Physics Experiment of The Month
Experimentation is the cornerstone of science. In these pages, you will see many different experiments covering a wide range of fields and difficulty levels. The MU Physics Department does not claim to have invented these labs. The origin of some of these experiments is currently unknown to us. In our laboratory classes, we do not hand out written instructions or manuals. In keeping with this spirit, the descriptions for these experiments will be brief and general. The intent is that each performance of these labs will be unique; in each nature will reveal a slightly different face to the observer. We hope you try some of these experiments in your classrooms and would appreciate any feedback you may have. Enjoy!
Experiment of the month archive
- Filter drop and statistics
- Charge on a capacitor
- Speed of light
- Doppler measurement of velocity
- Introduction to the Oscilloscope as a Voltmeter
- Patterns in Linear Motion
- Marble Scattering
- Acoustic Heat Pump
- Finding Absolute Zero in the comfort of your kitchen
- Ball Trajectory
- Sound Velocity
- Water Refraction
- Falling Ball Acceleration
- Running in the Rain
- Friction Problem
- Photoelectric Effect
- Higher Tech Sound Velocity
- Statistics for Marble Scattering
- The Hall Effect in Gold Films
- Intermediate Laboratory Sampler
- Singing Textbook
- Friction With a Pencil
- Magnetic Dipole Field Strength
- Sound Interference with Battery and 2 Buzzers
- The Sound of Quality
- How High is the Moon?
- Cosmic Muons and Relativity
- Relativistic time
- Inertial and Gravitational Mass
- Static Bottle Balance
- Photon Momentum Search
- Galilean Relativity
- Relativity Lesson Plans
- Parametrically Driven Pendulum
- Foucault Pendulum Proof that the Earth Rotates
- Mathematica Baseball Simulation
- Vector Sum of Forces
- The Underwater Pendulum
- The CERN Connection
- Newton's Third Law and Mass
- Reconstructing a Complex Musical Tone
- Demonstration of Anomalous Dispersion
- Foucault Pendulum Summer Workshop
- An Operational Amplifier Sampler
- Zeno and the Bouncing Ball
- Statistics to Reduce Error Below the Least Count
- RMS and DC Equivalent Voltage
- Introduction to Newton's First and Second laws
- Video Analysis of a Falling Ball
- A Cylindrical Physical Pendulum
- Black Body Radiation from an Incandescent Lamp
- Laser Drilling of 10 Micron Holes
- Some Senior Seminar Projects
- Summer Tour & High School Foucault
- Conservation of Energy for Rolling Hoops
- Galileo's Method for Rolling Hoops
- Sample Lab Write-up for Current Balance
- Measuring Earth's Radius Along I-95
- How a Tire Holds up a Car
- Our Directional Sense of Hearing
- "Wrong Way" Parabolic Fluid Bulge
- k-vector Approach to Snell's Law
- Rotating a Lost Astronaut
- Weighing the Air in a Balloon
- Experimental Force Component
- Mechanical Work Raises Voltage
- Parabolic Velocity Field for Fluid in a Pipe
- Laser Drilled 10Micron Holes in Bi Film
- Inverted Pendulum Driven by a Loudspeaker
- Calculus in Physics
- Physics Wins with Independent Variables
- Foucault Pendulum Ideas for AP Physics
- Foucault Pendulum Lesson Plans for General Physics
- Error is natural
- Followup on the Sound of Quality
- Terminal Velocity
- Interferometer Phase Shift Calibration
- Mid-Air Elastic Collisions
- Conical Anamorphosis
- Pendulum Resonance Mimics Ear
- Pendulum Traveling Wave in Elementary Education
- A Musical Uncertainty Principle
- Atmospheric Pressure with a Soda Bottle and a Ping Pong Ball
- Foucault Pendulum Precession Derivation
- Helmholtz Resonator
- The Bounce of a Spinning Ball
- Surface Plasmon Generation
- Cooney's Machine
- Photon Uncertainty Principle
- Interferometric Glass Thickness Measurement
- Microscope vs. Telescope
- Channeling a Sunbeam
- Aspirators Don't Suck; They Curl
- Feynman Water Sprinkler
- Non-Coalescing Coffee Drops
- Mirror Reading
- Laser Refraction
- Laser Wavelength
- Five Meter Foucault Pendulum
- Laser Construction
- Nano-Engineered Thin Films
- Lunar Eclipse and the Distance to the Moon
- Gas Leaks and Boltzmann's Distribution
- Dielectric Relaxation
- Low Temperature Gold Film Resistance
- Indoor Sound Velocity Measurement
- Energy in the Atwood's Machine
- The Bending of Combined Beams
- Loudspeaker Resonance and Decay Time
- Current Density in a Conducting Sheet
- Twin Tee Complex Transfer Function
- Bowling Ball Demonstration Pendulum
- The Prettiest Fringes