| Demo |
Topic |
Short Name |
UMd |
Materials |
Long Description |
1 Atoms-01 |
Atoms |
Homeopathy |
3 Gallon jugs clean water 3 eye-droppers Colored liquid (eg: Coke) Clear plastic cup |
Make a homeopathic sleeping drug.
Put one drop Coke in first gallon. Mix well
('succuss'). Put one drop in 2nd gallon. Mix
well. Put one drop in third gallon. Mix well.
Pour into cup. |
|
2 Density-01 |
Density |
Density |
3 equal weight but different density masses. 0.5 kg Fe, Al and wood Display (round) spring scale. |
Weigh the items to show they have the same
weight. Display the items to show they have different volumes. |
|
3 Pressure-01 |
Pressure |
3 egg stand |
3 plastic beakers Blue triangular wooden plate Sand 4 eggs (raw) Paper towel and broom and dustpan Beaker to break an egg into (prove it's raw) |
Fill beakers with sand. Shake to pack
the sand. Place eggs in them pointed end down with half the
egg buried. Place beakers on paper towel on hard floor. Place wooden plate on beakers so the eggs are under the corner pads. Stand on the plate very slowly (it helps to have something to lean on). Make sure the eggs don't shift. |
|
4 Pressure-02 |
Pressure |
Seat of Nails |
Seat of Nails |
Sit on it. |
|
4a Pressure-02 |
Pressure |
Starter Seat |
1-Nail Seat of Nails |
Get volunteer for
SoN(4). Then bring out the Starter Seat and ask them
to start with just one nail. Watch reactions! |
|
5 Pressure-03 |
Pressure |
Equal Height
Tubes |
F1-06 |
Equal Height Tubes DARK Colored liquid |
Pour liquid into tubes. All liquid
levels are at the same height, since all have the same
pressure at the base of the tube. |
5a Pressure-04 |
Pressure |
Pascal's tube |
Pascal's pressure tube demo Dark water to fill it with camera to display it??? |
Put in colored water push in the plunger watch water squirt out of all the holes in the end |
|
6 Buoyancy-02 |
Buoyancy |
Buoyancy Force |
Large water beaker with at least 6" of water Round visible Spring scale masses of different materials (from demo #2) |
Weigh the masses in the air Weigh them in the water The difference is the buoyancy force. Larger objects have a larger difference |
|
7 Buoyancy-01 |
Buoyancy |
Float/Sink |
Water tank Different materials |
What floats? What sinks? |
|
8 Pressure-05 |
Pressure |
Drop Holey Cup |
3 Styrofoam cups or predrilled plastic cup water pen to puncture the cup bucket to catch the cup |
Puncture a styrofoam cup and the water will
drain out. Puncture it and drop it. Will the water drain out? If you use the predrilled plastic cup, make sure there is water in the bucket to soften its landing |
|
9 Buoyancy-03 |
Buoyancy |
Al foil sink or float |
water tank Aluminum foil |
Ask class whether Al foil sinks or floats.
If they choose sinks, make a boat and float it.
If they choose floats, place a sheet under water and
watch it sink. Note that crumpled Al foil floats! |
|
10 Buoyancy-04 |
Buoyancy |
Finger in Beaker |
pan balance beaker of water weights to balance small sinker and floater weights |
Put beaker of water on pan balance.
Balance it. Query: if add sinker (eg: metal), will the beaker go up, down or stay the same? Do it. Query: if add floater (eg: wood), will the beaker go up, down or stay the same? Do it. Query: if put finger in water without touching beaker, will the beaker go up, down or stay the same? Do it. |
|
10a Buoyancy-05 |
Buoyancy |
Boat and Rock |
F2-05 |
Fish tank half-filled with water Tape to mark water level Cut-out soda bottle (2-liter!!!) with screw-top 4 0.5-kg weights |
Place weight in bottle (the boat) in the
water so it floats. Ask class: What will happen to the water level when the rock is dumped overboard? Dump the rock overboard. |
11 Buoyancy-06 |
surface tension |
paper clip float |
paper clip petri dish of H2O |
||
11.5 Air Pressure-01 |
Capillary action |
Capillary Action |
F3-11 |
Capillary tubes with green water, TV camera. |
Four glass tubes of different diameter are
connected at the base. The height of the water in each tube
is determined by the effects of surface tension. The water
is spiked with green food coloring to enhance its
visibility. |
12 Air Pressure-02 |
air pressure |
break ruler w/newspaper |
1/8"x3/4"x24" fibreboard newspaper |
place fibreboard so about 4" projects over
end of table. Place newspaper over fibreboard.
