PHYSICS 1 LABS
STATUS
Revised 10/27/00
PHYSICS 1A
Week 1, Chapter 1: Science and Measurements & Chapter 2: Speed and Velocity
Probability Distributions. Popcorn kernels are dropped from the hand onto a plate marked into bins.
Where the kernels come to rest after bouncing is tallied, the distribution is analyzed.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED EQUIPT OK, READY TO GO
Week 2, Chapter 3: Acceleration
Measure "g" with stop watch and with timer. Measure reaction time. Measure period of pendulum.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED EQUIPT OK, READY TO GO
Week 3, Chapter 4: Newton’s Three Laws, Momentum
Blow the Q-Tip. Two cotton swabs are blown through a double-barreled blowpipe made of two drinking
straws taped together. Range is studied as a function of height of drop and length of barrel. Enrichment:
Pulleys, ropes, force scales, weights: design a force multiplier.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, READY
Week 4, Chapter 5: Centripetal Force and Gravity
Swing the Cork. A cork revolves in a circle at the end of a string, balanced by washers at the other end.
Enrichment: Swing a glass full of colored liquid.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, READY
Week 5, Chapter 6: Energy
Catch the Cart and Climb the Stairs. Figure where to catch a cart sliding down an incline. Power in one’s
legs is estimated by running up a flight of stairs and timing the run. Enrichment: Roller coaster with high
and low tracks.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED?, NEEDS HOT WHEEL TRACK
Week 6, Chapter 7: Momentum and Collisions
Air track expts. Enrichment: Drop together small ball on top of large ball; small Newton’s cradle.
STATUS: WRITTEN
Week 7, Chapter 8: Rotation
Race the Incline. Race various objects down an incline. Enrichment: Ride the carousel: from the ends of a
two-seats carousel students try to throw one another tennis balls, to the laughter of Coriolis in his grave;
Bicycle wheel; Rotating chair and weights; Magnetic levitation of a spinning top; Monster yo-yo; Balance a
bottle of champagne; Balance a spoon and fork off a glass; Balance nails; Funny ball that runs uphill; Wine
bottle falling against key at the other end of a string that wraps around a pencil.
STATUS:
Week 8, Chapter 9: Solids, Liquids, Gases
Shoot the Balloon. A toy gun shoots down a helium balloon rising in air. Enrichment: Neutral buoyancy
of a trash bag of helium; Coke and diet coke in water; Cartesian diver in plastic bottle; Bernoulli off a
vacuum cleaner; Balance a ping-pong ball off the vertical with a hair dryer.
STATUS:
Week 9, Chapter 10: Elasticity and Oscillations
A Slingshot. Elasticity of a spring and a rubber band, in particular Hooke’s law, is investigated statically.
The rubber band is used to make a slingshot. Launch speed is determined ballistically, then related to the
static measurements. Enrichment: Students time one another’s stride to measure the period of the
pendulum that is the legs.
STATUS:
PHYSICS 1B
PHYSICS 1 LABS
STATUS
Revised 10/27/00
Week 1, Chapter 12: Thermal Properties of Matter
Ball and ring, bimetal strip, blow torch and liquid nitrogen, also misc calculations.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, NEEDS EQUT MODS (TIE DOWNS FOR SAFETY?)
Week 2, Chapter 13: Heat and Thermal Energy
Controlling the Transfer of Heat Energy, students measure temperature changes in hot water placed in
different kinds of cups (Styrofoam vs. metal, covered vs. uncovered), also conduction along metal bars
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, READY TO GO
Week 3, Chapter 14: Thermodynamics
First and Second laws of Thermodynamics, Engines and Refrigerators.. The Incredible Mass lifting Heat
Engine, students explore the workings of heat engines by building a model with simple equipment.
Enrichment: little engines
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, READY TO GO?
Week 4, Chapter 15: Electrostatics—Forces
Positive and Negative Charge, Conservation of Charge, Transfer of Charge, Insulators and Conductors,
Electric Force, Electric Field, Field lines, Gauss’s Law. McDermott Tutorials in Physics pg. 65, charge
worksheets using tape, plastic rods, and paper towels. Enrichment: Van de Graaf generator with pie tins,
packing peanuts and pith balls.
STATUS: WRITTEN
Week 5, Chapter 16: Electrostatics—Energy
E-fields and Potentials Lab, each lab group maps field lines and equipotentials on lightly conducting paper
for different conductor configurations. Enrichment: capacitor discharge demo.
