Physics Demo Manual

Demonstrations are cataloged according to PIRA Bibliography

PLEASE REQUEST DEMOS WELL IN ADVANCE

Due to Physics Building renovations, the lead time to set up demo requests has increased due to the need to transport equipment across campus. Please be kind and let me know well ahead of time what you need.

Choose a Topic or Enter a keyword to search:

Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics
Oscillations And Waves
Thermodynamics
Electricity And Magnetism
Optics
Modern Physics
Audio-Visual
New or Modified Entries (within the last month)

I cannot find what I want!

You have selected the following Demos:

None Selected

Choose a subtopic:
(Clicking a green button will add that demo to your list)

Electrostatics
Electric Fields And Potential
Capacitance
Current and Resistance
Electromotive Force And Current
DC Circuits: Ohm's Law; Resistivity of a Pencil; Resistive Heating of Nichrome Wire; Blowing a Fuse; Wheatstone Bridge; video - Wheatstone Bridge II; video - Circuit Analysis; video - RC Circuit w/ Function Generator; RC Circuit w/ Battery; RC Time Constant (DECAY); Telephone model as simple DC circuit
Magnetic Materials
Magnetism
Inductance
Induction
Complex Circuits
Semiconductors And Tubes
Transmission Lines and Antennas

Resistivity of a Pencil

Purpose:

To show that the resistance of a piece of material (in this case graphite) is proportional to its length.

Procedure:

Connect the bulb, battery and pencil in series. The bulb can be dimmed or brightened by sliding one of the connectors along the exposed graphite of the pencil.

Equipment:

Light Bulb
D battery
leads
Pencil