Smooth the paper over the board. Hit exposed end
of board hard! Practice first. |
|
13 Air Pressure-03 |
air pressure |
magdeburg spheres |
Magdeburg spheres vacuum pump |
||
14 Air Pressure-04 |
air pressure |
soda can crush |
Empty soda cans large container of water tongs propane torch and ignitor small cardboard square |
Put about 1 oz of water in soda can and jam
cardboard square under the pull tab to cover the hole.
Ignite propane torch. Grab can with tongs near the bottom. Tilt can and hold bottom corner over torch to boil the water. Wait until lots of steam comes out of the can. Quickly place can upside down into water container. Crunch! |
|
14.5 Air Pressure-05 |
air pressure |
vacuum cannon |
I3-18 |
Vacuum cannon (ours is white PVC and about 6'
long) vacuum pump heavy duty Al foil ping pong ball screw driver |
Cover bottom end of vacuum cannon with Al
foil and secure it with the hose clamp. Drop the ping pong ball down the cannon barrel. Place the soda can bottom over the top end of the cannon. Attach the vacuum pump to the vacuum cannon. Point the cannon away from people (or at a target). Turn on the vacuum pump. If the Al foil does not rupture spontaneously, poke it with the screwdriver. |
15 Air Pressure-06 |
air pressure |
reverse balloon inflate |
Reverse balloon inflator |
||
16 Air Pressure-08 |
air pressure |
cup of water w/cardboard lid |
Cup of water with even rim 3-4" cardboard square |
Fill cup with water. Place cardboard
over top. Invert. Air pressure holds the
cardboard in place. |
|
16a Air Pressure-09 |
air pressure |
holey cup of water w/lid |
solid clear plastic cup with
even rim and 1/4" hole on the side near the base 3-4" cardboard square bucket |
Cover hole. Fill cup
with water. Place cardboard over top. Announce that
the water is trapped. Wait for protestation.
Flip over but keep hand over cardboard. Finally remove
the cardboard. Announce abracadabra and move finger from hole (make sure you're over the bucket) |
|
17 Buoyancy-07 |
compress air |
squiddy |
squiddy cup of water sealable soda bottle w/water |
Place squiddy in cup of water. Adjust
buoyancy by squeezing to let water in until barely bouyant. Place squiddy in water bottle and cap it. Squeeze bottle to make squiddy sink. |
|
18 Air Pressure-10 |
air pressure |
bottle glug glug |
full water bottle (narrow neck) bucket |
Pour water from bottle. It goes glug
glug. Air pressure keeps the water from pouring in a
steady stream. |
|
19 Air Pressure-11 |
air pressure |
tornado tube |
two soda bottles tornado tube coupling water |
Water does not go from top bottle to bottom
unless you give it a swirl to start a vortex. |
|
20 Air Pressure-07 |
compress air |
vacuum balloon expand |
small balloon vacuum pump bell jar |
place small balloon in bell jar. pump down. |
|
21 Air Flow-01 |
bernoulli |
alligator eyeballs |
alligator eyeballs |
place two small balls in eyecups blow through mouthpiece constantly to 'levitate' the eyeballs disinfect mouthpiece |
|
22 Air Flow-02 |
bernoulli |
funnel, tube and ping pong balls |
F5-05 |
small funnel long tube PP ball |
attach tube to narrow end of funnel.
