Free preview · Senior 5 Physics · Laboratory activities
Senior 5 laboratory activities
11 units · 22 activities. In every unit, activity 1 is improvised (simple local materials) and activity 2 is conventional (school laboratory equipment): two different experiments. Below are 5 free pages; then get the whole level in one PDF.
- Title and aim of every experiment
- Required apparatus and safety notes
- A clear, labelled drawing of the set-up
- Step-by-step procedure and a results table to fill in
- Observation and conclusion
- Three questions per activity, with sample results and answers at the end of the unit
See all 22 activities of this level and what each one is about
- Unit 1: Simple Harmonic Motion
- 1.1 Improvised · The vibrating stick. To investigate how the period of a vibrating stick (cantilever) depends on its overhanging length.
- 1.2 Conventional · Period of a mass on a spring. To verify that T² is proportional to the mass on a spring and to find the spring constant k.
- Unit 2: Damped and Forced Oscillations
- 2.1 Improvised · Barton's pendulums with bottles and bottle tops. To show resonance: a driven system oscillates with the largest amplitude when the driving frequency equals its natural frequency.
- 2.2 Conventional · Damping of a mass–spring oscillator. To measure how the amplitude of a mass–spring oscillator decreases with time, with and without a damping card.
- Unit 3: Propagation of Mechanical Waves
- 3.1 Improvised · Pulses on a rope: speed, tension and reflection. To measure the speed of a pulse on a rope and see how it depends on the tension, and to observe reflection at a fixed end.
- 3.2 Conventional · The ripple tank: measuring v = fλ. To measure the wavelength of water waves in a ripple tank at different frequencies and confirm that v = fλ.
- Unit 4: Fluid Mechanics
- 4.1 Improvised · Fast air, low pressure: Bernoulli’s principle. To show that where a fluid moves faster its pressure is lower.
- 4.2 Conventional · Viscosity of glycerine by the falling-ball method. To measure the terminal velocity of steel balls falling through glycerine and calculate the viscosity using Stokes’ law.
- Unit 5: Motion on Orbits
- 5.1 Improvised · Drawing planetary orbits: ellipses with two pins. To draw ellipses with a loop of string, find their eccentricity and relate them to Kepler’s first and second laws.
- 5.2 Conventional · Measuring g by free fall and predicting a satellite’s orbit. To measure the acceleration of free fall with a ticker-timer and use it to calculate the speed and period of a satellite orbiting close to the Earth.
- Unit 6: Atomic Models
- 6.1 Improvised · The hidden target: modelling Rutherford’s experiment. To find the shape and size of a hidden object only from the way marbles bounce off it, as Rutherford did for the nucleus.
- 6.2 Conventional · Line spectra and the wavelength of sodium light. To compare continuous and line spectra and measure the wavelength of the yellow sodium line with a diffraction grating.
- Unit 7: Wave and Particle Nature of Light
- 7.1 Improvised · Colour, not brightness: a model of the photoelectric threshold. To show that light of short wavelength (blue) can do something that bright light of long wavelength (red) cannot, as in the photoelectric effect.
- 7.2 Conventional · Estimating the Planck constant with LEDs. To find the voltage at which LEDs of different colours just start to conduct and use it to estimate the Planck constant h.
- Unit 8: Signals and Communication Systems
- 8.1 Improvised · Sending a digital message with a torch. To send a coded message as a digital signal of light flashes and see how speed and noise affect errors.
- 8.2 Conventional · Measuring signals with a cathode-ray oscilloscope. To use an oscilloscope to measure the period, frequency and peak voltage of electrical signals.
- Unit 9: Magnetic Field and Magnetic Forces
- 9.1 Improvised · A simple electric motor with safety pins. To build a simple motor and show that a current-carrying wire in a magnetic field experiences a force.
- 9.2 Conventional · The current balance: measuring a magnetic field. To show that the force on a current-carrying wire is proportional to the current and to find the magnetic flux density B.
- Unit 10: Introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity
- 10.1 Improvised · The moving light clock on paper. To use a scale drawing of a "light clock" to show why a moving clock runs slow (time dilation).
- 10.2 Conventional · Measuring the speed of light with microwaves. To measure the wavelength of microwaves using standing waves and calculate the speed of electromagnetic waves, c = fλ.
- Unit 11: Interference and Diffraction of Light
- 11.1 Improvised · Colours from a CD and fringes between fingers. To observe diffraction and interference of light with everyday objects.
- 11.2 Conventional · Young's double-slit experiment with a laser. To measure the wavelength of laser light from the spacing of double-slit interference fringes.
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