Revised Sat Aug 31 19:07:41 2002
| M-a1a | Meter Standard | A replica of the platinum-iridium bar in Paris that was the international standard for length before 1960. |
| M-a6a | Powers of Ten | "Powers of Ten" is a 9 minute film spanning scales from the edge of the universe to the sub-atomic |
| M-c1b | Linear Air Track: Position vs. Time | A glider travels down the 5 m air track while evenly spaced photogates record the elapsed time. One can then plot the position versus time for the glider on an overhead. The track may be inclined for uniformly accelerated motion. |
| M-c2b | Inclined Air Track | Prop up one end on an air track and use photogates to time the glider's voyage. |
| M-c2a | Dime and Feather Tube | A penny and a feather fall freely inside a glass cylinder that can be evacuated. |
| M-c3a | Timed Free Fall -- Lecture Hall | A metal ball is dropped from 1m and then from 4m into a catch bucket; a precise digital timer records the time of flight for each fall. Suggested use: (a) Drop the metal ball from 1m into a catch bucket and note the time of fall. (b) Ask how long it will take for the ball to fall 4m. (c) Time the fall from 4m. |
| M-a4a | Magnetic Blackboard Vectors | A set of magnet-backed vectors of lengths 3, 4, and 5 used to show vector addition on the blackboard. |
| M-d6c | Vertically Launched Ball on Cart | A ball projected vertically upward from a wheeled cart falls back into the muzzle. |
| M-d6d | Balls Shot and Dropped -- Lecture Hall | A ball is dropped and simultaneously another is projected horizontally; they hit the floor at the same time. |
| M-d6e | Shoot the Monkey | An air-gun shoots at a monkey, released when the air-gun is fired; the bullet hits the monkey in mid-air. |
| M-d6g | Range of a Gun | Shoot at 45, then calculate 30 or 60 and place the target |
| M-d1f | Balls on Rotating Disk | A disc with two balls mounted at different radii rotates at varying speeds. A third ball may be placed in the center if disk is horizontally mounted. Both orbital and spin rotations may be seen. |
| M-c1a | Tank on moving sheet | A battery powered tank runs at constant speed on a moving paper to show how velocities add and subtract. |
| M-e1a | Crossing the River | A battery powered tank runs at constant speed on a sheet of paper that is pulled in a direction perpendicular to the tank's velocity. |
| M-f2a | Inertia Masses | A 100 g mass is suspended from a 1 kg mass which is suspended from a crossbar. A sharp downward pull breaks the lower thread; a slow pull the upper thread. |
| M-f2b | Hammered Blocks | The bottommost of a stack of blocks, when struck sharply, will slide to the side while the upper blocks remain in place. |
| M-f3a | Glider on Level Air Track | A glider on a level air track persists in gliding. |
| M-h1a | Push Me Pull Me Carts | Two people stand on roller carts and both pull on a rope or push with a long stick. |
| M-g1d | Fan Propelled Cart | Measure the final speed of a fan-propelled (constant acceleration) cart whose mass can be varied. |
| M-h1c | 3rd Law with Scales | Pull on two coupled spring scales with springs of equal or unequal strength. |
| M-g1c | Atwood's Machine | Two equal masses are hung from a pulley. A small amount of mass is transferred from one side to the other. |
| M-j3a | Suspended Block | A 1 kg mass rests on a 3-4-5 incline (e.g. incline angle = arctan(3/4)). Forces parallel and perpendicular to the incline will support the mass in mid-air when the incline is removed. |
| M-j3c | Rope and three students | Two large strong students pull on the ends of a rope and a small student pushes down in the middle. |
| M-k2a | Friction Cars on Inclined Plane | The static and dynamic forces required to move teflon-coated, rubber-coated, and wooden surfaced carts on an inclined plane are displayed on a spring scale. |
| F-c3c | Coffee Filter Drop | One coffee filter dropped from one meter and four coffee filters dropped from 2 meters hit the ground at the same time, demonstrating that the drag force is proportional to the square of the velocity |
| M-d5a | Orbit Ball | This consists of a large and a small ball attached to opposite ends of a string which passes through a metal handle. The light ball is twirled and the centripetal force is provided by the weight of the heavy ball. |
| M-d5c | Swing the Bucket | Swing a bucket of water in a vertical circle and then in a horizontal circle over your head. |
| M-d5e | Chain Wheel | A loop of chain is rotated very fast and then released onto the demo table, where it runs over obstacles while retaining its circular form. |
| M-d5m | Tangential Velocity | This demo uses an apparatus that rotates a ball on a string and that provides a means to cut the string while the ball is in flight. |
| M-m1a | Pile Driver | Drive a nail into a block of wood with a pile driver. |
| M-m2a | Simple Pulley | Show a simple pulley in equilibrium |