Hold funnel upside down. Hold ball inside
inverted funnel. Blow hard through tube to keep the
ball in the funnel. Takes practice! This is NOT due to the bernoulli effect, but the Coanda effect. See the UMd website for details. |
22a Air Flow-03 |
bernoulli |
straw, spool, pin and card |
F5-07 |
bendy straw thread spool straight pin index card |
Place the straight pin through the center of
the index card bend the flexi-straw 90 degrees and put the short end through the center of the thread spool (so the end is flush or slightly recessed) Place the card on the spool so that the pin rests in the straw (a) card on top of the spool (blowing up): distribute lots of these to students and offer a large sum of money to the first student who can blow the card off the spool by blowing through the straw (b) card underneath the spool (blowing down): blow hard to keep the card from falling. This is a much easier bernoulli demo than the previous demo. |
22b Air Flow-04 |
Bernoulli |
bottle mouth and ping pong ball |
cut off the top 2in of a plastic drink bottle ping pong ball |
place the ping pong ball in the bottle top challenge students to blow hard enough to blow the ball out of the bottle top (blowing upwards) it also works blowing downwards (see 22) but you run out of air very quickly because the aperture is too big |
|
23 Air Flow-05 |
bernoulli |
bernoulli car |
F5-01 |
bernoulli car small styrofoam ball |
Wind up car. Place ball on smokestack. (Ping pong ball will NOT work) turn on. |
24 Air Flow-06 |
bernoulli |
blower and ball |
F5-06 |
air track blower hose with contriction or nozzle medium styrofoam ball |
Turn on blower Place ball in airstream release. tilt or move blower (slowly) |
25 Air Flow-07 |
bernoulli |
blow over paper sheet |
paper sheet |
hold one end of a sheet of paper in front of
and below your mouth. Blow over it (or slightly down) watch it rise up. |
|
26 Air Flow-08 |
bernoulli |
blow between 2 balls |
two large balls suspended by 2 strings blower |
blow between the balls they move closer to each other |
|
27 Air Flow-09 |
bernoulli |
blow over airfoils |
blower hose without nozzle or constriction various Al airfoils |
blow over flat and airfoil shaped pieces of
Al which rises more? |
|
27a Air Flow-10 |
bernoulli |
bernoulli bags |
bernoulli bags (tie off one end on each) |
get two students, ask them each to inflate a bag show the smaller one how to cheat |
|
28 Air Flow-11 |
magnus effect |
curve balls |
curve ball thrower medium styrofoam balls |
The curve ball thrower is a 12" long, 4"
diameter half-pipe with sandpaper inside. Place a ball near one end of the thrower. Throw it like in Jai Alai. Watch it curve. A lot! |
|
29 Heat Capacity-01 |
heat capacity |
boil water in paper cup |
paper cup tongs propane torch ignitor fire extinguisher water bucket |
fill cup with water, hold with tongs in flame
of propane torch (Hold over water bucket for safety) don't use too much water or it will take forever to boil! |
|
30 Thermal Expansion-01 |
thermal expansion |
ball and ring |
I1-12 |
metal ball w/handle metal ring w/handle propane torch, igniter, extinguisher |
ball will fit through ring when both are at
the same temperature when heated, the ball no longer fits through |
31 Thermal Expansion-02 |
thermal expansion |
ball and plate |
I1-11 |
metal ball w/handle metal plate w/handle propane torch, igniter, extinguisher |
ball will not fit through plate when unheated heat plate. Will ball fit through? |
| 32 |
thermo |
Liquid Nitrogen |
lots o' stuff |
||
33 Oscillations-01
|
waves |
pendula |
lab stand w/horizontal bar two longer strings (w loop on end) must be equal length 1 shorter string (w/loop) various masses |
compare same length pend w/ different masses compare different length pend w/ same masses compare same length pend w/ same mass but different amplitudes |
|
34 Oscillations-02 |
waves |
BB pendulum |
Bowling Ball pendulum |
measure the period |
|
35 Oscillations-03 |
waves |
mass on spring |
spring hanging from support mass to hang from it |
show that the motion is oscillatory |
|
36 Oscillastins-04 |
waves |
wave machine |
wave machine damper reflector |
show waves |
|
37 Oscillations-05 |
waves |
racing pendula |
two rigid identical pendula with adjustable
height masses |
race them! |
|
38 Waves-02
|
waves |
slinky |
slinky (long and short) |
show longitudinal waves |
|
39 Waves-03 |
waves |
standing waves |
loudspeaker with attached clip frequency generator string attached to lab stand, connected to clip, going over pulley lab stand, pulley weight hanger weights Strobe light |
Stretch string horizontally from lab stand
(on one end of lab table) over pulley and then down.
