Catalogue of Demonstrations
The demonstrations in this index include nearly all of the PIRA 200, as well as some local favorites.
The PIRA 200 represent the physics demonstrations most commonly used by major universities in the United States. Other demos outside of the Physics Instruction Resource Association’s Top 200 are so noted.
You can click on a demonstration’s name to view a description and other details about that demo.
To request one or more demos, you must first log in as an authorized instructor.
Demo requests are due before we close on the weekday afternoon prior to your class date. Business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, excepting holidays. Same-day demo requests are problematic for all involved.
PIRA Section 1: Mechanics
1A — Measurement
1A10.20 Basic Units: Standard of Mass
1A10.30 Basic Units: Standard of Length
1A10.50 Basic Units: One Liter (1dm3) Cube
1C — Motion in One Dimension
1C10.10 Velocity: Bulldozer and Moving Sheet/2D
1D — Motion in Two Dimensions
1D40.10 Motion of the Center of Mass: Throw Objects
1D50.10 Central Forces: Ball on a String
1D50.40 Central Forces: Pail of Water, Pail of Nails
1D50.80 Central Forces: Airplane
1D60.10 Projectile Motion: Howitzer and Tunnel
1D60.20 Projectile Motion: Simultaneous Fall
1D60.30 Projectile Motion: Monkey and Hunter ※ PAI 2.48 only
1F — Newton’s First Law
1F10.20 Measuring Inertia: Lead and Styrofoam Bricks
1F20.10 Inertia of Rest: Inertia Ball
1F20.32 Inertia of Rest: Stacked Blocks with Tack Hammer
1F30.10 Inertia of Motion: Air Track ※ PAI 2.48 only
1G — Newton’s Second Law
1G10.30 Force, Mass, and Acceleration: Mass and a Scale
1G10.40 Force, Mass, and Acceleration: Atwood’s Machine
1G10.50 Force, Mass, and Acceleration: Multiple Pulleys (Spring scale available by request)
1H — Newton’s Third Law
1J — Statics of Rigid Bodies
1J10.10 Finding Center of Gravity: Map of Texas
1J11.20 Exceeding Center of Gravity: Tower of Lire
1J11.50 Exceeding Center of Gravity: Double Cone
1J20.25 Stable, Unstable, and Neutral Equilibrium: Nine Nails on One
1J20.30 Stable, Unstable, and Neutral Equilibrium: Skyhook
1J20.45 Stable, Unstable, and Neutral Equilibium: Tightrope Walking
1J20.60 Stable, Unstable, and Neutral Equilibrium: Wine Butler
1J30.10 Resolution of Forces: Suspended Block
1J30.25 Resolution of Forces: Rope and Three Students
1J40.10 Static Torque: Grip Bar
1K — Applications of Newton’s Laws
1K10.20 Dynamic Torque: Ladder Against the Wall
1K10.30 Dynamic Torque: Walking the Spool
1K20.20 Friction: Area Dependence of Friction
1L — Gravity
1L10.20 Universal Gravitation Constant: Cavendish Balance Model (Demo cannot be performed in lecture hall; can only be used as a prop)
1M — Work and Energy
1M10.20 Work and Energy: Pile Driver
1M20.10 Simple Machines: Compound Pulley
1M40.10 Conservation of Energy: Nose Basher
1M40.15 Conservation of Energy: Stopped Pendulum
