PIRA	UW-Madison Physics Lecture Demonstration MECHANICS (1A) Measurements Goto Home Page Last Page Update: 07/08/03

1A-Measurement

10. Basic Units
20. Error and Accuracy
30. Coordinate Systems
40. Vectors
50. Math Topics
60. Scaling

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All "Black" Listings are demos currently available.
All "Blue" Listings are new demos that are available.
All "Red" Listings are new demos that arn't available.
All "Green" Listings are broken or out of order.

1A10 - Basic Units

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A10.10	Basic Unit Set	Show a clock with a second sweep, meter and yard sticks, and kilogram and pound mass.
1A10.20	Standard Masses	Show students a 1 lb mass and a 1 kg mass.
1A10.21	Standard Mass Set	Show a sets of calibrated weights.
1A10.30	Standard Meter	Put out a Standard Meter.
1A10.36	1 "nsec"	Cut a length of meter stick to equal the distance light travels in one nsec. (0.29 m)
1A10.40	Clocks	Set out a timer with a one second sweep, an hour glass, a metronome, etc.
1A10.45a	WWV Signal, Phone	Put out a phone and call WWV to listen to the signal.
1A10.45b	WWV Signal, Web	Punch-up http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/stations/wwv.html
1A10.48	Orrery	Get the Orrery from Astronomy to show sidereal time.
1A10.49	Sidereal Time	Two clocks on permanent display show Greenwich and Sidereal time.
1A10.50	One Liter Cube	Put out a one liter wood cube that has cm square rules on one face.
1A10.55	Mass, Volume, and Density	Compare wood and aluminum cubes, each with 10 cm sides, (equal volume). Compare a 10 cm aluminum cube with a 10 cm sq x 4 cm lead block (equal mass). Compare a is cm aluminum cube with a 10 cm sq x 4 cm aluminum block (equal density).
1A10.60a	Avogadro's Number Box	A cube with sides of 28.2 cm has a volume of 22.4 l at STP.
1A10.60b	Avogadro's Number Box	A 22.4 liter box to represent the volume of one mole at STP.
1A10.65	Mole Samples	Show mole samples of carbon, iron, copper, zinc, etc.
1A10.70	Density Samples	One kg samples of lead, aluminum, water, wood each have 5 cm square bases. A one meter frame shows the size of approximately 1 kg of air.

1A20 - Error and Accuracy

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A20.10	Gaussian Collision Board	Balls roll down a nail board into parallel chutes forming a probability curve similar to the distribution of molecular velocities.
1A20.10a	Gaussian curve: Probability Board	1000's of small ball bearings are funneled down through an array of posts to form the Gaussian Curve.
1A20.20	Coin Flip	Flip coin to show 50/50 probability
1A20.25	2 6-Sided Dice	Use them to show that the probability is over 7
1A20.31	Contact Time Measurement	Measure contact time of two hammers being struck together. A pulse generator is gated to a pulse counter while the hammers are in contact. Frequency of the pulse generator can be changed to vary accuracy.
1A20.41	Vernier Calipers	Use commercial large scale verniers to show how they work. Also mentions large coordinate systems.
1A20.42	Calipers	Put out and Demonstration the use of a micrometer, spherometer, and vernier calipers.
1A20.51	Lead Ping Pong Ball and Foam Chunk	Students judge weight of a white lead filled ping pong ball and a chunk of black foam.
1A20.60a	Reaction Time	Cover 3/4 or more of a stop clock face. Push the stop button when the hand shows. Measure the time.
1A20.60b	Reaction Time, Two button	Start by pushing and holding the start button. Move you hand over and hit the stop button as fast as you can once the counter starts to count up. Counter is in milliseconds and has a random start-up.
1A20.60c	Reaction Time	Use a dollar or a meter stick. Place the center of the item between someone's fingers, without touching. Have them try to pinch the item when release it.

1A30 - Coordinate Systems

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A30.10	XYZ Axes	Aluminum stand that holds 3 arrows. Also shows Unit Vectors.
1A30.15	Non-Orthogonal Frames	A model for demonstrating the geometry of vectors in non-orthogonal frames.
1A30.21	Euler's Angles	A model that demonstrates the orientation of an arbitrarily oriented set of orthogonal axes with respect to another orthogonal set which is fixed.
1A30.22	Euler's Angles - MITAC gyro model	Use the MITAC gyro as a classroom model to illustrate Euler's angles.
1A30.30	Polar Coordinates	Need a demo to go with the xyz axes.
1A30.40	Chalkboard Globe	Draw coordinates on a 20" plain globe.

1A40 - Vectors

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A40.13	components of a vector	A Lucite frame for introducing vectors.
1A40.15	project components of a vector	A horizontal arrow is shadow projected onto two screens at 90 deg. facing the class.
1A40.25	tinker toys	Put out a box of tinker toys that includes arrow tips.
1A40.30	magnetic vector addition
1A40.50	Vector Displacement	An overhead projector device using two compass needles to show that a vector remains invariant when displaced. Diagram.

1A50 - Math Topics

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A50.10	Radian	Show a flexible strip of plastic or string equal to the radius of a large disc, then bend it around the circumference and mark off the radians.
1A50.30	Sine, Cosine, and Circle Linkage	Linkages connect a spot moving around a circle with spots moving orthogonal as the sine and cosine.

1A60 - Scaling

DCS #	Demonstration	Abstract/Description
1A60.10	Powers of Ten	"Powers of Ten" is a visual trip from covering scales from the universe to sub-atomic.
1A60.40	scaling cube	A large cube made up of 27 smaller ones is painted black on the outside. Knock the stack apart and show the increase in surface area by the preponderance of unpainted surfaces.