Put weights on weight hanger on end of string (use
enough weight to get the fundamental to a reasonable
frequency). Attach loudspeaker via clip to the string
near the lab stand. Connect frequency generator to
loudspeaker. Find the resonances Show that the harmonics are multiples of the fundamental pictures: one, two, three |
|
39b Waves-04 |
waves |
same |
same (but w/o loudspeaker) |
Put a paper 'hanger' at the 3/4 point. Hold the 1/2 point. Pluck the string at the 1/4 point. What happens to the hanger? Repeat for higher order. |
|
39c Waves-05 |
waves |
Stringin' it |
Stringin it demo strobe light black backdrop for demo |
adjust motor frequency to get standing wave adjust strobe frequency to freeze the wave (use either native strobe or external brighter strobe) show that the frequencies of different resonances are simply related |
|
40 Waves-06 Sound-04 |
sound |
doppler ball |
doppler ball |
swing it around in a horizontal circle. |
|
41 Sound-01 |
sound |
buzzer in vacuum |
buzzer in vacuum vacuum pump |
turn on buzzer, listen to it pump air out of bell jar, buzzer gets much fainter |
|
42 Sound-04 |
sound |
flame tube (not done) |
flame tube gas bottle frequency generator match fire extinguisher |
flow gas thru tube. Make sure all air
is purged from tube. Ignite flames with a long match. Connect freq gen to speaker. Find standing waves. Do this away from drafts and breezes. |
|
43 Sound-02 |
sound |
paper cup telephones |
Two paper cups joined by string |
you know what to do |
|
44 Sound-05 |
sound |
tuning fork in water |
tuning fork cup of water |
strike tuning fork. quench by putting in water. vibration of fork makes water spray. need to carry around the room or put on camera (hard to see) |
|
45 Sound-06 |
sound |
trumpet in soap solution |
PVC pipe and oil change funnel 'trumpet' dish (Al pie plate) of bubble soap bubble soap paper towel funnel to put excess soap back in container |
Put bubble soap in pie plate insert PVC pipe into funnel to make the trumpet dip the trumpet bell into the soap solution and blow slightly to make the bubble protrude sound the trumpet! The bubble vibrates but does not pop. Practice beforehand! |
|
46 Oscillations-06 |
resonance |
resonance demo |
resonance demo |
This demo has three different length pairs of
vertical rods with weights on the top. Start one rod moving and only its partner will start moving too. |
|
46a Oscillations-07 |
resonance |
many pendula |
2' rod five lengths of string (8", 12", 16", 20", 24") hanging from the rod with equal weights attached (50-100 g each) |
Hold the rod horizontally in
one hand with the five pendula hanging down. Tell class that you can make any one weight swing just using the power of your mind. Concentrate on that weight. Make it swing by moving your hand slightly in resonance. Practice first. |
|
47 Oscillations-08 |
resonance |
BB pendulum and mallet |
Bowling Ball pendulum rubber mallet |
Hit the BB at the resonant frequency.
It will start to move. Quiz: will it move faster if I hit it more often? Hit the BB at a much higher frequency. It doesn't move much. |
|
48 Sound-07 |
resonance |
different length tubes |
Different length PVC pipe instruments.
