Labs, Activities, and Other CoolStuff

I have found that over the years, creating a Positive charge in class using the conventional Glass rod/Silk combination just doesn't produce a great enough charge to be able to demonstrate Conduction or Induction on pith balls, electroscope and other objects. The BEST way to produce a Positive charge is using the "Fun Fly [...]

I constructed the do-it-yourself Faraday Motor with my students as a demonstration, just as the video instructs Their reaction was amazing! When linking the concepts of Electricity with Magnetism, I normally use pre-made motors and other conventional equipment that has been purchased or donated over the years. When I decided to create the "original" Faraday [...]

In 1820, Danish physicist/chemist Hans Christian Ørsted noticed that when current from his Voltaic pile was switched on and off, a compass needle placed near the wire deflected from true magnetic north. Within a few months of careful study, he deduced that a magnetic field circles a current-bearing wire.

In the December CoolStuff newsletter, Bridgette Sparks of Saline High School in Michigan talks about using a discovery based lab exercise for the topic of pressure.
In my classroom I ask the students to calculate the net force on the can by giving them the dimensions of the can and an estimate of the reduced pressure in the can [...]

Over the holiday break, Arbor Scientific will be quietly launching our new website!  If you happened to drop by and are reading this note, then you caught us!  We thought it was best to take the new website for test drive during the holidays when things are a little more quiet.  So we aren't spreading [...]

Arbor Scientific has officially launched a new blog!  The blog is less formal than our official CoolStuff Newsletter, but it will be filled with ideas and perspectives from teachers just like yourself.  Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new development in the new year!

You may have tried the can crushing pressure demo, you may have even tried it with a 55 gallon drum, but have you tried an entire tanker truck? In the December CoolStuff Newsletter...

If you are looking for something that occurs in nature and is tied to the physics classroom, look no further than vortex rings. These Vortex Rings are more common and widespread in nature than most people had probably thought; in fact they are studied in great detail by aeronautical engineers and combustion scientists. But we just think they are cool!

Watch this cool video and it almost seems like this balloon’s actions are counter-intuitive to everything we know about motion and inertia. Let Professor Joel Bryan from Ball State University explain what is really going on.

Whether we realize it or not, all velocity/speed measurements are made relative to some other object. When your car's speedometer reads 55 mph, the assumption is that the change in position of the car compared to the stationary ground is 55 miles every hour. However, not all velocity/speed measurements are made relative to a stationary object. The Constant Velocity cars allow students to experimentally investigate relative speeds as the cars with different speeds move in the same and in opposite directions.