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Project |
Description |
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Bubble room |
A room (132 LLP) that has lots of bubble stuff including different wands, 2 bubble walls, 2 bubble pools (encase yourself in a bubble), 2-D bubbles. Mostly intended for little kids, but more complicated info on bubble geometry is presented to older audience members. Pretty much all the equipment for this project is stored in lecture prep. |
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Cloud chamber |
A fish tank that uses dry ice, alcohol, a slide projector, and a banana to show particle tracks. Fairly easy to make, or you can try to yoink one from lecture prep. Sometimes this is displayed as part of lecture demos, or it can also be shoved in a corner of Loomis with a poster or two. Very cool, very low maintenance. |
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Electricity and magnetism demos |
Electricity and magnetism demos including Jacob's ladder (small and big one), ring shooter, electromagnets, electric motor, induction coil, levitator, bork bork bork, etc. This project is intended for high school students, older audience members. Most of the stuff is stored in the Physoc office and PL1 (large Jacob's ladder and tesla coil built by Matthew Wenger). This project is usually located in the south lobby right outside the entrances to 141 LLP. |
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Foucault pendulum |
Big pendulum that hangs in the stairwell. Doesn't work so great, hasn't been done too many times. Ask Bernie for the appropriate equipment. |
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Fun with liquid nitrogen |
Physics Van LN2 demos such as LN2 balloons, frozen flowers, LN2 cannon, LN2 fountain plus other miscellaneous small demos such as Bernoulli ball, Magdeburg hemispheres. This project is usually located in the south lobby area. Be prepared for major LN2 consumption; fill lots of 25L dewars and have them ready to go. |
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Holography |
The laser setup used for making holograms is displayed and explained along with holograms that were made using that equipment. Starting from scratch for this project is difficult and has not had great successes in the past. The best thing to do is find a student enrolled in 371 who can steal some laser equipment for you. |
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Hot air balloon |
A small mylar balloon that floats up and down the stairwell. Work on this project has been done primarily by Eric Johnson in the past; talk to him for details. |
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Hovercraft |
A hovercraft, currently in the possession of Eric Johnson that is demonstrated around the Beckman quad. Note that that area will be dug up in the near future for construction of a new building, so if the hovercraft is shown again, a new place has to be found for it. |
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Hoverplates |
Mini hovercraft-ish things that kids can make using a styrofoam plate, balloon, and duct tape. They work ok, good supplement for the hovercraft. |
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Lecture demos |
All the fun lecture demos done in the physics 11x classes plus some of the Physics Van demos. These include shoot the monkey, vortex generator, plasma ball, bicycle wheel (angular momentum demo), etc. Lecture demos are always done in 141 LLP, talk to Bernie for more information. |
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Magno-golf |
A small golf course that is laid over a bunch of strong magnets so that when the golf ball is hit, it goes in all sorts of wacky directions. Magnets and wooden support can be found in lecture prep, golf course itself and balls and club can be found in the Physoc office. This project can be made to work well, but it can also suck. |
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Linear Accelerator |
Also known as the rail gun. The rail gun is a set of metal rails that uses a car battery or two, several capacitors the size of soda cans, and one big ass magnet (2 tesla max B field, 2000 lbs iron core) from Jack Boparai to accelerate projectiles to high speeds and shoot targets such as the Yellow Power Ranger. For more detailed technical information, talk to Andy Robb. |
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Newton's cradle |
Large newton's cradle that uses 5 bowling balls. Pretty neat to look at, minimal construction required (all the stuff is in lecture prep and only needs to be assembled). This project works ok, but the bowling balls are of slightly different weights, so it only looks good for a couple cycles at most. |
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Physics machine |
A rube-goldberg-ish machine that uses all sorts of wacky things to accomplish a simple task. Machines that have been built in the past include a kool-aid maker, pez dispenser, and sandwich maker. This project is fairly difficult to do unless you are very creative and have had experience building similar things in the past. There is lots of stuff in the Physoc office that can be used for this project (fake bomb, thunder bolt, lots of mouse traps and rat traps, mailbox, etc). |
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Pyrophone |
A bunch of tubes (glass, cardboard, etc.) that use fire to make sounds. A fun and fairly easy project for pyromaniacs and little kids. Ask Bernie for some awesome tubes and bunsen burners. |
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Trebuchet |
A catapult-like device that throws projectiles over large distances. One large one was built for EOH 2000; talk to Michael Baym or Steve Barker for information on its whereabouts. The large one was demonstrated outside while smaller marble-launching ones were demonstrated inside. |
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Undergraduate research |
Undergraduate research projects in physics and astro. In the past, undergrads who have done research have put up posters of their work for the public to see. For EOH 2000 we tried to have the students give short 20-30 min talks throughout the day, but the talks attracted very few audience members... |