Can bring pan pipes, recorders, trumpets of various
lengths |
longer tubes make lower notes. It
doesn't matter how they are blown (recorder mouthpiece vs
pan-pipe vs 'trumpet'). Note that it can be quite hard
to reach the fundamental on the recorders. Practice first! |
|
49 Sound-09 |
beat freq |
slide whistle beats |
Two slide whistles |
Pull both slides all the way out. Blow both whistles simultaneously. Adjust one slide to get a good beat frequency. Cheap, easy, reliable! harder to show on Oscope. |
|
50 Sound-10 |
beat freq |
looudspeaker beats |
Two loudspeakers Two frequency generators |
Adjust the frequencies to get beats. Can show on Oscope. |
|
50a Sound-11 |
interference |
sound cancellation |
stereo with two loudspeakers some recording or other |
wire one speaker backwards place both speakers face to face sound is louder when one speaker is disconnected than when both are connected and cancelling! Try this first to see what kind of music will work best. |
|
51 Sound-12 |
harmonics |
harmonics |
PVC recorders |
blow harmonics. practice beforehand! blow taps or other bugle calls? |
|
52 Sound-13 |
music |
PVC instruments |
Different length PVC pipe instruments.
Can bring pan pipes, recorders, trumpets of various
lengths |
blow them. See them on the Oscope. |
|
53 Sound-14 |
music |
Oscope and mike |
Oscilloscope Microphone visual presenter |
Make sure presenter can see the scope. Play lots of different instruments. Sing. Talk. See waveforms on scope. |
|
53a Sound-15 |
music |
Oscope and mike |
laptop Audacity or other software |
Acquire waveforms with audacity and display
to class Play lots of different instruments. Sing. Talk. Show beat frequencies. See waveforms on scope. Use FFT to show frequency spectrum |
|
54 Sound-08 |
music |
straw oboe |
straws scissors instruction sheets |
make straw oboes play |
|
55 Color-01 |
color |
black box |
box with small aperture, inside of arbitrary color |
show that aperture looks black |
|
56 Color-02 |
color |
diff glasses + vapor lamps |
diffraction glasses various vapor lamps |
show the spectral lines that make up
the various colors |
|
57 Color-03 |
color |
diff glasses + incandescent lamp |
diffraction glasses incandescent lamp |
put on glasses, look around, see rainbows look at lamp, see complete rainbows look at flourescent lights, see incomplete rainbows white light is made up of lots of colors. |
|
57a Color-04 |
color |
diff glasses and filters |
diffraction glasses color filters (cyan, yellow and magenta) |
place filter on overhead. Use paper to
mask all but a narrow vertical stripe use diff glasses to see the colors transmitted by the filter works great for cyan and yellow, less well for magenta Need to show students what they are looking at. |
|
58 Color-06 |
color |
3 color lamps |
RGB spotlights various colored objects Cyan, yellow and magenta filters |
TEST SPOTLIGHTS BEFORE USING FOR COLOR
BALANCE! DIMMER SWITCHES ARE USELESS! TEST OBJECTS TO SEE HOW THEY APPEAR IN THE VARIOUS LIGHTS! follow Hewitt's skit for showing color addition (see instructor manual) start with white light, then show single colors and pairs of colors show different color shadows show colors of different objects in the spotlights show colors of C, Y, and M filters in the spotlights (both reflected and transmitted) PLAY! |
|
59 Color-07 |
color |
color wheel |
color wheel on cordless drill |
spin it and see white |
|
60 Color-08 |
color |
flashing pendant |
flashing pendant |
pendant appears white swing it around and you see RGB demonstrates a) color persistence and b) color addition |
|
60a Color-05 |
color |
laser and filters |
Red and green lasers Red and grean and blue filter (eg: red food coloring in water in glass, same for green and blue) CYM filters |
What happens to red light shown through a red
filter? shine red laser through red filter onto screen in dark room. Some is reflected, some is transmitted) What happens to red light shown through a blue filter? shine red laser through blue filter onto screen in dark room. It is absorbed. Try other combinations. |
|
61 Reflection-01 |
reflection |
standing mirror |
standding mirror 2 volunteers |
1 volunteer stands at mirror, adjusts slides
until the second vol can see her entire height vol 2 now moves a lot closer (or further) How much mirror does she need now? |
