Physics 207 Lecture Demonstrations

Wednesday, September 8 (Introduction to the Course)

• Handouts
• My laptop computer and display panels

Friday, September 10 (Problem Solving and Error Analysis)

• Attendance computer
• Meter stick and length standards
• Masses and balance scale
• Clock
• Metronome
• Spherical flask of liquid (17.5-cm diameter)
• Balance scale (to weigh sphere)
• 4 1-kg masses
• Meter stick
• Large wooden calipers
• Extra handouts

Monday, September 13 (1-D Motion)

• Rubber ball
• Ball of cotton
• Guinea and feather tube
• Aluminum inclined plane
• Crisp dollar bill (reaction time)

Wednesday, September 15 (Vectors)

(Note: Fire drill is scheduled for today)

• Force board
• String and block
• Meter stick (reaction time)

Friday, September 17 (Frames of Reference)

• Attendance computer
• Frames of Reference (film - 30 minutes)
• Rubber ball

Monday, September 20 (2-D Motion)

• Rubber ball
• Dropped and fired balls
• Ballistics car
• Water stream demo with protractor
• Monkey and hunter
• Ball on a string
• Bench PC with Physics Demos program and display panels

Wednesday, September 22 (Laws of Motion)

• Rubber ball
• 1-kg mass
• Beaker and cloth
• Pail of water
• Ball and cut string
• Air track
• Inertia ball
• Wood block
• Rope anchored in wall
• Hammer and nail

Friday, September 24 (Feynman video)

• Attendance computer
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (Feynman video) - 55 minutes

Monday, September 27 (Catchup Lecture)

• Rubber ball
• Wood block
• Rope anchored in wall
• Hammer and nail
• Spring scale with mass
• Slide of coefficients of friction
• Block and string
• Inclined plane with blocks and carts
• Atwood Machine

Wednesday, September 29 (Review)

• No demos

Friday, October 1 (Exam #1)

• No demos

Monday, October 4 (Circular Motion)

• Bench computer on Internet with display panels
• Rubber ball
• Ball on a string
• Conical pendulum
• Block on rotating table
• Object falling in viscous fluid

Wednesday, October 6 (Work and Kinetic Energy)

• Rubber ball
• Block and string
• Hooke's law
• Air track
• Springs with different spring constants
• 1-kg mass

Friday, October 8 (Physics of the 21st Century)

• Department Anniversary at the Pyle Center
• No demos

Monday, October 11 (Potential Energy)

• Rubber ball
• Wood block
• Hooke's law
• Bowling ball pendulum
• Come-back can
• Ball rolling in troughs
• Loop-the-loop
• Weight-lifting machine (power demo)
• 1-kg mass

Wednesday, October 13 (Linear Momentum and Collisions)

• Rubber ball
• Non-bouncing ball
• Air track
• Momentum balls
• Air table
• Water rocket
• CO₂ rocket
• Rotating platform with basketball and CO₂
• Rocketcycle

Friday, October 15 (Physics of Imagination and Creativity)

• Attendance computer

Consult Prof. John Cameron for any required demos

Monday, October 18 (Rotational Motion)

• Center-of-gravity boards
• Cylinder, sphere, disk, hoop samples
• Torque board
• Rolling chain
• Weight and axle
• Moving spool
• Yo-yos
• Rotating platform
• Center-of-mass cone on inclined plane

Wednesday, October 20 (Angular Momentum)

• Objects rolling down inclined plane
• Ball on string
• Rotating masses on pulleys
• Barbells on rotating platform
• Gyroscopes (including bicycle wheel)
• Spinning tops

Friday, October 22 (Seasons, Tides and Phases of the Moon)

• Attendance computer
• Overhead projector
• A Private Universe (video) - 18-minute version
• Globe (10-inch) and bright light source (100 W lamp)
• Solar system model
• Tennis ball

Monday, October 25 (Catchup Lecture)

• Cylinder, sphere, disk, hoop samples
• Torque board
• Rolling chain
• Weight and axle
• Moving spool
• Yo-yos
• Rotating platform with barbells
• Center-of-mass cone on inclined plane
• Loop-the-loop

Wednesday, October 27 (Review)

• No demos

Friday, October 29 (Exam #2)

• No demos

Monday, November 1 (Static Equilibrium and Elasticity)

• Bench computer on Internet with display panels
• Wooden block
• Rubber ball
• Leaning tower
• Deck of cards
• Seesaw
• Ladder against wall
• Horizontal string with weight at center
• Block and tackles
• Young's modulus