1M40.20 Conservation of Energy: Loop the Loop
1M40.40 Conservation of Energy: Ballistic Pendulum
1M40.50 Conservation of Energy: Maxwell Wheel
1M40.70 Conservation of Energy: Chaotic Pendulum
1M40.80 Conservation of Energy: Conservation of Angular Momentum: Euler’s Disk
1M40.90 Conservation of Energy: Energy Track
1N — Linear Momentum and Collisions
1N10.20 Impulse and Thrust: Egg in Sheet (Bring your own egg)
1N21.10 Mass and Momentum Transfer: Floor Carts and Medicine Ball
1N22.20 Rockets: Water Rockets (Video of demo available; this is just a model)
1N30.10 Collisions in One Dimension: Collision Balls
1N30.20 Collisions in One Dimension: 3:1 Collision Balls
1N30.60 Collisions in One Dimension: Double Ball Drop
1N40.20 Collisions in Two Dimensions: Air Table Collisions ※ PAI 2.48 only
1Q — Rotational Dynamics
1Q10.13 Moment of Inertia: Balancing Stick
1Q10.30 Moment of Inertia: Ring, Disk, and Sphere
1Q10.50 Moment of Inertia: Racing Soups
1Q10.60 Moment of Inertia: Wands
1Q40.10 Conservation of Angular Momentum: Rotating Stools with Weights
1Q40.20 Conservation of Angular Momentum: Squeezatron
1Q40.30 Conservation of Angular Momentum: Rotating Stool and Bicycle Wheel
1Q50.20 Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope
1Q50.30 Gyroscope (Specify which experiment you would like set up)
1R — Properties of Matter
1R10.10 Hooke’s Law: Stretching a Spring
1R20.15 Tensile and Compressive Stress: Young’s Modulus (Do not exceed 5 kg) ※ PAI 2.48 only
1R20.20 Tensile and Compressive Stress: Beam Bending
1R30.10 Shear Stress: Shear Book
1S — Orbital Mechanics
1S10.10 Kepler’s Second Law (PPE required)
PIRA Section 2: Fluid Mechanics
2B — Fluid Statics
2B20.15 Static Pressure: Pressure vs. Depth
2B20.40 Static Pressure: Pascal’s Vases
2B20.50 Static Pressure: Pascal’s Law (New demo!)
2B20.60 Static Pressure: Hydraulic Press (Safety goggles required)
2B20.70 Blood Pressure Monitor
2B30.15 Air Pressure: Crush a Soda Can
2B30.30 Atmospheric Pressure: Magdeberg Plates
2B30.50 Atmospheric Pressure: Lift A Stool
2B40.20 Density and Buoyancy: Archimedes’s Principle
2B40.30 Density and Buoyancy: Cartesian Diver
2B40.59 Density and Buoyancy: Density Balls
2B40.60 Density and Buoyancy: Hydrometers in Salt verses Fresh Water
PIRA Section 3: Oscillations and Waves
3A — Oscillations
3A10.10 Pendula: Simple Pendulum
3A10.13 Pendula: Adjustable Length Pendulum
3A10.30 Pendula: Torsion Pendulum
3A10.35 New Torsion Pendulum (New demo!)
3A20.10 Springs: Mass on a Spring
3A60.30 Driven Mechanical Resonance: Barton’s Pendula
3A60.50 Driven Mechanical Resonance: Resonance Reeds
3A60.55 Driven Mechanical Resonance: Torsion Pendulum (Leybold) (Rarely works)
3A70.10 Coupled Oscillations: Wilberforce Pendulum
3A70.25 Coupled Oscillations: Spring Coupled Pendula
3A70.30 Wave Pendulum with Side Views
3A70.35 Damped Oscillations: Damped Motion (New demo!)