| M-m2b | Compound Pulley | Weights of a proportion of 5-to-1 are the equilibrium conditions for this compound pulley. |
| M-m2c | Spring Launched Cart on Level Track | A spring (of measurable spring constant) launches a cart (with measurable final veloctiy) on a level air track. Mass of cart can be varied. |
| M-m4a | Bowling Ball Pendulum | A bowling ball pendulum is pulled back until it touches the lecturer's nose and let go. The lecturer does not move. |
| M-m4b | Galileo's Pendulum and Nail | A pendulum started at the height of a reference line reaches the same height when its swing is intercepted by a post that effectively shortens the length of the pendulum. |
| M-m4c | Loop the Loop | A rolling ball must be released from a height equal to 2.7 times the radius of the loop. |
| M-m4f | Spring-Launched Rolling Cart | Predict the height to which a spring-compressed cart will rise on an inclined plane given the mass, spring constant, and amount of spring compression. Do the experiment. |
| M-d1e | High road low road | Two balls race, one down a slight incline and the other down an identical incline containing a valley. |
| M-j1a | Determining Center of Mass | Suspend a 2-dimensional shape from holes drilled near the edges, and use a plumb bob to find the center of gravity. |
| M-d4b | Motion of an Extended Object | A slab of foam has its center of mass marked with a black dot; this dot follows a parabolic path when the slab is thrown. |
| M-d4e | Air Track Inchworm | Two air track gliders coupled by a spring will oscillate about the center of mass that is marked by a flag. |
| M-n2c | Spring apart Pasco carts | Tripping the spring between two Pasco carts launches them in opposite directions; the cart masses may be varied. |
| M-h1b | Tennis Ball Cannon | A cannon mounted on an air track glider shoots out a tennis ball horizontallly. |
| M-n2a | Fire extinguisher wagon | Mount a fire extinguisher on a cart and take a ride. |
| M-n2b | Water Rocket | A toy rocket is launched twice, once when pumped up with air and once when pumped up with water. |
| M-n1b | Egg in sheet | Throw an egg into a sheet held by two people. |
| M-r4a | Happy and Unhappy Balls | Two black rubber balls of about 1.5 cm diameter are dropped from a height simultaneously. One ball bounces high while the other barely rebounds. Great to pass around. |
| M-n3d | Inelastic Collisions on Air Track | Inelastic collisions between air track gliders of equal and/or unequal mass. |
| M-n3a | Newton's Cradle | Five adjacent metal balls on a bifilar suspension illustrate momentum conservation properties. |
| M-n3c | Elastic Collisions on Air Track | Elastic collisions between air track gliders of equal and/or unequal mass. |
| M-q1a | Inertia Wands | Students twirl equal mass wands, one with the mass concentrated in the middle, the other with the mass concentrated at the ends. |
| M-j4a | Torque Bar | A long thin rid mounted perpendicular to a bar handle holds a 2 kg mass on a sliding collar. |
| M-q2a | Whirlybird | Two equal masses with adjustable positions are mounted on a radial bar fixed to a horizontal axis with a pulley. A weight on a string rotates the assembly. |
| M-q1b | Ring versus Disk Race | The Matched Disk and Ring are identical in diameter and mass. When rolled down the inclined plane, the disk wins the race due to its lower moment of inertia. |
| M-q1c | Racing Disks | Two disks of identical mass, one weighted in the center and the othe weighted at the rum, are rolled down an incline. |
| M-q1d | Racing cylinders | 3 Cylinders of identical mass and appearance accelerate down an incline at different rates. |
| M-q5d | MITAC Gyroscope | This motorized gyroscope, used in the teaching labs, is good for showing a gyroscope's directional constancy; can also show precession due to applied torques. |
| M-q5c | Bicycle Wheel Gyro | The bike wheel is hung from its axle by a wire attached to the ceiling; when spun the bike wheel illustrates gyroscope motion nicely. |
| M-q4f | Collapsing Star | Collapse a spinning suspended Hoberman Sphere into a small ball. |
| M-q4a | Rotating Platform and Weights | Spin on a rotating platform with a dumbbell in each hand. |
| M-q4b | Swinging Bat on Rotating Platform | Stand on a rotating platform initially at rest, and swing a bat or a mallet. |
| M-q4c | Bike wheel on rotating platform | Invert a spinning bicycle wheel while standing on a rotating platform. |
| M-q4d | Rotating Platform and Mallet | Rotate yourself one full revolution using a mallet. |
| M-j2a | Stable and Unstable Equilibria | Two large rings each with two masses that have radially adjustable positions. By positioning both at same end, stable and unstable equilibrium can be shown. |
| M-j4b | Equal Arm Balance | Combinations of weights and distances on either side of the fulcrum of the equal arm balance may be selected to produce equilibrium. An oblique arm is used to show that the effective length of the lever arm is set by the component of the force. |
