Introductory Physics Demonstrations and Labs by Category and Topic

Last modified 20 June 2013

General Pedagogical Tips:

• Get students to commit to a prediction of the outcome of your demonstration before it’s performed.  They may find that they don’t understand the phenomenon as well as they thought!

• Practice the demonstration prior to class.

• Use the follow links to scroll to the start of each major section.

  Mechanics

  Fluid Mechanics

  Thermodynamics

  Electricity and Magnetism

  Oscillations and Waves

  Optics

Mechanics

MEASUREMENT AND UNITS

• Length/Mass/Volume/Angle (PDF)
• Vectors (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  The Force Table (136/A2)

MOTION IN ONE DIMENSION

• High Road/Low Road (PDF)
• Hovercraft (PDF)
• Velocity (PDF)
• Uniform Acceleration (PDF)
• Basketball Freefall (PDF)
• Pendulum Motion (PDF)
• Penny and Feather (PDF)
• Falling in Air (PDF)

 
Related Online Labs: 
Introduction to Motion (136/A3)
Changing Velocity (136/A4)
Gravitational Acceleration (136/A5)

MOTION IN TWO DIMENSIONS

• Projectile Motion (PDF)
• Monkey and Hunter (PDF)
• Circular Motion (PDF)
• Centripetal Force (PDF)
• Centrifugal Hoops (PDF)

Related Online Labs: 
Projectile Motion (136/B2)
Centripetal Force (136/D2)

RELATIVE MOTION

• Coriolis Effect (PDF)

NEWTON’S FIRST LAW - INERTIA

• Flick the Card (PDF)
• Mass (PDF)
• Using Inertia to Overcome Friction (PDF)
• Partial Pie Plate (PDF) 
• Ball on a String (PDF)
• Tablecloth Snatch (PDF)
• Inertia Ball (PDF)

NEWTON’S SECOND LAW OF MOTION

• Force (PDF)
• Relating Net Force to Motion (PDF)
• Fan and “Sail” Cart (PDF)

 
Related Online Labs: (links to lab manual?)        
Relating Net Force to Motion:  Newton’s 2nd Law (136/B3)
Atwood’s Machine (136/B4)

NEWTON’S 3RD LAW

• You Can’t Pull Without Being Pulled (PDF)
• You Can’t Push Without Being Pushed (PDF)
• Jet Propulsion (PDF)
• Fan and "Sail" Cart (PDF)
• Friction (PDF)

STATICS OF RIGID BODIES

• Well Balanced Birds (PDF)
• Center of Gravity Disc (PDF)
• Finding the Center of Gravity (PDF)
• Overhanging Meter Sticks (PDF)
• Double Cone Rolling “Uphill”? (PDF)
• Floating Hammer (PDF)
• Stable, Unstable and Neutral Equilibrium (PDF)
• Leaning Cylinder:  To Topple or Not to Topple? (PDF)

Related Online Lab:    Friction: Investigating a Model for Friction (136/C3)

WORK AND ENERGY

• Simple Machines (PDF)
• Jacks (PDF)
• Nose Basher (PDF)
• Loop the Loop (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Conservation of Energy in a Pendulum (136/F5)

LINEAR MOMENTUM AND COLLISIONS

• Spring Apart Carts (PDF)
• Collision Balls (Newton’s Cradle) (PDF)
• Elastic and Inelastic Collisions (PDF)

Related Online Labs: 
Ballistic Pendulum (136/E2)
Collisions on an Air Track (136/F3)

ROTATIONAL MOTION

• Rolling Cups and Railroad Tracks (PDF)
• Perpetual Rotator (PDF)
• Inertia Wands (PDF)
• Ring and Disc Race (PDF)
• Torque Spool (PDF)
• Rotational Stability (PDF)
• Adjustable Rotational Inertia (PDF)
• Transferring Angular Momentum (PDF)
• Rotating with Masses (PDF)
• Rotating Platform and Bike Wheel (PDF)
• Precessing Bike Wheel (PDF)
• Precessing Gyroscope (PDF)
• Precessing and Nutating Gyroscope (PDF)
• Tippe Top (Inverting Top) (PDF)
• Rattleback (Celt) (PDF)

Related Online Labs:
Balancing Torques and Center of Gravity (136/G2)
Rotational Inertia (136/G3)

