[Phys-L] Re: Science "Magic" Demos

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

Some interesting demos:

Two neutral (?) density blocks in a tall cylinder of water:
one rises when the water temperature rises, the other falls.

Release an inflated ballon.

A bunsen burner under two copper gauzes - to demonstrate
flame under/between/over the gauze sheets.

Use an electric  shock weapon to charge some objects.

Drop a small ball on a big ball.

Swing a massive (ten pin) ball pendulum across the
  room from your nose.

Dip your hand in a bowl of molten lead.

Dip your hand in a bowl of liquid nitrogen.

Pull a tablecloth from under a plate and cutlery.

Invite the audience to rope walk using a long balance arm - the
rope just a few inches off the ground.

Spin a bike wheel fast, and turn the fork.

Inhale Helium and speak.

Show the slide show of Powers of Ten

Show a section of tree rings

Show a section of sedimentary rock.

show the two bottle tornado.

Project an intense white beam through a
  prism or diffraction grating.

Show Einsteins patents for a refrigerator or his millivoltmeter.

Show a giant Newtons Balls rig.

Weigh a bottle with and without compressed air (care!)

Demonstrate a whipping top (how many kids have seen one?)

Roll two bolls down an inclined groove long enough to count the
travel time  (same diam, weight balls , different radius of gyration)

Demonstrate an inclined archimedes screw as a water pump.

Show a dancing gas flame.

Brian Whatcott

At 04:00 PM 9/27/2005, Tim F., you wrote:
> I volunteered to give a ~ 50 min presentation on "science magic" to
> ~20-30 high school students in about 3 weeks and was hoping some people
> here had some favorites they might like to share.  Hopefully the demos
> will be 1) entertaining, 2) educational, 3) low budget and 4) not too
> difficult to perform.  I plan to present a brief explanation of each
> feat, but no really involved derivations or anything like that.
>
> Some current ideas include
> 1) bed of nails (I'd have to build one soon)
> 2) string tied above & below a heavy weight (slow pull breaks top
> string, quick tug breaks bottom string.
> 3) cabbage juice pH indicator.
> 4) juggling on a force plate (showing that the average force is the same
> whether juggling or not)
> 5) Bernoulli ping pong ball suspended on a stream of air.
> 6) cooling & crushing a container full of steam
>
> Do these sound reasonable?  Any other ideas?  Links to website with
> similar info?  I don't think these will take 10 min each, so I need a
> few more!
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Tim Folkerts


Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!
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