Experiments!

We've had a few really cool experiments in class recently and I'd like to share them with you because well you know, that's basically what I do here.

Sneakoscope

Gyroscope

This first experiment isn't particularly cool but at the time I had literally just finished the Harry Potter series and was probably still suffering a mild case of post potter depression. So naturally I found the similarities between a sneakoscope and a gyroscope so amazing that I had to tell anyone who stood still long enough about it at lunch! I also started mentally referring to physics as defense against the dark arts. However I just found some pictures and maybe I let my imagination get the better of me again... So a gyroscope is pretty much a spinning top but the point is that it precesses like hydrogen nuclei do in an MRI scan. It isn't exactly magic but after a few failed attempts to get the spin fast enough for a precession it sure feels something like a miracle when it actually works! I learnt a few things that lesson including the comforting proof that I wasn't trapped within a dream (inception reference... maybe I watch too many movies...)

Another experiment that was really interesting was made even cooler by the fact that it was completely spontaneous. My teacher literally decided to get a bucket and go outside on the spur of the moment and I'm really glad he did. Every now and then you come across a piece of physics and you can completely understand the theory of it but you still have that doubt that it can really work. This was one of those times! My teacher told us that he could swing a bucket of water (a very full bucket) over his head and stay dry. Its a pretty well known fact that physics experiments often go badly so I considered it the height of bravery my teacher attempting this! But it worked! And even though it would have been incredibly funny if it had gone wrong I would have been severely disappointed all the same!

And then on Friday we got to do an experiment which I think was supposed to be a treat but it really wasn't... We were using a simple pendulum to find g and as you can imagine with 8 data sets and 3 repeats each it was extremely monotonous. I'm pretty sure I hypnotised myself with the pendulum at one point because you kind of enter a trance counting this metal ball swing back and forth! And at the end of all this I found g to be 13.4 when it is supposed to be 9.8 - so not worth it!

Now because I have to end on a high I'll tell you about an experiment we had to demonstrate the kinetic gas theory. Basically we had this tube and as we increased the voltage it was the same as increasing the temperature. you could see the particle gain energy as they jumped higher and pushed the polystyrene up higher.

Oh and my teacher promised we can use a metal detector some time next week!