PROPERTIES OF MATTER

• Stretching a Spring (Hooke’s Law) (PDF)
• Simple Harmonic Motion (PDF)
• Angular Simple Harmonic Motion (PDF)
• Density (PDF)

Related Online Lab:
Hooke’s Law and Simple Harmonic Motion (136/H3)

Fluid Mechanics

SURFACE TENSION

• “Floating” Metal (PDF)
• Capillary Action (PDF)

STATICS OF FLUIDS

• Pascal’s Vases (PDF)
• Crush the Can (PDF)
• Pascal’s Demonstrator (PDF)
• Magdeburg Hemispheres (PDF)
• Cohesion Discs and “Suction” Cup (PDF)
• Manometers (PDF)
• Density Ball (PDF)
• Density Paradox? (PDF)
• Cartesian Diver (PDF)

Related Online Lab: Buoyancy and Density of Fluids (136/K2)

DYNAMICS OF FLUIDS

• Toricelli’s Tank (PDF)
• Venturi Tubes (PDF)
• Tornado Tube (PDF)
• Dependence of Air Drag on Speed (PDF)

Thermodynamics

• Bimetallic Strip & Thermostat(PDF)
• Ball and Ring (PDF)
• Balloon in Liquid Nitrogen (PDF)

Related Online Labs:  Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion (136/J2)           

HEAT AND THE FIRST LAW

• Convection Tube (PDF)
• Conduction Rods (PDF)
• Radiant Heating and Cooling (PDF)
• The Greenhouse Effect (PDF)
• Smashing! (PDF)
• Film Canister Cannon (PDF)
• Mechanical Equivalent of Heat (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Specific Heats and Latent Heats (136/I2)

CHANGE OF STATE

• PVT Surfaces (PDF)
• Liquefying "Air" in a Balloon (PDF)
• Boiling - A Cooling Process? (PDF)
• Freezing - A Warming Process? (PDF)
• Boiling - A Freezing Process? (PDF)
• Drinking Bird (PDF)
• Heat Pipe (PDF)

KINETIC THEORY

• Brownian Motion Video (PDF)
• Crooke’s Radiometer (PDF)
• Molecular Motion Demonstrator (PDF)

GAS LAWS

• Constant Volume Bulb (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Ideal Gas Law (136/J5)

ENTROPY AND THE SECOND LAW

• Hero’s Engine (PDF)
• Stirling Engine (PDF)
• Drinking Bird (PDF)
• Thermoelectric Converter (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  The Incredible Mass-Lifting Heat Engine (136/K3)

Electricity and Magnetism

ELECTROSTATICS

• Charged Tape (PDF)
• Two Kinds of Charge (PDF)
• Attracting and Repelling Rods (PDF)
• Charge-Propelled Cylinder (PDF)
• Attracting Confetti (PDF)
• Attracting Bubbles and Water (PDF)
• Attracting and Repelling With the Same Charge? (PDF)
• Charging an Electroscope by Induction and by Contact (PDF)
• Kelvin’s Water Dropper (PDF)
• Induced Charges are Equal and Opposite (PDF)
• Electrophorus (PDF)
• Conductor verse Insulator (PDF)
• Lightning Plate (‘WM’ = Uses Wimshurst Machine) (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  An Introduction to Electrostatic Charge and Its Related Forces (146/A2)

ELECTRIC FIELDS AND POTENTIAL

• Visualizing Electric Fields (PDF)
• Electron Beam Deflection by Electric Field (PDF)
• Electrostatic ‘Ping-Pong’ (WM) (PDF)
• Volta’s Hail Storm (WM) (PDF)
• Electric Whirl (WM) (PDF)
• Van de Graaff Generator (VdG): Streamers & Grounding Wand (PDF)
• Van de Graaff Design and Spin Electroscope (PDF)
• Repulsive Styrofoam Peanuts (VdG) (PDF)
• Lighting a Fluorescent with an Electric Field (VdG) (PDF)
• Killing an Electric Field with a Needle (VdG) (PDF)
• Attractive Flame and Ion Breeze (VdG) (PDF)
• Smoke Precipitation (VdG) (PDF)
• Faraday Cage: Blocking an Electric Field (PDF)
• Measuring Charge by Measuring Potential Difference (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Electric Field Mapping (146/A3)

CAPACITANCE

• Storing Charge in Leyden Jars (PDF)
• Storing Energy in a Capacitor (PDF)
• Parallel Plate Capacitor (PDF)
• Rotary Capacitor (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Charging and Discharging a Capacitor (146/C5)

