November 01, 2007 Filed in:
Demo CornerRolly Meisel
rollym@vaxxine.com
Having students construct and launch a water rocket is an entertaining way to investigate Newton's Third Law of motion. Students can construct the rockets at home for an in-class launching session.
Read More...Tags: Forces, Projectile Motion
July 01, 2007 Filed in:
Demo CornerMartin Fischer, Science Education Branch, Ontario Science Centre
martin.fischer@osc.on.ca
See the shards of a popping balloon, watch water drops suspended in the air or witness glass shattering — all of it seemingly frozen in time. Some of these events last less than one thousandth of a second but you can see them with your own eyes, thanks to the persistence of vision and a homemade sound trigger that releases a camera flash at exactly the right moment.
Read More...Tags: Technology
April 01, 2007 Filed in:
Demo CornerJohn Vanderkooy, Distinguished Professor Emeritus Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo
For this demonstration, a small open loudspeaker driver is necessary, driven from a sound source with output power sufficient for a loudspeaker. A ghetto-blaster is convenient if it has an output jack or can be modified to direct the loudspeaker output to an external device. For best results the small driver should be of moderate or better quality. It helps if its compliance is high so that bass notes cause substantial cone motion.
Read More...Tags: Waves and Sound
February 01, 2007 Filed in:
Demo CornerDiane Nalini de Kerckhove, Department of Physics, University of Guelph
Diane Nalini de Kerckhove is an Assistant Professor in the University of Guelph’s Department of Physics. She is also a singer/songwriter and recently launched her third CD, “Songs of Sweet Fire”, a collection of Shakespeare songs and sonnets set to her original jazz and blues music.
I have never met anyone who doesn’t like music. After teaching the physics of waves at various levels over the years, I’ve come to realize that demos involving music have a wide appeal with students, especially since most of them have studied an instrument at some point or another. Here are two options for exploring harmonics of standing waves.
Read More...Tags: Waves and Sound
