Lab Expectations for the Scholars Online Physics Course

LABS ARE NOT OPTIONAL.

Most lab assignments will be available from the web site at the start of the session. Most labs will be associated with specific topics, and you are encouraged to complete the lab and send in the report during during the assignment period. You make make arrangements to complete the other labs out of sequence if you have trouble obtaining equipment.

IMPORTANT! For safety reasons, both you and your parents must read the safety procedures before starting the lab sequence. Your parents must sign and send a copy of the lab permission letter to me before I can accept any lab reports from you for credit.

Lab Equipment

I will put together a kit that will include the following items. Cost varies depending on availability of materials and postage. If you are interested, please let me know so that we can determine content and I can order the equipment in time for class to start.

• Springs, both a selection and a standard spring for comparing k values
• Lenses, both a selection and standard lenses for comparing focal length determinations
• -10C to 110C Centigrade thermometer
• An acrylic prism
• A tuning fork
• A small laser pen or laser/LED combination flashlight
• A selection of pulleys for determining mechanical advantage
• Flat mirrors, concave mirros, and convex mirrors
• Ground glass
• Diffraction grating
• A spectroscope
• A selection of magnets including a strong ceramic magnet
• Iron filings
• 4-6 Compasses for mapping a magnetic field
• Red enamel magnet wire for building an electric motor
• A selection of resistors and capacitors for circuit work
• A circuit switch
• Alligator clips and wire for building circuits
• Small light bulbs for circuits
• An ammeter and/or voltmeter for measuring current in circuits
• Spring scales with 100g/1N and 500g/5N accuracy
• Plastic tubing

In addition, you will need to supply some materials for various experiments for fall quarter.

• Various pieces of wood and doweling or other clever ways to support or suspend equipment
• Straight pins (like sewing pins)
• Nails
• Calibrated weights (Possibilities: a nickel weighs 5 grams; most medications come in 500 milligram divisions.)
• String (use nylon fishing wire, it is strong and relatively frictionless).
• Stopwatch accurate to 1/10 of a second
• 2 liter soda pop bottle
• Small plastic bottle (test tube or flower tube, perfume sample bottle) that will fit through the mouth of a soda pop bottle.
• Meter sticks and foot ruler divided on one side into centimeters and millimeters
• Balloons
• Buckets
• Markers
• Styrofoam cups
• Straws
• Stove and pots for heating water
• Batteries
• Flash light bulbs
• Rubber bands
• Colored cellophane
• Protractors (the small, transparent plastic kind)

Significant extra materials are required for the challenge labs. Please contact the instructor as soon as you decide that you are interested in completing any of these, so that we can work together to find appropriate equipment.

Sources

Lab equipment may be borrowed from schools or purchased. Most physics principles can be demonstrated using household equipment; measuring these phenomena accurately gets trickier, and that's where we have to be the most inventive. However, if you are willing to make do with "home" accuracy instead of "lab grade" equipment, you can still learn the priniciples of physics...and remember: most of our household equipment such as voltmeters are better than the ones used by the original scientists who discovered these principles. If you want more accurate equipment, you should check my growing list of mail order suppliers.

© 2005 - 2024 This course is offered through Scholars Online, a non-profit organization supporting classical Christian education through online courses. Permission to copy course content (lessons and labs) for personal study is granted to students currently or formerly enrolled in the course through Scholars Online. Reproduction for any other purpose, without the express written consent of the author, is prohibited.