Presentations

Diamagnetic Levitation

What it shows:

Stable levitation of one magnet by another is usually prohibited by Earnshaw's Theorem, but the introduction of diamagnetic material at special locations can stabilize such levitation. The demonstration is a replica of an experiment described by M.D. Simon and A.K. Geim1 and is pictured in the photograph. The illustration is from their paper.

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Edge Diffraction

What it shows:

A point light source will produce seemingly sharp shadows which turn out to be not at all sharp when viewed under magnification. Narrow interference bands are seen within the shadow of a straight edge while more complicated shapes yield more complicated interference bands and striations.

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Cloud Chamber

What It Shows

The path of a single charged particle can be made visible in cooled supersaturated air/alcohol vapor.

How It Works

The cloud chamber was developed by C.T.R. Wilson at the turn of the...

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Change of Volume with State

CO2 and He balloons in liquid nitrogen.

What it shows:

Cooling a gas causes a proportional decrease in volume with the drop in absolute temperature. A gas such as helium, which remains close to ideal at low temperatures, shows a four-fold decrease in volume when taken from room temperature 330K to liquid nitrogen temperature, 77K. Carbon dioxide however, sublimes at 194.5K, so is solid at 77K. Oxygen liquefies at 90K (S.T.P.). A qualitative demonstration of these effects can be shown with gas filled balloons.

How it works:...

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