What Are Fun Physics Demos for Kids' Summer Camp?

AI Thread Summary
Fun physics demos for kids at summer camp can include a paper airplane contest to teach about aerodynamics, an electricity circuit using a pencil, and a hover cart to demonstrate Newton's laws. Other engaging activities involve illustrating the seasons with light and shadow experiments, as well as using a bottle rocket to explain pressure concepts. A pop can crushing demonstration can effectively showcase vacuum principles, while the card and cup trick highlights fluid dynamics. Seeking additional ideas from knowledgeable individuals, like WannabeNewton, can enhance the learning experience. These interactive lessons aim to captivate children aged 6 to 14 while fostering a love for physics.
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I am looking for any ideas to do for demos or fun physics demos to do with kids for a summer camp. I need ten lessons in total and I would like to involve the kids with activities as much as possible. kids are from about 6 to 14 and classes are 30 to 45 mins and i get two 1.5 hr demos.

Some ideas that I have already thought about:

1)A paper airplane building contest. Teach them about drag, lift, forces ect. whoever builds the best airplane that goes the farthest wins ( we will be throwing them off a balcony )

2)electricity : we have a pencil that has a battery attached to it and make a sound depending on how far you are from the start of the circuit that you made with the pencil. also may have a vandergraph generator there as well . i plan on giving the pencil away at the end :)

3)we have a air hover cart that you can sit on and show Newton's laws. throw a heavy ball while sitting on it ect...

4)show how the seasons work: shine a flash light on a piece of paper with the two perpendicular to each other and trace the outline that the light makes. tilt the piece of paper then trace the bigger area and explain. same amount of light over bigger area. maybe at the same time show how the phases of the moon work with the light and holding a ping pong ball on a spinning chair and looking at the ball (moon) while spinning in the chair.

5)we might have a bottle rocket already made that i might use. explain pressure and maybe explain vacuum's with boiling a pop can with a little water in the bottom then crushing it by putting it upside-down in water. and also the card on a cup trick where the water doesn't fall out


Any other ideas would be appreciated
 
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You ought to send a message to WannabeNewton. He's a brilliant youngster who hangs out in Special and General Relativity. He would probably know some good methods to teach physics to young people.
 
So I know that electrons are fundamental, there's no 'material' that makes them up, it's like talking about a colour itself rather than a car or a flower. Now protons and neutrons and quarks and whatever other stuff is there fundamentally, I want someone to kind of teach me these, I have a lot of questions that books might not give the answer in the way I understand. Thanks
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