3B — Wave Motion
3B10.10 Transverse Pulse and Waves: Pulse on a Rope
3B10.20 Transverse Pulses and Waves: Slinky on Table
3B10.30 Transverse Pulses and Waves: Shive (Bell Labs) Wave Model
3B10.75 Transverse Pulses and Waves: Uncoupled Pendulum Wave
3B22.10 Standing Waves : Melde’s String Vibrator
3B22.50 Standing Waves: Slinky Standing Waves
3B27.20 Compound Waves: Wave Superposition Model
3B40.10 Doppler Effect: Doppler Ball and Rocket
3B40.20 Doppler Effect: Rotating Speaker Bar
3B40.25 Doppler Effect: Doppler Reed
3B55.10 Interference and Diffraction of Sound: Speaker Bar
3D — Instruments
3D30.35 Resonance Cavities: Bloogles
3D30.70 Resonance in Air Columns: Hoot Tubes
3D32.10 Air Column Instruments: Organ Pipes
3D40.20 Resonance in Plates, Bars, and Solid: Singing Rod
3D40.30 Chladni Plates (manual version)
3D40.35 Chladni Plates (motorized version)
3D50.10 Wave Dispersion: Sound Waves Propagating Through Slinky
PIRA Section 4: Thermodynamics
4A — Thermal Properties of Matter
4A30.10 Solid Expansion: Bimetal Strip
4A30.20 Solid Expansion: Ball and Ring
4A30.xx Solid Expansion: Linear Expansion of a Metal Rod
4A40.10 Properties of Materials at Low Temperature: Lead Bell
4A40.30 Properties of Materials at Low Temperature: Smash a Rose, Tube, or Ball
4A40.40 Specific Heat: Beeswax
4B — Heat and the First Law
4B20.10 Convection: Convection Tube with Water
4B20.15 Convection: Rotating Convection
4C — Change of State
4C10.10 Change of State: PVT Surfaces
4D — Kinetic Theory
PIRA Section 5: Electricity and Magnetism
5A — Electrostatics
5A10.10 Producing Static Charge: Rods, Fur, and Silk
5A20.20 Coulomb’s Law: Pith Balls
5A22.10 Electroscopic Meters: Electroscope
5A40.20 Induced Charge: Charge Propelled Cylinder
5A40.50 Induced Charge: Franklin Bell (New demo!)
5A40.70 Induced Charge: Kelvin Water Drop Generator
5A50.10 Electrostatic Machines: Wimshurst Machine
5B — Electric Fields and Potential
5B10.10 Electric Field: Hair on End
5B10.25 Electric Field: Confetti (Puffed Wheat)
5B10.40 Electric Field: Fuzzy Fur Field Tank
5B20.15 Gauss’s Law: Faraday’s Ice Pail on Electroscope (Usually doesn’t work; call for availability)
5B20.xx Gauss’s Law: Gaussian Models
5B50.10 Equipotential Lines (New demo!)
5C — Capacitance
5C10.10 Capacitors: Assorted Capacitors
5C10.11 Capacitors: Large Variable Capacitor Model
5C10.20 Capacitors : Parallel Plate Capacitor
5D — Resistance
5D10.10 Resistance: Assorted Resistors
5D20.10 Resistivity and Temperature: Wire Coil in LN2
5D20.50 Resistivity and Temperature: Thermistor
5D20.60 Resistivity and Temperature: Conduction in Glass at High Temperature (Not available for classroom use; only video of demo is available)
5D30.10 Conduction in Solutions: Conductivity of Solutions
5D40.10 Conduction in Gases: Jacob’s Ladder ※ PAI 4.42 only
5F — DC Circuits
5F20.50 Circuit Analysis: Series and Parallel Light Bulbs
5F20.55 Circuit Analysis: Series/Parallel Resistors
5F30.10 RC Circuits: Capacitor and a Light Bulb
5G — Magnetic Materials
5G20.30 Magnet Domains and Magnetization: Magnetic Domain Model
5G20.31 Magnet Domains and Magnetization: 3D Magnetic Domain Models
5G50.50 Temperature and Magnetism: Meissner Effect using Liquid Nitrogen
5H — Magnetic Fields and Forces
5H10.10 Magnetic Fields: Globe with Bar Magnet
5H10.15 Magnetic Fields: Magnetic Dip Needle
5H10.20 Magnetic Fields: Oersted’s Effect
5H10.30 Magnetic Fields: Magnet and Iron Filings
5H10.40 Magnetic Fields: Suspended Magnet
5H10.83 Magnetic Fields: Magnetic Field Lines (New demo!)
