Fun with physics

silverscorpion

Hello guys,
Now, i'm in need of some cool ideas. We've a technical fest coming in our univ, and there's an event called "FUN WITH PHYSICS". In this event, we'd show demonstrations of some rather simple physical phenomena in an interesting way. Thing is, I'm the event co-ord for this event, and I've to decide on which demos to go with.

These are the rules... well, not rules exactly, but constraints...)
*It should be easily demonstrable by an unpracticed guy, or with little practice.
*Materials used for the demo must be easy to procure.

A short list of what we've planned to do:

* Demo of meissner effect with the use of superconductors and liquid nitrogen
* Inhaling sulfur hexa fluoride and speaking, thereby, showing how velocity of sound varies with density of gases.
* Demo of a unipolar motor(Ask Google what it is...)
* We've also planned to make a little boomerang....

Now i want you friends to provide me with even better and interesting, funny ideas of how simple physics can be demonstrated in a cool way.
waiting for your ideas to pour in...
bye.

mahul

u cd try this out....suspend 2 pendulums(not conical pendulums) and ask a person to view these with a pair of glasses with one color red and the other say violet. due to difference in speed of light this gives an illusion of a conical pendulum. this demonstrates one of the very simple laws of physics but might be too simple for a college demo.

The_Big_K

Quote:

Originally Posted by mahul

u cd try this out....suspend 2 pendulums(not conical pendulums) and ask a person to view these with a pair of glasses with one color red and the other say violet. due to difference in speed of light this gives an illusion of a conical pendulum. this demonstrates one of the very simple laws of physics but might be too simple for a college demo.

Good idea, Mahul

Silverscorpion, not many are aware of Einstein's theory of relativity. Maybe you could setup a presentation that explains "The Twin Paradox"? I bet, it will be interesting. I'm not sure if this goes with what you are planning to do.

-The Big K-

silverscorpion

hey big_k,

Quote:

Silverscorpion, not many are aware of Einstein's theory of relativity. Maybe you could setup a presentation that explains "The Twin Paradox"? I bet, it will be interesting.

the event needs to be a practical demo. How can you practically demonstrate the twin paradox? i cannot find how... can you?

waiting...

The_Big_K

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverscorpion

hey big_k,

the event needs to be a practical demo. How can you practically demonstrate the twin paradox? i cannot find how... can you?

waiting...

Of course a practical demo would not be possible. You might setup a video or a presentation which explains the paradox. But that's just my idea, it may not be a good fit for your event.

Others can contribute better ideas.

-The Big K-