| M-j2b | Tight Rope Walker | The Tight Rope Walker consists of a pulley with four heavy lead weights on long semi-stiff wires symmetrically mounted around it. When placed on the "rope" (Cord), the weights hang down well under the rope, leaving the center of the Walker's mass below the rope and thus making it easy for the Walker to keep its balance. |
| M-j1b | Photo: Pisa's Leaning Tower | Digital image of the photo from Bloomberg's sixth floor of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. May be projected in the auditorium. |
| M-j1c | Center of Gravity Blocks | Stack blocks stairstep fashion at the edge of the table until the topmost block sticks out beyond the table edge. |
| M-j4c | Mass on Bar between Scales | A horizontal beam with a sliding 1 kg mass is hung between two spring scales. |
| M-k1b | Ladder against a Wall | Set a ladder against the wall and walk up the rungs until the ladder begins to slide. |
| M-r2c | Poisson's Ratio | The striped tube can be stretched to show lateral contraction with increasing length. |
| M-r3a | Deformation of Solids | The large book can be pushed perpendicular to the spine to show shear. |
| M-r3b | Striped Tube Twist | The striped tube can be twisted to show torsion. |
| M-l2a | Gravitational Well | A large fiberglass vortex-shaped cone is used to show circular and elliptical orbits and conservation of angular momentum. |
| F-b2a | Pascal's Vases | Tubes of different geometries rise vertically out of a common reservoir of colored water. |
| F-b3a | Crush the Can | A vacuum pump evacuates a 1 gallon can; atmospheric pressure crushs the can. |
| F-b3b | Magdeburg Disks | Evacuate Magdeburg hemispheres and try to separate them. |
| F-b2f | Hydraulic Press | Break a piece of wood in a hydraulic press. |
| F-b4a | Weigh Submerged Block | A 2 kg Al cylinder, suspended from the 20 N spring scale, is lowered into water and the new weight is observed. Can also lower into oil for comparison |
| F-b4c | water and oil "U" tube | Water and oil rise to different heights in a "u" tube. |
| F-c2a | Venturi Flowmeter | Air flows through a restricted glass tube to the atmosphere; the pressure at different points of the tube is shown by manometers. |
| F-c2b | Floating Ping Pong Ball | A ping pong ball floats in an upward stream of air. |
| F-c2c | Funnel and Ball | A ping-pong ball is supported by air streaming out of an upside down funnel. |
| F-c2d | Windbag | Blow up an 8-foot long bag with one breath. |
| F-c2e | Ping Pong Ball and Racket | Use a ping pong racket to hit a curve ball using a 2-3" diameter styrofoam ball or a ping pong ball. |
| W-a2a | Spring and Weight | A mass hangs on the end of a spring. Using two springs of different k and a variety of masses, show the effect of varying k and m. |
| W-a2d | Springs in Series and Parallel | A spring with mass m, two identical springs in parallel with mass 2m, and two identical springs in series with mass m/2 oscillate with the same period. |
| W-a2c | Air track glider and Spring | Two identical air track carts are attached to (opposite) ends of an air track by means of two different springs. A mass may be added to either cart, and the dependence of the oscillation frequency on mass and on spring constant may be explored. |
| W-a1d | Torsion Pendulum | A steel cylinder is suspended by a steel music wire along its right axis. When the cylinder is displaced by rotation and released it will oscillate in simple harmonic motion. |
| W-a1a | Simple Pendulum | A bob on a string hanging from a stand exhibits simple harmonic motion for small angles. |
| W-a1b | 4-to-1 Pendula | One pendulum four times longer than a second oscillates with twice the period of the second. |
| W-a1c | Different mass pendula | Three pendula of different masses but the same length all oscillate with the same period. |
| W-a1e | Pendula Amplitude Dependence | Two identical simple pendula set in motion with different initial amplitudes, oscillate nonisochronically. |
| W-a4a | Projected SHM | Shadow project a ball mounted on a rotating disk. |
| W-a6a | Tacoma Narrows Film | A 4.40 minute video of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Very impressive and memorable. |
| W-a6c | Damped Driven Hanging Mass | A mass, supported by a spring whose support is driven, vibrates against a solid screen; the drive amplitude, frequency and the screen angle can be varied. |
| W-b1a | Pulse on 1.9m spring | Give the 1.9 m spring a quick pulse. The length and/or tension in the spring can be varied. Better than rope! |
| W-b1b | Pulse Propagation (Inertia) | Excite each of the three torsional transverse wave machines by hand to show how the wave speed varies as the inertia of the medium (the rod lenght) varies. |
| W-b2a | Hanging Slinky | A long slinky is supported on a bifilar suspension, and the ends are taped to the lab stands, for showing longitutinal wave properties with minimal friction. |
