- Purpose: Illustrate principle of conservation of momentum.
- Located in L02, section B5
newton’s
Helicopter
Use when discussing Newton’s 2nd or 3rd law.
3rd Law: Helicopter pushes on air, air pushes back on helicopter, causing it to rise.
2nd Law: When helicopter ascends with constant velocity net force on helicopter is not up, or down, but zero.
- Throttle on left hand side of paddle controls up and down motion.
- Forward/backward, and left/right are a little tricky.
- Practice before using in lecture. Helicopter can be recharged via USB (see yellow USB plug). Remote control requires batteries.
Lots of fun!
Fan Cart
- Demonstrate Newton’s 2nd and 3rd law.
- Cart without plate attachment (left image) accelerates when
fan is engaged; cart with plate attachment will not accelerate. - Located in L02, section B4.
Force Plates
- Use in conjunction with Logger Pro to measure forces in real
time. Use graphical analysis in Logger Pro to demonstrate Newton’s Laws. Durable
enough to leap from or push heavy objects. - Located in L02, section B3, in plastic tub.
Hover Pucks
- Light-weight pucks hover on smooth hard surfaces. Rubber
bumper allows for nice conservation of momentum demos. Charge batteries before
using. - Located in L35, section A4.
Ballistic Cart
- Purpose: Demonstrate principles of Galilean relativity and
projectile motion. - Place ball in spring loaded launcher; set cart in motion;
launcher is triggered by photogate as cart passes trigger bracket; ball travels
in parabola and lands back in cart. - Located in L03, section B3. Track in section B2.
Inertia Apparatus
- Two simple devices that do what the”pulling out the table cloth” demo does. These are easier to use, though not as impressive.
- Located in L02, section B-3.