. Heat the
ring and lslip over both. |
| 4A40.10 |
lead bell, solder spring |
Ring a lead bell after it is frozen in liquid nitrogen, Cool a coil of
solder to make a spring. |
| 4A40.30 |
smashing rose and tube |
Cool a rose, urffer tube, or handball in a clear dewar of liquid
nitrogen and smash it. |
| 4B20.10 |
convection tube |
Heat one side of a glass tube loop filled with water and insert some
ink. |
| 4B40.10 |
light the match |
Light a match at the focus of one parabolic reflector with a heating
element at the focus of another reflector. |
| 4B50.20 |
boiling water in a paper cup |
Burn one paper cup, boil water in another. |
| 4B60.10 |
dropping lead shot |
Drop a bag of lead shot is dropped several times and measure the
temperature rise. |
| 4C30.10 |
boiling by cooling |
Cool a flask stoppered flask filled with warm water with ice until
boiling starts. |
| 4C31.30 |
drinking bird |
Cooling causes vapor to condense, lowering the center of gravity until
the bird tips, raising the c. of g. |
| 4D10.10 |
Brownian motion cell |
View a smoke cell under a microscope. |
| 4D20.10 |
Crookes' radiometer |
The fake radiometer is evacuated until the mean free path is about the
dimension of the system. |
| 4E10.20 |
balloons in liquid nitrogen |
Pour liquid nitrogen over an air filled balloon until it collapses and
then let it warm up again. |
| 4E30.10 |
constant volume bulb |
Immersed a bulb with an absolute pressure gauge in boiling water, ice
water, and liquid nitrogen. |
| 4F30.10 |
Stirling engine |
Show both a working stirling engine and a cutaway model. |
| 5A10.10 |
rods, fur, and silk |
PVC rod and felt, acrylic rod and cellophane, with the Braun
electroscope as a charge indicator |
| 5A20.10 |
rods and pivot |
With one charged rod on a pivot, use another of the same or opposite
charge to show attraction or repulsion. |
| 5A20.20 |
pith balls |
Suspend two small pith balls and show either attraction or
repulsion. |
| 5A40.10 |
charging by induction |
Charging by induction using two balls on stands with an electroscope
for a charge indicator. |
| 5A40.20 |
can attracted to charged rod |
A hoop of light aluminum is attracted to a charged rod. |
| 5A50.10 |
Wimshurst machine |
Crank a Wimshurst generator. |
| 5A50.30 |
Van de Graaff generator |
Show sparks from a Van de Graaff generator to a nearby grounded
ball. |
| 5B10.10 |
hair on end |
While standing on an insulated stool, charge yourself up with a Van de
Graaff generator. |
| 5B10.25 |
confetti (puffed wheat) |
Confetti (puffed wheat, styrofoam peanuts) flies off the ball of an
electrostatic generator. |
| 5B20.10 |
Faraday's ice pail |
With a proof plane and electroscope, show charge is on the outside of
a hollow conductor. |
| 5B20.35 |
radio in a cage |
Place a wire mesh cage over a radio. |
| 5B30.30 |
lightning rod |
Insert a sphere and point of the same height between horizontal metal
plates charged by a Wimshurst. |
| 5C10.20 |
parallel plate capacitor |
Change the spacing of a charged parallel plate capacitor while it is
attached to an electroscope. |
| 5C20.10 |
capacitor with dielectrics |
Insert and remove a dielectric from a charged parallel plate capacitor
while it is attached to an electroscope. |
| 5C20.30 |
dissectible condenser |
A capacitor is charged, disassembled, passed around, assembled, and
discharged with a spark. |
| 5C30.20 |
short a capacitor |