| W-b2p | Superposition of Pulses | Send pulses simultaneously down both ends of the 1.9 m spring to show the addition of amplitudes. |
| W-b1c | Shive's Reflection at a barrier | Send pulses down a Shive wave model machine with the other end free, then fixed. |
| W-b2k | Joined spring and cord | The 1.9 m spring is attached to a rubber cord; pulses started at one end will produce both transmitted and reflected pulses. |
| W-b7a | Coupled Tuning Forks | Strike one of two matched tuning forks mounted on resonant boxes and the other vibrates too. |
| W-d2a | Guitar | Hanging weights on the end of a "guitar" can be varied to "tune" the guitar to a desired pitch. |
| W-d3a | Resonant Tube | A long tube is rolled in front of a speaker driven by a sine wave generator to show resonance. A microphone probe shows pressure variations on the o-scope. |
| W-d3b | Organ Pipe | A closed-end, square wood organ pipe of adjustable length. |
| W-d3c | Trombone | A student-class trombone illustrates the effect of pipe length on resonant frequencies. |
| W-d4c | Chladni Plates | A driven Chladni plate covered with sand shows standing wave patterns. |
| W-b3a | Bell in a Vacuum | An alarm buzzer is suspended inside an evaculated bell jar, turned on, and the bell jar is evaculated. When air is let back into the jar, the sound returns. |
| W-b5c | Two Points in Ripple Tank | Two point source generators of ripples show interference patterns in the ripple tank on the overhead projector. |
| W-b5d | Double Slits in Ripple Tank | A plane wave impinges on a barrier with two slits in the ripple tank on the overhead projector. |
| W-b5b | Moire Pattern Transparancies | Transparancies with identical concentric circular patterns are placed on top of each other with a slight offset. |
| W-b5e | Two-Speaker Bar | A 2 meter long bar with a speaker at each end produces auditory interference patterns. |
| W-b5f | Baffle and Speaker | Listen to a single bare speaker, then surround it by a baffle. |
| W-c5a | Pasco Fourier Synthesizer | Construct, hear, and see waveforms built from the 440 Hz fundamental and up to eight harmonics. |
| W-b6a | Beats with Tuning Forks | Two tuning forks of identical frequency are mounted on resonant enclosures; when a small piece of wax is attached to one, beats can be heard. |
| W-b6b | Beats on Scope | Two audio signals are fed through a summing amplifier and the result is presented on the oscilloscope and a speaker. |
| W-b4a | Doppler Buzzer | Swing a small battery powered buzzer on the end of a string in a circle over your head. |
| W-b4b | Doppler in Ripple Tank | Move the wave generator back and forth in the ripple tank. |
| H-e3a | Constant Volume bulb | The constant volume bulb is filled with helium at room temperature and pressure, then sealed. It is then immersed in boiling water, ice water, and liquid nitrogen (or in a alcohol/acetone bath). |
| H-a3a | Bimetallic Strip | Strips of dissimilar metals bonded together bend when heated. Makes a nice thermometer. |
| H-a3b | Ball and Ring | The Ball will pass through the hole in the brass plate (termed the ring) when both are at room temperature. When the ball is heated with the torch it expands and will not pass through the ring. |
| H-e1a | Balloons in liquid nitrogen | Liquid nitrogen is poured over an air-filled balloon until it collapses. |
| H-b1a | Equipartition Theorem | The heat capacity of a 1 kg steel mass is measured by calorimetry. |
| H-b1b | Metals Sinking into Wax | Hot copper, lead, and aluminum cylinders at a common temperature are placed on a wax block. |
| H-b2a | Convection Tube | One side of a glass tube loop is heated while a drop of ink is inserted in the other side. |
| H-b3a | Melting Wax on Rods | Three metal rods (Cu, Al, Steel), with wax mounted on the ends of each, radiate horizontally from a central heated disk. This is a race to see which melts first. |
| H-b4b | Light the Match | A match at the focus of one parabolic mirrir is lit by a heating element at the focus of another parabolic mirror. |
| H-d2a | Crookes' radiometer | Light shining on the "radiometer" makes the vanes spin, but in a direction opposite to that expected for light absorption and reflection. |
| H-d1a | Brownian Motion | The Brownian movement of smoke particles in air is projected onto a screen or wall for all to see. |
| H-d3a | Vertical Molecular Motion Simulator |
| H-c3b | Cryophorus | When one end of a glass tube with bulbs at each end containing water is placed in liquid nitrogen, the water at the other end starts to freeze. |
| H-b7a | Fire Syringe | A small (2mm x 2mm) piece of tissue is put at the bottom of the "fire torch," a clear glass cylinder that is closed at one end. When a plunger is inserted into the open end and rapidly pressed inwards, the tissue bursts into flames. |
| H-f3a | Stirling Engine | An excellent, simple, working model of the Stirling engine. |