The L.R. Ingersoll Physics Museum is located on the second floor of Chamberlin Hall on the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

campus. It is one of several museums on the

campus that focus on hands-on exhibits and public outreach. The museum runs on donations and charges no admission.

History

The museum was established in 1918 by Professor Snow and the museum's namesake, Leonard Rose Ingersoll (1880-1958), who taught at the

. L.R. Ingersoll began advocating for the museum in 1917 and it became the first museum in the United States to focus solely on physics. Ingersoll wanted to create a museum that was accessible to young audiences. Since then, exhibits have continued to be designed by

faculty and added to the museum.

Exhibits

The L.R. Ingersoll Physics Museum displays more than 70 interactive exhibits that cross several categories of Physics concepts. A few exhibits include:

Mechanics

*Gravity Pit - demonstrates the concept of a

gravity well The Hill sphere of an astronomical body is the region in which it dominates the attraction of satellites. To be retained by a planet, a moon must have an orbit that lies within the planet's Hill sphere. That moon would, in turn, have a Hil ...

with a hyperbolic funnel wishing well. *

Newton's Cradle The Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of momentum and the conservation of energy with swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force thro ...

Pulleys A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that d ...

*Spinning Platform * Gyroscope *

Foucault Pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. A long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular ...

*Torsion Pendulum *Unequal Arm Balance * Coupled Pendulums

Electricity and Magnetism

*AC - DC Generators * Series and parallel circuits puzzle *Circle of Magnetism *Dynamo 1 and 2 *Induced Currents - Eddy Currents *

Lenz's Law Lenz's law states that the direction of the electric current induced in a conductor by a changing magnetic field is such that the magnetic field created by the induced current opposes changes in the initial magnetic field. It is named after p ...

*The Magnetic Field -

Lines of Force A line of force in Faraday's extended sense is synonymous with Maxwell's line of induction. According to J.J. Thomson, Faraday usually discusses ''lines of force'' as chains of polarized particles in a dielectric, yet sometimes Faraday discusses ...

*The Rotating Copper Disk *Rotating Pepsi Can *

Helmholtz Coils A Helmholtz coil is a device for producing a region of nearly uniform magnetic field, named after the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz. It consists of two electromagnets on the same axis, carrying an equal electric current in the same dire ...

*Electrons Beam

Light and Optics

* Additive Color Mixing * Subtractive Color Mixing *Color of an Object *Light and

Atomic Spectra Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

*Mystery Window *The Radiometer *Polarized Light *

Light Waves Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahe ...

Telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

*Convex, Plane & Concave

Mirrors A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the ima ...

*As Others See You *Your Profiles *Infinite Reflections *Real Image

Wave and Sound

Transverse Wave In physics, a transverse wave is a wave whose oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of the wave's advance. This is in contrast to a longitudinal wave which travels in the direction of its oscillations. Water waves are an example of t ...

s *Sound Pipes

Modern Physics

*Plasma Tube *Cosmic Rays *

Spirograph Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold ...

* Probability Board

Computer Demonstrations

*Chaos Demonstration *

Lissajous Curve A Lissajous curve , also known as Lissajous figure or Bowditch curve , is the graph of a system of parametric equations : x=A\sin(at+\delta),\quad y=B\sin(bt), which describe the superposition of two perpendicular oscillations in x and y dire ...

Demonstration *Your Voice

References

External links

L.R. Ingersoll Physics Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:L.R. Ingersoll Physics Museum Museums in Madison, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison Science museums in Wisconsin University museums in Wisconsin