The Spring 2006 LHU Physics Club Demo Show
Saturday, 4PM, April 22, 2006
Thanks to Croda's for supplying us with 50 gallon barrels to crush.
Thanks to Walker's Hardware for their generous assistance with finding
supplies for the trebuchet, and for donating some of the supplies.
Click on the pictures below to get a larger version.
Head of Ceremonies: DJ Scott
Student Presenters:
Joe Ballard
Ian LaRose (President), Shawn Pickering, Stephanie Madison, Reuben McClelland (Secretary),
DJ Scott, Elliot Walker, Tom Walker (Treasurer)
Faculty: Mike Cullin, John Reid, Jim Wheeler, Jia, Marian Tzolov
List of Demos
| Topic | Demo | Presenter |
|---|
| Nuclear Physics | Mouse Trap | Tom |
|---|
| Forces | Hovercraft | Ian |
|---|
| | Rocket Cart | Tom & Jim |
|---|
| | Trebuchet | Shawn |
|---|
| | Bed-of-Nails | Jim |
|---|
| Rotation | Swinging Water | Elliot |
|---|
| Fluids & Pressure | Smoke Machine | DJ, Reuben |
|---|
| | Bernoulli | Mike |
|---|
| | Can Crushing | Joe, Ian, John |
|---|
| Waves | Spring | Reuben, DJ |
|---|
| | Flame Tube | Reuben, DJ |
|---|
| Electric Waves | Infrared Light | Marian |
|---|
| | Microwave Cooking | Shawn |
|---|
| Colors | Nano Diffraction | Jia |
|---|
| | Mixing Colors | Stephanie |
|---|
| Rube Goldbern Machine | Elliot |
|---|
Audience shots.
Audience shots and John and Shawn messing around before the show begins.
MC
Our beloved MC, DJ, caught mid-joke.
Terbuchet
Shawn is shown building his trebuchet. He launches some small objects inside during the show
then after the show he uses it to its fullet potential outside with some audience members watching.
Rube Goldberg
Elliot work hard for 2 weeks to get this delicate machine working. Everyone was excited and
we had all the kids gather around to watch it go.
The demo:
- spotlight shines on mirror which focuses light to a point where a match is located
- match lights, burns a string, which drops a weight and releases a ball into a funnel
- ball fall down funnel then begins stepping down the sound tree
- ball leaves sound tree and rolls through a PVC pipe then down a ramp hitting a stick
- stick moves and releases the centripetal rotating device
- the centripetal arms starts rotating as weights attached to the shaft begin falling
- another set of weights on the rotating arm eventually move outward once the arm is moving fast enough
- when the weights move to the end of the rotating arm they trip a button which starts a cart moving down a track
- the moving cart collides with another cart, which hits the end of the track and releases string attached to a rod
- the rod unrolls unvieling a sign that reads, "THE END"
Color Mixing
Stephanie shows us how colors mix on the overhead projector.
Bernouli
Mike does several demos showing Bernouli's Principle.
Can Crush
Joe, John and Ian go from crushing a small soda can, to a larger soda can, to a large square container,
and finally to crushing a huge 50 gallon barrel. The barrel make a huge thump and scares everyone, especially
John who is hold it when is collapses under atmospheric pressure.
Resonance
Reuben talks about vibrations and resonance. First he wiggles a long spring and shows us
standing wave patterns. Then he shows how sounds waves can resonate inside a tube, where the pressure modulates
a gas flame.
Hovercraft
The ever-popular hovercraft is shown, and after the show the line for rides was loooong.
Infrared Light
Marian shows us how infrared light can be "seen" by viewing a remote control for a TV with a digital camera.
Microwave
Shawn does what everyone want to do - put metal in a microwave. He explains all the sparking
that takes place and why it should not be done unless one understand the physics principles and takes
proper precautions.
Mouse Trap
Tom demonstrates a nuclear chain reaction by setting up 100 mouse traps, each with two little balls resting carefuly on top.
He release one and very quickly the 1 sets off 2 and 2 set off 4, and 4 set off 8, etc.
Bed-of-Nails
Marian "volunteers" to take a rest on the bed-of-nails. Mike and Jim help him into position,
and then proceed to lay another layer of nails on top. Finally a large brick is placed on top of everything.
Jim then breaks the top brick with a sledge hammer. He does so understanding the principle of pressure (the weight is distributed over many nails and thus no one
nail has enough force to injure Marian) and inertia (the top brick will break and the sledge hammer
passes through).
Nano Diffraction
Jia shows us the patterns that results when laser light scatters off of nano spheres.
Rocket Cart
Jim helps Tom lauch the rocket cart, which is propelled by a fire extinguisher. He quickly shoots across the room.
Smoke Rings
DJ show us first his small smoke ring launcher then his huge launcher. With help from Reuben he
fires rings over the heads of people in the audience.
Swinging Water
Elliot thrills us all by swinging a glass of water over his head without spilling a drop.
