Physics Experimental and Practical Activities
Practical Activity
Description
Equipment
Use current balance kit to
determine magnetic field of a
solenoid
Investigate meter mechanism with
small compass
1 Current balance kit, 1 Solenoid, 2
Ammeters, 2 rheostats, 2 power
packs
Demonstration Meter
Dissection of DC Meter
Dissect a small DC motor then
reassemble
DC Motor
Electromagnetic
Induction
Investigate Lenz' Law
1 Induction apparatus, 1 Bar
magnet, 1 Galvanometer or CRO
Electric Power
Magnetic field of
Solenoid
Turning Effect in a
meter
Practical Activity
Motion Unit 2
Forces in balance
Description
Equipment
Add force vectors together using
components and vector addition
Force table
Newton's 2nd Law
Vary angle to show effect of force
component
Newton's cart
Newton's 2nd Law
Investigate relationship: net F =
ma
Air track, glider, pulley system,
masses, ticker tape, photogates or
datalogger
Conservation of
momentum
Investigate momentum before and
after collision for variety of
collisions
Pull one or more balls aside and
release.
Air track, 2 gliders, masses,
photogates or datalogger
Forms of energy and
energy transfer
Round robin of short activities
Energy kits
Forces and energy in a
bouncing ball
Display velocity and acceleration
time graphs for a bouncing ball
basketball, ultrasound, Tain and
computer
Forces and energy in a
bouncing ball
From drop height, rebound height
and impact time, determine energy
loss, efficiency, change in
momentum on impact and impact
force
basketball, electronic timer, alfoil,
wires and ruler
Practical Activity
Motion Unit 3
Hooke's Law: Energy
change
Description
Conservation of
momentum
Collisions
Circular Motion
Newton's cradle
Equipment
Investigate energy conversion
between GPE, KE and Elastic PE
Stand with bosshead and clamp,
spring with a set of masses, a ruler
Investigate momentum and energy
conservation in s range of
collisions including sticky,
explosive and elastic
Investigate T vs net force for fixed
R and T vs R for fixed net force
Air track, gliders and photogates for
datalogger
Centripetal acceleration kit
Practical Activity
Electricity Unit 1
Voltage Drops around a
circuit
Ohmic Resistors
Series and Parallel
Circuits
Light Globe Resistance
LDR
Thermistor
Voltage Dividers
Diodes
Household Electricity
Description
Equipment
Done as self paced exercise
as above
Box of components, wires and
meters
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board
Practical Activity
Description
Electronics &
Photonics
Using multimeter & DC Done as self paced exercise
circuits
Equipment
Box of components, wires and
meters
Light dependent resistor as above
(LDR) and thermistor
as above
Learning to use the
CRO
Diode
LED
Amplifier
Photodiodes
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Practical Activity
Light and Matter
Interference and
Diffraction of light
Photoelectric Effect
Energy gap in LEDs
Description
Equipment
Investigate diffraction and
interference of light through red
and blue filters with slides of
double and single slits of varying
size
Investigate the effect of intensity
and frequency of light incident on
a metal surface on the energy of
ejected electrons
1 Diffraction kit, 1 power supply
Investigate the triggering voltage
for LEDs producing light of
different wavelengths
1 set of LEDs, 1 Power supply, 1
fixed resistor, 1 variable resistor, 1
voltmeter
1 PE Effect apparatus
Physics Demonstrations
Practical Activity
Description
Equipment
Electric Power
Properties of magnets
Investigate Force between
magnets and magnetic field of
bar and horseshoe magnets
Oersted's Experiment
Show magnetic effect of an
Oersted apparatus, Power pack
electric current in magnetic field
Left Hand Rule
Show magnetic force on current
loop
Bar magnet, Power pack or battery,
Copper wire (U shaped) in clamp
Left Hand Rule
Show movement of Al rod on
rails with horseshoe magnet
Magnetic Force kit
Left Hand Rule
Show slow oscillation of
loudspeaker cone
Signal Generator, Loudspeaker
(large)
Deflection of moving
charge
Deflect electron beam in CRO
with a magnet
CRO, Bar magnet
Deflection of moving
charge
Deflect electron beam in
evacuated chamber
Ruhmkoff coil, Evacuated
chamber, Bar magnet
Model DC Motor
Show motor principle with
models
DC Motor model
Electromagnetic
Induction
Show generation of induced
EMF by magnet in solenoid
Solenoid, Bar magnet, CRO
Model Generator
Electromagnetic
Induction
Show components
Drop strong magnet thru Al
cylinder
Model generator
1 Eddy current apparatus
Transformer
Show effect of Turns ratio on
voltage / current
Demountable transformer
Transmission Lines
Show the effect of transformers
on Power loss and voltage drop
T'n Lines model
Practical Activity
Materials DS
Analysis of Copper wire
Description
2 bar magnets, 1 horseshoe magnet,
10 see-through magnetic
compasses, 1 Iron filings in fluid
Equipment
Stretch Cu wire to elastic limit
and then to fracture to construct
stress strain graph
Board, weights, Cu wire,
micrometer, ruler
Beam bridge Analysis
Calculate reaction forces
Ruler, two top loading balances,
weights
2D Structural equilibrium
Calculate reaction forces as well
as internal forces
Structure, two top loading
balances, weights
Practical Activity
Sound
Longitudinal Wave
Description
Equipment
show properties of waves on a
slinky
Slinky
Hearing Test
Run through freq range to see
who can hear the highest
frequency
Sig Gen with speaker
Sounds and frequency
Show variation in frequency
Interference
Twirl tuning fork at the ear and
notice variation in intensity due
to cancellation at corners of
tuning fork
speaker driven with signal
generator with G-spec audio
analyser
One tuning fork per student
Interference
Nodal line in front of two
speakers when out of phase
Two speakers, one out of phase to
the other
Harmonics in musical
instruments
Show odd and even harmonics
Instruments with G-spec audio
analyser
Resonating Tube
Standing wave
(transverse)
Show resonance
Oscillate the timber vertically,
setting standing waves of
different modes
Large tube, meeker burner
Long flexible strip of timber
Sound Machine
Standing waves in an air column Sound Machine
with closed ends
Speakers
Interference
Show design
Nodal points between two
speakers facing each other
Longitudinal standing waves in
metal rods
Singing rods
Practical Activity
Nuclear
α, β and γ radiation in air
Range of β particles in
paper
Description
Loudspeaker
Two speakers and sig gen
Set of solid aluminium rods and a
small hammer
Equipment
Show differences in properties
Show range
Sources, geiger counter
Sources, geiger counter, paper and
Al sheets
Half-life simulation with
dice
Determine half life
Box of cubes
Half-life experiment
Protactinium
Determine half life
Pa source, geiger counter
Half-life experiment with
Caesium
Determine half life
Cs source supplied by Ciderhouse,
geiger counter