Charge a large electrolytic (5000 mfd) capacitor to 120 V and short
with a screwdriver. |
| 5C30.30 |
light a bulb with a capacitor |
Charge a large electroylitic capacitor and connect it to a lamp. |
| 5D20.10 |
wire coil in liquid nitrogen |
A lamp glows brighter when a series resistance coil is immersed in
liquid nitrogen. |
| 5D20.20 |
iron wire in flame |
Heat a coil of iron wire in series with a battery and a lamp and the
lamp will dim. |
| 5D40.10 |
Jacob's ladder |
A arc rises between rabbit ear electrodes attached to a high voltage
transformer. |
| 5E50.10 |
thermocouple |
Two iron-copper junctions, one in ice and the other in a flame, are
connected to a galvanometer. |
| 5F10.10 |
Ohm's law |
Measure current and voltage in a simple circuit. Change the voltage or
resistance. |
| 5F20.10 |
Kirchoff's voltage law |
Measure the voltages around a three resistor and battery
circuit. |
| 5F20.50 |
series and parallel light bulbs |
A light bulb board with switches allows configuration of several
combinations of series and parallel lamps. |
| 5F30.10 |
capacitor and light bulb |
A large lelectrolytic capacitor, a light bulb, and a 120 V dc supply
in series show a long time constant. |
| 5G20.30 |
magnetic domain model |
An array of small compass needles shows domain structures. |
| 5G50.50 |
Meissner effect |
Cool a superconductor and a magnet floats over it due to magnetic
repulsion. |
| 5H10.20 |
Oersted's effect |
Explore the field around a long wire with a compass needle. |
| 5H10.30 |
magnet and iron filings |
Sprinkle iron filings on a glass sheet placed on top of a bar
magnet. |
| 5H15.10 |
iron filings around a wire |
Iron filings are sprinkled around a vertical wire running through the
denter of a pexiglass sheet. |
| 5H15.40 |
solenoid and iron filings |
A solenoid is wound through a peice of plexiglass for use with iron
filings on the overhead projector. |
| 5H15.50 |
field of a toroid |
Iron filings show the field of a toroid which is wound through a sheet
of plexiglass. |
| 5H20.10 |
magnets on a pivot |
One magnet is placed on a pivot, the other is used to attract or repel
the first. |
| 5H30.10 |
cathode ray tube |
Deflect the beam in an open CRT with a magnet. |
| 5H30.20 |
e/m tube |
Show the beam of the small e/m tube in Helmholtz coils on tv. A hand
held magnet gives a corkscrew. |
| 5H40.10 |
parallel wires |
Long vertical parallel wires attract or repel depending on the current
direction. |
| 5H40.15 |
interacting coils |
Two hanging loops attract or repel depending on current
direction. |
| 5H40.30 |
jumping wire |
A wire is placed in a horseshoe magnet and connected to a battery. The
wire jumps out of the magnet. |
| 5J20.10 |
RL time constant on scope |
Show the RL time constant on a scope. |
| 5J20.20 |
lamps in series or parallel with ind. |
Hook light bulbs in series with a large electromagnet. |
| 5K10.20 |
induction coil with magnet, galv. |
A magnet is moved in and out of a coil of wire attached to a
galvanometer. |
| 5K10.30 |
induction with coils and battery |
Attach one coil to a galvanometer, another to a battery and tap
switch. Use a core to increase coupling. |
| 5K20.10 |
Eddy currents in pendulum |
A copper sheet and comb, ring and broken ring are swung through a
large electromagnet. |
| 5K20.25 |
magnets in Eddy tubes |
Drop a magnet and a dummy in glass and aluminum tubes, then switch.
