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Physics & Astronomy

BYU Society of Physics Students

PHYSICS DEMONSTRATIONS


The Magic of Electricity and Magnetism

 

Electricity and magnetism pervade our everyday life, but how much do we really understand them?
More importantly, what fun things can we make them do? This group of demonstrations includes:

The Van de Graaf Generator: see sparks, make your hair stand on end and shock your neighbor.
Light Saber: employ static electricity to make your own lightsaber.
Jumping Rice: watch charged rice jump into the air in an effort to get away from each other.
Charged Rods: charge rods with rabbit fur and plastic and watch them repel and attract.
Levitating Cotton: use a magic wand to make a piece of cotton mysteriously levitate.
Jumping Rings: employ magnetism to make metal rings shoot into the air.
Electric Generator: make your own electricity to turn on a light bulb with just a magnet and a coil of wire.

 

The World We Live In

We live in a world full of strange forces with interesting effects. This group of demonstrations explores a wide variety of basic physical forces. This group of demonstrations includes:

Whirlpool Blower: this amazing demonstration of pressure allows you to suspend pop bottles in a stream of air.
Cartesian Diver: another great demonstration of pressure allows you to control a "diver" just by squeezing the bottle he is in.
Singing Rods: make metal rods sing at different frequencies by creating different standing waves.
Coupled Pendula: this is a great demonstration of conservation of energy and energy transfer with two connected pendulums.
Inertia Rods: demonstrate moments of inertia with two rods that have the same length and weight, but with different weight distributions so that one is much easier to swing than the other.
Friction and the Meter Stick: a simple meter stick can demonstrate how friction is related to force.
Galileo Track: a great conservation of energy demonstration involving billiard balls.
Gravitational Acceleration: roll a ball down a ramp and watch as it shows you gravitational acceleration.
Electricity and Magnetism: demonstrate electricity and magnetism with any of the demonstrations listed in the first group.

 
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