The Van de Graaff Generator and a Ping Pong Ball

The graphite covered ping pong ball moving charge from one sphere to another and making the little hair I have stand on end. The ping pong ball acts as a charge carrier allow the Van de Graaff generator to discharge, but the sudden discharge has a lot of force behind it, launching the ping pong ball away towards the smaller dome. #iteachphysics

Polarising lenses

Using polarising lenses to see the effect on light and effect that some solutions have on the light passing through. #iteachphysics

Diffraction of light through two pencils

Looking at a vertical edge and a horizontal edge through the gap of two pencils to observe the diffraction on light. The pencils are straight but they look bent in places as the light is diffracted #iteachphysics

Looking at Oil and Water refracting a pencil

 Looking at Oil and Water refracting a pencil and getting the students to work out the refractive indices. #iteachphysics

Vortex Mixer with food tests

I discovered that using the vortex mixer in doing food tests made a terrific difference, getting the food to dissolve in water to get much better test results.
 

Bernoulli Principle

 Blowing down the funnel holds the ping pong ball in the neck of the funnel - counter intuitive 

Magnetic fields and wires

Using a plotting compass to detect the magnetic field around a wire. Many of the students think this is some sort of trick then we looked at the problems with mains and computer cables and interference