The magnet in Al falls slowly. |
| 5K20.30 |
jumping ring |
A solid aluminum ring on the vertical transformer jumps while a split
ring does not. |
| 5K40.40 |
motor/generator |
A large AC/DC motor/generator has both slip and split rings. |
| 5K40.80 |
hand crank generator |
Use a hand cranked generator to light an ordinary light bulb. |
| 5M10.10 |
Hall voltage |
Measure the transverse potential of a large rectangle of biased
N-doped germanium in a magnetic field. |
| 5N20.10 |
induction coil |
The small handheld induction coil. |
| 5N20.25 |
hand held Tesla and lamp |
Light a fluorescent lamp by touching with a hand held tesla
coil. |
| 5N20.80 |
Tesla coil and pinwheel |
Place a pinwheel on the secondary of a tesla coil. |
| 5N30.10 |
project the spectrum |
Project white light through a high dispersion prism. |
| 6A01.10 |
speed of light |
Demonstrate speed of light by the path difference method with a fast
pulser and fast oscilloscope. |
| 6A42.20 |
refraction tank |
Rotate a beam of light in a tank of water containing some
fluorescein. |
| 6A44.10 |
blackboard optics |
Multiple beams of light pass through large scale optical
elements. |
| 6A44.40 |
laser and fiber optics |
Shine a laser into a curved plastic rod. |
| 6A44.50 |
light below surface |
An underwater light illuminates powder on the surface of water to form
a central spot of light. |
| 6A60.30 |
thin lens projection |
Project the filament of a lamp with a thin lens. |
| 6B10.15 |
inverse square model |
A wire frame pyramid connects areas of 1, 4, and 16 units. |
| 6B40.10 |
variac and light bulb |
Vary the voltage to a 1 KW light bulb with a variac to show color
change with temperature. |
| 6C10.10 |
single slit and laser |
Shine a laser beam through single slits of various sizes. |
| 6C10.15 |
adjustable slit and laser |
Shine a laser beam through an adjustable slit. |
| 6C20.10 |
Arago's (Poisson's) spot |
Shine a laser beam at a small ball and look at the diffraction
pattern. |
| 6D10.10 |
double slit and laser |
Shine a laser beam through double slits of different widths and
spacing. |
| 6D20.10 |
number of slits |
Shine a laser beam through various numbers of slits with the same
spacing. |
| 6D30.10 |
Newton's rings |
Reflect white light off Newton's rings onto the wall. |
| 6D30.20 |
soap film interference |
Reflect white light off a soap film onto a screen. |
| 6D40.10 |
Michelson interferometer |
Use a Michelson interferometer with either laser or white light. |
| 6F40.10 |
sunset |
Pass abeam of white light through a tank of water with scattering
centers from a solution of oil in alcohol. |
| 6H10.10 |
polaroids on the overhead |
Show polarization with two sheets of polaroid and a pair of sunglasses
on an overhead projector. |
| 6H10.20 |
microwave polarization |
Hold a grid of parallel wires in a microwave beam and rotate the
grid. |
| 6H20.10 |
Brewster's angle |
Rotate a polariod filter in a beam that reflects at Brewster's angle
off a glass onto a screen. |
| 6H30.40 |
Karo syrup |
Insert a tube of liquid sugar between crossed polaroids. |
| 6H35.10 |
two calcite crystals |
Use a second calcite crystal to show the polarization of the ordinary
and extraordinary rays. |
| 6H35.50 |
stress plastic |
A set of plastic shapes are bent between crossed polariods. |
| 6Q10.10 |
holograms |
Show a hologram. |
| 7A10.10 |
photoelectric effect in zinc |
Use UV light to discharge a clean zinc plate mounted on an
electroscope. |
| 7A50.40 |
vibrating circular wire |
Excite a circular wire at audio frequencies by an electromagnet drive
to produce standing waves. |
| 7A60.10 |
electron diffraction |
Rings or spots are shown with the old Welch electron diffraction
tube. |
| 7B10.10 |
line spectra and student gratings |
Have students view line sources through replica gratings. |
| 7D10.10 |
gieger counter & samples |
Listen to a Geiger counter when radioactive samples are tested. |
| 7D30.60 |
diffusion cloud chambers |
Dry ice diffusion cloud chambers. |
| 8A10.10 |
Orrery model |
A mechanical model of the inner planets. |
| 8A10.25 |
phases of the moon |
View a ball illuminated by a distant light with a tv camera as the
angle between the ball and light varies. |
| 8A10.55 |
retrograde motion model |
Two balls connected with a rod fixed through one ball and sliding
through the other orbit on common ficus. |
| 8A10.80 |
celestial sphere |
A simple model celestial sphere is made from a round bottom flask.
Pictures. |
| 8C10.10 |
expanding universe |
Pull a rubber hose threaded through five large styrofoam
balls. |