CURRENT RESISTANCE AND ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE

• Glowing Pickle (PDF)
• Resistance Demonstrator (PDF)
• Changing Resistance at Costant Voltage (PDF)
• Laws of Resistance and Resistivity (PDF)
• Resistivity and Temperature (PDF)
• Light Bulbs in Series and Parallel (PDF)
• Human Battery (PDF)

Related Online Labs:
Batteries and Bulbs: Voltage, Current & Resistance (146/B2)
Ohm’s Law and Resistivity (146/B3)
Resistances in Parallel and in Series (146/B4)
Multi-loop Circuits: Kirchhoff’s Rules (146/C3)
Charging and Discharging a Capacitor (146/C5)

MAGNETIC MATERIALS

• Magnetic Materials and Permanent Magnets (PDF)

Related Online Activity:  Magnets and Magnetic Fields (146/D2)

MAGNETIC FIELDS AND FORCES

• Visualizing Magnetic Fields (PDF)
• Dip Needle and Compass (PDF)
• Earth's Magnetic Field (PDF)
• Magnetic Field Due to Current (PDF)
• Magnetic Force on a Current Carrying Wire (PDF)
• Magnetic Field in a Current Carrying Solenoid (PDF)
• Electromagnet (PDF)
• Applications of Electromagnets (PDF)
• Electromagnetic Motor (PDF)
• Electron Beam Deflection by Magnetic Field (PDF)
• Simplest Motor (PDF)
• Jumping Coil (PDF)
• Torque on Magnetic Dipole (PDF)

Related Online Labs:
Measuring the Magnetic Field of Earth (146/D4)
The Current Balance: Measuring the MAgnetic Force Between Two Current-Carrying Wires (146/E2)
Investigation of Magnetic Fields Due to Current Loops (146/F5)

ELECTOMAGNETIC INDUCTION

• Induction Coil and Magnet (PDF)
• Lenz's Law Apparatus (PDF)
• Lenz's Law Tube (PDF)
• Lenz's Law Disc (PDF)
• Eddy Current Dampener (PDF)
• Ring Launcher (PDF)
• Step-Up/Step-Down Transformer (PDF)
• Hand Cranked Generator (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  Electromagnetic Induction (146/G1)

AC CIRCUITS

• Electrical Resonance (PDF)

Related Online Lab:  AC Circuits (146/G3)

Oscillations and Waves

OSCILLATIONS

• Simple Oscillations: Pendula and Springs (PDF)
• Oscillations with Sound and a Splash! (PDF)
• Coupled Pendula (PDF)

Related Online Lab:
Hooke’s Law and Simple Harmonic Motion (136/H3)

MECHANICAL WAVES

• Transverse and Longitudinal Pulses on Springs (PDF)
• Torsion Waves (PDF)
• Circular Motion, Linear Propogation (PDF)
• Longitudinal Wave Model (PDF)
• Transverse Wave Model (PDF)
• Transverse Standing Waves on a Spring (PDF)
• Standing Waves on a String (PDF)
• Standing Longitudinal Waves on a Spring (PDF)
• No Air, No Sound! (PDF)
• Soda Bottle Resonance (PDF)
• Resonance Tubes & "Hoot" Tubes (PDF)
• Resonance Tube Set (PDF)
• Kundt's Tube Apparatus (PDF)
• Interference Model (PDF)
• Ripple Tank Interference (PDF)
• Sound Wave Interference (PDF)
• Doppler Rocket (PDF)
• Doppler Tuning Fork (PDF)
• Beats (PDF)
• Spring Drum (PDF)

Related Online LabS:
Standing Waves on a String (146/I3)
Speed of Sound and Resonance (146/J2)

Optics

RAY OPTICS

• Mirrors: Plane, Concave, and Convex (PDF)
• Refraction and Total Internal Reflection (PDF)
• Disappearing Glass Rod (PDF)
• Mirage (PDF)
• Dispersion of White Light (PDF)

Related Online Labs:
Optics: Reflection and Refraction (146/J4)
Optics: Lenses and Mirrors (146/K1)
Optics of the Human Eye (146/K4)

WAVE OPTICS

• Polarization (PDF)
• Polarization and Birefringence (PDF)
• Interference (PDF)
• Interference and Diffraction (PDF)
• Diffraction Grating (PDF)

Related Online Lab:
Wave Optics: Interference and Diffraction (146/K5)