Build-it, Leave-it, Teach-it

For the Build-it, Leave-it, Teach-it (BLT) project, SUNY Geneseo faculty and physics majors build physics demonstration equipment and discuss the best ways to present the demonstration in a classroom.  Physics teacher candidates then bring the piece of equipment to a local high school physics classroom and use it to teach a physical concept to the students.  The BLT unit is then left as a donation to that classroom.

BLT - The Race

In the Fall of 2011, we built "The Race".  In this demonstration, two identical steel balls are released from the same height on two vee-channel tracks.  They accelerate down identical slopes.  Then one ball goes uphill and downhill while the other ball goes downhill then uphill.  Which ball will reach the end of the track first?

(Click on the images below to see an enlarged version.)

Construction notes

BLT - Lenz's Law

In the Spring of 2012, we presented a "Lenz's Law" demonstration.  In this demonstration, a cylindrical magnet is dropped down a vertical copper pipe and a vertical plastic pipe of identical lengths.  The time of travel is much longer because of the Lenz's Law effect.

   Construction notes  Magnets (K&J Magnetics - D4X0-ND), copper pipe (McMaster-Carr 50475k22), acrylic pipe (McMaster-Carr 8532K13)  Cost per unit less than $20.

BLT - The Falling Slinky

In the Fall of 2012 we presented the "Falling Slinky" demonstration, in which a slinky is dangled from the top and students are asked to predict who it will fall.  In this case a response worksheet and a video were developed to help with the presentation, and data where collected to investigate how the requirement for a written prediction affected students' understanding.

Here's a nice resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAA613hqqZ0

BLT - Faraday's Jump Rope

 In the Spring of 2013 we presented the "Faraday's Jump Rope" demonstration.  25-foot length of six-conductor wire was configured into a loop with six turns.  The two ends of the loop were attached to a micro-amp galvanometer. 

construction notes