Good demonstrative project in physics

[bbq]

Main Question or Discussion Point

hi... im a 3rd year high school student looking for a good demonstrative project in physics... i haven't got any idea what to do with my project... could you please give me some suggestions... i need ideas for demonstrative projects... i would really appreciate your help... thanks...

 

[Adrian Baker]

Originally posted by bbq
hi... im a 3rd year high school student looking for a good demonstrative project in physics... i haven't got any idea what to do with my project... could you please give me some suggestions... i need ideas for demonstrative projects... i would really appreciate your help... thanks...

People here are generally keen to help, but you don't give enough information.

What kind of project? What level? How long is it to run for? Demonstrative.... to who? Are there restrictions... limitations?
What equipment do you have avaliable.... etc.
If you have no idea why not ask yur teachers for help?

 

[NEOclassic]

Hi bbq,
You could demonstrate the Coriolis Force in a very simple way:
Drill a hole through the thickness of a coin near the edge of the coin and then spin the coin and observe that the hole naturally migrates toward the spin axis. Usual logic might suggest that gravity would favor a model that would have the migration of the hole upward - don't you believe it! Now fill the hole with a chunk of lead that you might find in a fishing tackle box and spin the coin again. - now you will witness that the anomaly does rise. Hidden in the simplicity of this demonstration is the physical reality that dipolar fields interact with each other according to the vector-cross-prduct rule as contrasted with the more familiar vector-dot-product rule which is actually a "vector sum". (look these up in your textbook) - you'll discover that the cross-product resultant is perpendicular to the plane of the vector pair and whose scalar value is the product of the scalars of the planar pair - This phenemenon is more easily felt by efforts to maneuver a gyroscopic top or a rotating bicycle wheel.
Cheers,

 

[bbq]

"What kind of project? What level? How long is it to run for? Demonstrative.... to who? Are there restrictions... limitations?
What equipment do you have avaliable.... etc.
If you have no idea why not ask yur teachers for help?"
-adrian baker-

i need something i could demonstrate/do in front of my class and a whole bunch of other high school students... the actual demonstration is supposed to be for 2 consecutive days but preparations and research time would be 5 weeks at the most... hmmm... i guess you're right... maybe i should ask my teacher about restrictions and useable equipment...

 

[S = k log w]

Find out what actually makes a pin makes a ballon burst, and what a piece of tape can do to prevent it. Does a latex ballon act the same way as the cheap plastic ones? Why?

 

[bbq]

"Find out what actually makes a pin makes a ballon burst, and what a piece of tape can do to prevent it. Does a latex ballon act the same way as the cheap plastic ones? Why?" - S = k log w -

hmm... i think i saw this one in a magic trick book... it's pretty simple, easy to do... no need for large, expensive equipment... this won't take too much time... but what does this have to do with physics?

 

[S = k log w]

Explain why it works.

 

[Adrian Baker]

Originally posted by bbq


... the actual demonstration is supposed to be for 2 consecutive days ...

Do you mean you are actually supposed to entertain one crowd of people for two days solid! Blimey Feynman would have been hard pushed to manage that!

You need something dramatic - big sparks or bangs... or both. How about something with big big Voltages?

 

[bbq]

"How about something with big big Voltages?" - adrian baker -

what exactly do u have in mind? please be specific... tnx...

 

[Adrian Baker]

Big Voltage stuff....

Hmmmm.... ok

Van de Graaff Generator and suitable static electricity experiments. ie hair up, lighting gas taps with fingers - general high school stuff.

Induction coils - big heavy duty sparks several inches in length, plus small 2-6v cells wired up to say an 1100 coil wire with iron core. Break and make the circuit holding the wire ends... "How much can you take? etc (crank up the input Pd from 1V upwards! - my students love this)

Plasma balls (as sold in shops quite cheap) - make your own, try different gases inside etc

Hold flourescent tubes near the plasma ball (or V de Graaf and sparking induction ciol) and see it light up just by you holding it!
Investigation into how this works, what factors affect it etc.

Make your own flourescent tubes, investigate sparks across a gap in decreasing pressure.

Also, don't forget Maltese Cross type experiment with Cathode ray devices, beam deflections in magnetic fields etc.
Can you safely set up an X-ray tube and take an X-ray?

Also arc lighting as used in BIG spotlights. Set up some arc light experiments, connect a pencil to the mains and watch it burn the wood off then glow brightly, make limelight, make lightbulbs...

Hey, what about transformers? BIG step up voltages across curved wire terminals - make Plasma like in the old '60s Frankeistein movies.

Do fuses blowing up, power line transmission at high voltages......


Phew.... that'll do for now!


Are any of these ideas of use? Maybe with some development they could help??

Adrian

 

[bbq]

ei, thanks adrian... you gave me all sorts of ideas... i guess all thats left for me to do now is get my teachers approval for any of these projects... by the way, a friend of mine recommended the "smokeless tube." i was wondering if you or anyone else would know anything about that...