PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS - Weebly

PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." - Albert Einstein "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

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LEAVING CERTIFICATE PHYSICS

LISTED EXPERIMENTS

CONTENTS

MECHANICS

Measurement of velocity.................................................................................................... 4 and acceleration ....................................................................... 6

To show that a proportional toF....................................................................................... 8 Verification of the principle of conservation of momentum ........................................ 10 Measurement of g............................................................................................................. 12 Verification of Boyle's law .............................................................................................. 14 Investigation of the laws of equilibrium for a set of co-planar forces......................... 16 Investigation of the relationship between period and length for a simple pendulum and hence calculation of g* ............................................................................................. 18

HEAT

Calibration curve of a thermometer using the laboratory mercury thermometer as a standard ............................................................................................................................ 20 Measurement of the specific heat capacity of a metal by an electrical method ......... 22

of water by an electrical method ......................... 24 of a metal or water by a mechanical method...... 26 Measurement of the specific latent heat of fusion of ice ............................................... 28 Measurement of the specific latent heat of vaporisation of water ............................... 30

SOUND

Measurement of the speed of sound in air ..................................................................... 32 Investigation of the variation of fundamental frequency of a stretched string with length ................................................................................................................................. 35 Investigation of the variation of the fundamental frequency of a stretched string with tension* ............................................................................................................................. 37

LIGHT

Measurement of the focal length of a concave mirror .................................................. 39 Verification of Snell's law of refraction ......................................................................... 41 Measurement of the refractive index of a liquid ........................................................... 43 Measurement of the focal length of a converging lens.................................................. 45 Measurement of the wavelength of monochromatic light ............................................ 47

(using the laser) ............... 49

ELECTRICITY

Verification of Joule's law (as I 2)......................................................................... 51 To measure the resistivity of the material of a wire ..................................................... 53 To investigate the variation of the resistance of a metallic conductor with temperature ...................................................................................................................... 55 To investigate the variation of the resistance of a thermistor with temperature ....... 57

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To investigate the variation of current (I) with p.d. (V) for (a) metallic conductor .................................................... 58 (b) filament bulb ............................................................. 59 (c) copper sulfate solution with copper electrodes ...... 60 (d) semiconductor diode................................................. 61

APPENDIX

To estimate the specific heat capacity of water ............................................................. 63 To estimate the specific latent heat of vaporisation of water ....................................... 64 Measurement of the focal length of a concave mirror (approximate method) .......... 65 Measurement of the focal length of a converging lens (approximate method) .......... 65 Demonstration of standing waves................................................................................... 66 The rota option ................................................................................................................. 68 Experiment at Higher Level only*

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MEASUREMENT OF VELOCITY

Apparatus

Ticker timer and tape, suitable low-voltage a.c. power supply, trolley, runway, laboratory jack or stand.

Ticker tape

Ticker timer

Trolley

Runway

Procedure

1. Set up the apparatus as in the diagram. 2. Connect the ticker timer to a low-voltage power supply. 3. Give the trolley a small push to start it moving. 4. Adjust the angle of inclination of the runway until the trolley moves with

constant velocity ? the spots on the tape are all equidistant. 5. Most ticker timers make 50 spots per second. Therefore the time interval

between two adjacent spots is 0.02 s. 6. Measure the length s of ten adjacent spaces.

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

s

7. The time t is 10 0.02 = 0.2 s. 8. As the trolley was travelling at constant velocity we can say that v s .

t 9. Repeat using pushes of varying strengths. 10. Tabulate results as shown.

s/m

t/s

Results

v/m s-1

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Notes

Ignore the initial five or six dots on the tape as this shows the initial acceleration due to the push. Ticker timers that use precarbonated tape are recommended because the friction due to paper drag is reduced. Ensure that the voltage rating of the timer is not exceeded. Some timers make one hundred dots in one second.

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