STATUS: WRITTEN, CONSIDER ENRICHMENT
Week 6, Chapter 17: Direct Current
Single Bulb circuits, misc batteries
STATUS: WRITTEN
Week 7, Chapter 18: Circuits
Multiple bulb circuits from McDermott tutorials with batteries and bulbs to make predictions about bulb
brightness for series, parallel and complex circuits.
STATUS: WRITTEN
Week 8, Chapter 19: Magnetism
Drawing magnetic fields using bar magnets in different orientations with iron filings, using compasses with
current carrying wires, Enrichment: magnetic deflection of ion beam, ring magnets float around a pencil
STATUS: WRITTEN
Week 9, Chapter 20: Electromagnetic Induction
Induced EMF, Induced Electric and Magnetic Fields, Generators, Self-induction. Eddy currents, magnet
falling through aluminum tube (eddy currents)
STATUS: WRITTEN
PHYSICS 1C
PHYSICS 1 LABS
STATUS
Revised 10/27/00
Week 1, Chapter 22. Concepts: nature of light, speed of light, em waves dipoles, photons, atoms,
energy and intensity in em waves, wavefronts.
Expt on speed of light, graph of distance vs. time, drawings of wavefronts and em waves from McDermott,
some Q&A from old week 3 tutorials. Enrichment: mirrors at angles to make multiple images, spinning
vanes that do not demo radn P.
STATUS: NOT WRITTEN, EQUPT ORDERED BUT NOT ARRIVED, NEEDS MUCH WORK
Week 2, Chapter 23. Concepts: Scattering, reflection, refraction, Snell's law, total int reflection,
color, image in plane mirror
Using laser and protractor measure and graph angles of incidence and reflection and sines of angles to show
Snell's law and find refractive index.. Enrichment: optical fibers
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, REVISED, NEEDS MORE ACRYLIC BLOCKS?
Week 3, Chapter 24. Concepts: +/- lenses and mirrors, image formation, image properties.
Supply selection of + and - lenses and mirrors, supports, lamps, screens and meter sticks. Ask students to
make real images of mag 2 and 1/2 with any combo of lenses, and any combo of mirrors, measure posns
and focal lengths, and calculate theory to comp with measurement. Draw diagram to scaleinsert masks and
describe effects.
STATUS: WRITTEN, TESTED, NOT REVISED, NEEDS EXTENSIVE REWRITE, EQIPT OK
Week 4 also Chapter 24 Concepts: optical instruments.
Make a telescope, measure and calculate magnification and measure light gathering power. Measure visual
acuity with and without telescope. Enrichment: explore rods and cones in peripheral vision, find the eye's
blind spot, examine and use a real telescope.
STATUS: WRITTEN, NOT TESTED
Week 5, Chapter 25. Concepts: polarization, interference, diffraction
Interference and diffraction from single slit, double slit, misc other patterns including human hair using
laser. See Preston expt 24, p 201. Enrichment: polarization eg 3 polaroids and lamp, polaroid screen and
walk around outside to look at sky, reflections off glass, etc. Rotn of plane of poln with sugar water
STATUS: WRITTEN (NAM'S VERSION)
Week 6, Chapter 27. Concepts: Atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons
Cloud chamber to demonstrate tracks of cosmic rays and particles from test sources. Measurement of
curvature of tracks in magnetic fields to determine charge and speed of particles. Measurement of size of
atoms with oil drop on water puddle.
STATUS: JEN IS WRITING THIS
Week 7, Chapter 28. Concepts: BB radn, photo-electric, Bohr atom, spectra, laser
Use take home student spectrometers to identify gas species from discharge tubes. Identify light sources in
the environment from their spectra.
STATUS: WRITTEN (NAM'S VERSION)
Week 8, Chapter 29. Concepts: QM, wave equation, uncertainty principle
Photoelectric effect to measure Planck's constant. Conceptual worksheet problems on wave functions and
probabilities, correspondence principle, potential wells.
STATUS: NOTHING EXISTS WE NEED AN EXPT HERE ASAP
Week 9, Chapter 30. Concepts: Nuclear physics.
Use of Geiger counter to show inverse square law and abs coefft for different materials and types of
radiation. Counting statistics.
STATUS: HAVE EQUIPT, NO WRITE UP