5H15.10 Magnetic Fields: Iron Filings Around a Wire
5H15.40 Fields and Currents: Solenoid and Iron Filings
5H30.10 Forces on Moving Charges: Open CRT
5H30.20 Forces on Moving Charges: e/m Tube
5H40.10 Forces on Currents in Wires: Parallel Wires
5H40.30 Forces on Current in Wires: Jumping Wire
5H40.40 Forces on Current in Wires: Lorentz Force
5K — Electromagnetic Induction
5K10.15 Induced Currents and Forces: Wire and Magnet
5K10.20 Induced Currents and Forces: Induction Coil with Magnets
5K10.24 Induced Currents and Forces: Number of Turns and Induced EMF
5K10.40 Induced Currents and Forces: Iron Core in Mutual Inductance
5K10.50 Induced Currents and Forces: Electromagnetic Experiment
5K20.10 Eddy Currents: Eddy Current Pendulum
5K20.25 Eddy Currents: Magnets and Tubes
5K20.30 Eddy Currents: Jumping Ring
5K30.40 Transformers: Nail Welding Transformer
5K40.10 Motors and Generators: CENCO DC Motor
5K40.29 DC Generators: CENCO DC Generator & Galvanometer
5K40.80 Motors and Generators: Hand-crank Generator
5K40.81 Motors and Generators: Coupled Hand-held Generator & Flashlight
5L — AC Circuits
5L10.10 Impedance: Inductive Choke
5L20.10 RLC Circuits — AC: RLC Series Circuit Resonance on an Oscilloscope
5L20.20 RLC Circuits AC: RLC — Resonance
5L20.26 RLC Circuits AC: LC Circuit w/ Parallel Resonance
5L30.10 Filters and Rectifiers — AC: Bridge Rectifier & LC Filter
5N — Electromagnetic Radiation
5N10.60 Transmission Line and Antennas: Radiation from a Dipole ※ PAI 4.42 only
5N20.50 Tesla Coil: Glowing Fluorescent Lamp ※ PAI 4.42 only
5N30.10 Electromagnetic Spectrum: Project the Spectrum with a Prism
PIRA Section 6: Optics
6A — Geometric Optics
6A10.10 Reflection from Flat Surfaces: Blackboard Optics — Flat Mirror
6A20.10 Reflection from Curved Surfaces: Blackboard Optics — Curved/Convex Mirrors
6A20.35 Reflection from Curved Surfaces: Optic Mirage
6A20.41 Reflection From Curved Surfaces: Projected Filament w/ Mirrors
6A20.45 Reflection From Curved Surfaces: Convex and Concave Mirror
6A42.10 Refraction at Flat Surfaces: Blackboard Optics — Refraction
6A44.25 Total Internal Reflection: Snell’s Wheel
6A44.40 Total Internal Reflection: Light Pipe/Laser and Fiber Optics
6A46.10 Rainbow: Rainbow Sphere
6B — Photometry
6C — Diffraction
6C10.10 Diffraction Through a Single Slit: Single Slit and Laser
6C10.15 Diffraction through a Single Slit: Adjustable Slit and Laser
6D — Interference
6D10.10 Interference From Two Sources: Double Slits and Lasers
6D20.10 Interference from Multiple Sources: Different Number of Slits
6D20.50 Gratings: Crossed Gratings and Laser
6D20.53 Gratings: Diffraction Grating and Laser
6D30.10 Thin Films: Newton’s Rings
6F — Color
6F10.10 Synthesis of Color: Projecting Colored Filters
6F40.10 Scattering: Sunset (Call for availability; bring your own milk)
PIRA Section 7: Modern Physics
7A — Quantum Effects
7A10.10 Photoelectric Effect: Photoelectric Effect in Zinc
7A60.10 X-Ray and Electron Diffraction: Electron Diffraction