Ionisation of Air to Remove Static Electric Charges

Materials Wool PVC pipe or plastic comb String Lighter Procedure Hang the string from an elevated position. Leave the bottom end free. Rub the PVC pipe with wool. This deposits negative charges, or electrons, onto the surface of the PVC… Continue Reading

Magnetic Shielding

Materials Bar magnet Paper clip (stainless steel) Plastic clipboard Steel bookend Procedure Before the demonstration, make sure that the paper clip is not already magnetised by touching it with the steel bookend. If it gets attracted to the bookend, get… Continue Reading

Which balloon will burst first?

I posed this question to the year 4 IP students as an introduction to the topic of heat capacity. For a more detailed look at how to conduct this demonstrations, visit http://www.scienses.com/heat-capacity-of-water-video/

Heat Capacity of Water

Water has a high specific heat capacity of about 4200 J kg-1 K-1. When a little bit of water is placed in a balloon, it is able to absorb a significant amount of heat from a candle flame and hence… Continue Reading

Homopolar Motor 2

This video demonstrates how a simple homopolar motor is made using a screw and a small neodymium magnet. The simplest possible motor one can make, it can be used to teach concepts at various levels. For lower secondary students, they… Continue Reading

Electromagnetism Lecture

I enjoy lecturing on topics like Superposition and Electromagnetism in the GCE A-level syllabus as they lend themselves well to the use of fun demonstrations that I can perform in front of the audience. One of the recent demonstrations that… Continue Reading

Measuring the Force on a Current-Carrying Conductor

The force acting on a current-carrying conductor is given by $$F =BIl sin theta$$ where B is the magnetic flux density, I is the current, l is the length of the wire and $$theta$$ is the angle between the current… Continue Reading