|
62 Reflection-02 |
reflection |
small planar mirrors |
small planar mirrors |
hand them out. look at self in mirror. close one eye. How much of head do you see? You want to see more. Move mirror? |
|
63 Reflection-03 |
reflection |
curved mirrors |
curved mirrors |
hand them out. look at self. |
|
64 Reflection-04 |
reflection |
mirrors reverse? |
dark rear projection screen |
Ask class: what direction do mirrors reverse? Face mirror. Hold out left arm. Is it on the audience's right? Hold out right arm. Is it audience's left? Do same for top/bottom Point into mirror. Which way does the image point? Out! |
|
65 Refraction-01 |
refraction |
rod in beaker |
rod in beaker of water (have several to pass around) |
see 'break' in rod |
|
66 Refraction-02 |
refraction |
coins in beaker |
coin in small beaker of water (have several to pass around) |
look directly down at coins hold hand by side of glass at the same perceived depth compare to actual depth |
|
67 Reflection-05 |
refraction |
optical fibers |
laser optical fibers |
shine through |
|
67a Reflection-06 |
refraction |
optical fiber toy |
optical fiber toy |
light it up |
|
68 Reflection-07 |
refraction |
lucite spiral |
lucite spiral laser |
shine through |
|
69 Reflection-08 |
refraction |
laser waterfall |
laser waterfall laser water catch basin lab stand |
support laser on lab stand or lab jack so it
shines on the plug in the waterfall tube fill tube with water darken room turn on laser pull plug makes sure the water lands in the catch basin |
|
70 Reflection-09 |
refraction |
flashlight waterfall |
pickle jar with large hole (for water) and
smaller hole (for air) in the lid flashlight catch basin |
cover the pickle jar with dark paper so the
paper extendsbelow the bottom fill with water and screw on the lid hold the flashlight pointing at the (unmasked) bottom tilt and let the water pour out |
|
71 Lenses-01
|
lenses |
various lenses |
various lenses |
pass them around |
|
72 Lenses-02 |
lenses |
image of light on wall |
spotlight mask with asymmetric hole lens screen |
place mask on spotlight shine on screen place lens between to focus the image on the screen Will covering half the lens block half the image? Which half? |
|
73 Diffraction-01 |
diffraction |
diffraction |
laser on lab jack slide with a) single slits, double slits, diffraction grating |
shine laser through slide onto far wall darken room |
|
74 Polarization-01 |
polarization |
polarizing sheets |
3 polarizing sheets |
a) show one blocks some light b) show a second blocks from 0-100% additional light c) show crossed pol pass no light d) show adding a third sheet between crossed pols lets light through e) hold filter in front of computer projector. Show different colors polarized differently. |
|
75 Polarization-02 |
polarization |
rope and cooling rack |
thin rope two oven cooling racks |
tie one end of rope down get volunteer to hold cooling rack shake rope - only 1 direction of shake gets through crossed racks let nothing through |
|
75a Color-09 |
Flourescence |
flourescent dies |
UV lamp flashlight various flourescent dies |
show dies in normal light turn off room lighting show appearance of dies under UV lamp show same under flashlight |
|
76 Nuclear-01 |
nuclear |
geiger counter |
geiger counter something radioactive |
let students hear clicks try radioactive material (SEAL tritium watch, radium watch, Uranium glazed plate ...) |
|
77 Nuclear-02 |
nuclear |
cosmic ray telescope |
cosmic ray telescope |
let it count |
|
78 Nuclear-03 |
fusion |
double ball drop |
Basketball tennis bass |
drop tennis ball drop basketball drop balls together with tennis ball on top (watch out!) model of supernova with core collapse and rebound blowing off the outer layers |
|
79 Quantum-01 |
Photoelectric not made yet |
Photoelectric effect in zinc |
p2-02 |
Piece of zinc electroscope UV or arc lamp material to charge the zinc positive or negative |
attach zinc plate to electroscope (see UMd
set up) charge plate positive shine UV light on it (no discharge) charge plate negative shine UV light on it (discharges) put glass plate between plate and light (no discharge) See UMd web site for demo hints and interactivity hints |