Wednesday, November 3 (Oscillatory Motion)

• Mass on a spring (with dashpot)
• Simple pendulum
• Comparison with circular motion
• Physical pendulum
• Torsional pendulum
• Coupled pendula
• Wilberforce pendulum
• Driven pendulum or mass on spring
• Bowling ball and softball pendulums with timer

Friday, November 5 (Chaos and Randomness)

• Attendance computer
• Metronome
• Magnetic pendulum
• Chaotic double pendulum
• My laptop PC with LCD panels
• Driven cart with pendulum, balls in troughs, aquarium
• Chaotic toy
• Ball on oscillating floor
• Firehose instability with compressed air
• Dripping faucet

Monday, November 8 (The Laws of Gravity)

• Cavendish model
• Solar system model
• Rubber ball

Wednesday, November 10 (Fluid Mechanics)

• Weight of air
• Magdeburg hemispheres
• Manometer
• Archimedes principle
• Hydrolic press
• Bernoulli demo (pipe with flowing water)
• Bernoulli (levitated) ball
• Airfoils
• Venturi tube
• Aspirator
• Curve Ball
• Frisbee
• Toilet paper roll and air jet

Friday, November 12 (Fractals)

• Attendance computer
• My laptop PC with LCD panels
• Fractal music on PA

Monday, November 15 (Wave Motion)

• Multiple coupled pendula
• Rope anchored in wall
• Wave speed on a rope (index cards)
• Compressional wave demo (horizontal slinky)
• Torsional waves (horizontal and vertical)

Wednesday, November 17 (Sound Waves)

• Sound-level meter
• Speed of sound
• Doppler demo
• Doppler cassette recording of train whistle
• Bell in vacuum
• Breathing Helium and Sulfur Hexafluoride
• Tuning fork
• Flame pipe

Friday, November 19 (Astrophysics)

• Attendance computer

See Prof. Don Cox for any required demos

Monday, November 22 (Superposition and Standing Waves)

• Interference of sound
• Driven wave on string with strobe lamp
• Open and closed organ pipes
• Beats with organ pipes and tuning forks
• Oscilloscope and microphone
• Sine and square waves, noise source (with speaker)
• Musical instruments
• Dog whistle

Wednesday, November 24 (Temperature)

• Examples of thermometers
• Thermal expansion demos
• PVT surface of ideal gas
• Pistons

Monday, November 29 (Catchup Lecture)

• Demos to be determined

Wednesday, December 1 (Review)

• No demos

Friday, December 3 (Exam #3)

• No demos

Monday, December 6 (Heat and 1st Law of Thermodynamics)

• Bench computer on Internet with display panels
• PVT surfaces - ideal gas, H₂O, CO₂
• Mechanical equivalence of heat
• Freezing by evaporation
• Thermal conductivity
• Heat convection (candle)
• Heat radiation (parabolic mirrors)

Wednesday, December 8 (Kinetic Theory)

• Kinetic theory simulator (ball bearings)
• Kinetic theory demonstrator (Mercury tube)
• Variation of sound speed with temperature (?)
• Balloon

Friday, December 10 (The Wonders of Physics Fun Lecture)

• Attendance computer
• Benchtop PC and LCD displays
• "The Wonders of Physics" poster on easel
• Liquid nitrogen - tygon, banana, nail, clear balloon and dish
• Leidenfrost effect (hotplate and eye dropper of water)
• Liquid nitrogen cannon
• Collapsing pop can in water tray
• Collapsing paint can
• Video of collapsing oil drum
• Candle trough with dry ice
• Exploding soap bubbles (natural gas and bubble pipe)
• Exploding balloons (Helium and Hydrogen with ignition stick)
• Needle through clear balloon (with scotch tape)
• Ziploc bag of water and pencil
• Neutral buoyancy balloon (Helium balloon with long heavy string)
• Hero's engine
• Model geyser
• Non-burning dollar bill (or handkerchief)
• Ethanol vapor explosion with hand-held Tesla coil
• Evacuated bell jar with balloon and marshmallows and/or shaving creme
• Tornado bottle
• Liquid nitrogen cloud

Monday, December 13 (Entropy and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics)

• Automobile engine model
• Carnot cycle model
• Sterling engine

Wednesday, December 15 (Review and Wrap-up)

• No demos
• Teaching evaluations