This is a list of scientific demonstrations used in educational demonstrations and

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

lectures.

Physics

* Balsa wood bridge — demonstrates

compressive strength In mechanics, compressive strength (or compression strength) is the capacity of a material or Structural system, structure to withstand Structural load, loads tending to reduce size (Compression (physics), compression). It is opposed to ''tensil ...

and

tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate ...

, teaches engineering thinking *

Egg drop competition The egg drop contest is an experiment usually performed by college or primary school students. Competitors typically attempt to create a device that can keep a raw chicken egg intact when dropped from a height. Students are asked to build a dev ...

— demonstrates compressive strength, teaches engineering thinking * Hand boiler — demonstrates vapour-liquid equilibrium and simple

heat engine A heat engine is a system that transfers thermal energy to do mechanical or electrical work. While originally conceived in the context of mechanical energy, the concept of the heat engine has been applied to various other kinds of energy, pa ...

principles *

Newton's cradle Newton's cradle is a device, usually made of metal, that demonstrates the principles of Momentum, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy in physics with swinging Sphere, spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, i ...

— demonstrates

elastic collision In physics, an elastic collision occurs between two physical objects in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies remains the same. In an ideal, perfectly elastic collision, there is no net loss of kinetic energy into other forms such a ...

conservation of momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...

, and

conservation of energy The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant; it is said to be Conservation law, ''conserved'' over time. In the case of a Closed system#In thermodynamics, closed system, the principle s ...

* Gauss gun * Plate trick or Dirac belt trick — demonstrates

spinor In geometry and physics, spinors (pronounced "spinner" IPA ) are elements of a complex numbers, complex vector space that can be associated with Euclidean space. A spinor transforms linearly when the Euclidean space is subjected to a slight (infi ...

s and the double cover of

SO(3) In mechanics and geometry, the 3D rotation group, often denoted SO(3), is the group of all rotations about the origin of three-dimensional Euclidean space \R^3 under the operation of composition. By definition, a rotation about the origin is a ...

SU(2) In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree , denoted , is the Lie group of unitary matrices with determinant 1. The matrices of the more general unitary group may have complex determinants with absolute value 1, rather than real 1 ...

* Prince Rupert's Drop — demonstrates

supercooling Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid. Per the established international definition, supercooling means ''‘cooling a substance be ...

and

tensile stress In continuum mechanics, stress is a physical quantity that describes forces present during deformation. For example, an object being pulled apart, such as a stretched elastic band, is subject to ''tensile'' stress and may undergo elongati ...

Self-siphoning beads The chain fountain phenomenon, also known as the Mould effect, self-siphoning beads, or Newton beads is a physical phenomenon observed with a chain placed inside a jar. One end of the chain is pulled from the jar and is allowed to fall under the ...

— demonstrates momentum, energy and inertia *

Water rocket A water rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air. Like all rocket engines, it operates on the principle of Newton's third law, Newton's third law o ...

— demonstrates

, the

gas laws The laws describing the behaviour of gases under fixed pressure, volume, amount of gas, and absolute temperature conditions are called gas laws. The basic gas laws were discovered by the end of the 18th century when scientists found out that re ...

and basic

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

ry *

Franklin bells Franklin bells (also known as lightning bells) are an early demonstration of electric charge designed to work with a Leyden jar or a lightning rod. Franklin bells are only a qualitative indicator of electric charge and were used for simple demon ...

— demonstrate electric charges *

Oxford Electric Bell The Oxford Electric Bell or Clarendon Dry Pile is an experimental electric bell, in particular a type of bell that uses the electrostatic clock principle that was set up in 1840 and which has run nearly continuously ever since. It was one of t ...

— an experimental electric bell that was set up in 1840 and which has run nearly continuously ever since *

Wimshurst machine The Wimshurst machine or Wimshurst influence machine is an electrostatic generator, a machine for generating high voltages developed between 1880 and 1883 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832–1903). It has a distinctive appearance wi ...

— an electrostatic generator * Shooting a

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

through a

plank Plank or The Plank may refer to: *Plank (wood), flat, elongated, and rectangular timber with parallel faces *Plank (exercise), an isometric exercise for the abdominal muscles Arts and entertainment * ''The Plank'' (1967 film), a British comedy s ...

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. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

— demonstrates the rotation of Earth

Chemistry

* Ammonia fountain — introduces concepts like

solubility In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a chemical substance, substance, the solute, to form a solution (chemistry), solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form su ...

and the

at entry level. * Barking dog reaction — demonstrates rapid

exothermic In thermodynamics, an exothermic process () is a thermodynamic process or reaction that releases energy from the system to its surroundings, usually in the form of heat, but also in a form of light (e.g. a spark, flame, or flash), electricity (e ...

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

* Blue bottle (chemical reaction) — demonstrates reduction and oxidation reactions, and chemical colour change *

Chemical garden file:Chemical garden.jpg, Comparison of chemical gardens grown by NASA scientists on the International Space Station (left) and on the ground (right) file:Silicate garden growing 0001.ogv, A chemical garden while growing file:Silikatna bašta - ko ...

* Diet Coke and Mentos eruption — demonstrates bubble

nucleation In thermodynamics, nucleation is the first step in the formation of either a new Phase (matter), thermodynamic phase or Crystal structure, structure via self-assembly or self-organization within a substance or mixture. Nucleation is typically def ...

* Dry ice color show *

Elephant toothpaste Elephant's toothpaste is a hot foamy substance caused by the quick decomposition of hydrogen peroxide () using potassium iodide (KI) or yeast and warm water as a catalyst. How rapidly the reaction proceeds majorly depends on the concentration o ...

Fizz keeper Effervescence is the escape of gas from an aqueous solution and the foaming or fizzing that results from that release. The word effervescence is derived from the Latin verb ''fervere'' (to boil), preceded by the adverb ''ex''. It has the same l ...

Flame test A flame test is relatively quick test for the presence of some elements in a sample. The technique is archaic and of questionable reliability, but once was a component of qualitative inorganic analysis. The phenomenon is related to pyrotechnics ...

Magic sand Hydrophobic sand (or magic sand) is a toy made from sand coated with a hydrophobe, hydrophobic compound. The presence of the hydrophobic compound causes the grains of sand to adhere to one another and form cylinder (geometry), cylinders (to minimi ...

— demonstrates

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thu ...

substances * Mercury beating heart — demonstrates

electrochemical Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve electrons moving via an electronically conducting phase (typi ...

redox reaction. and an effect of a non-homogeneous

electrical double layer Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

* Screaming jelly babies — demonstrates the

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

within candy * Using

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

to shatter a rose * Detonating a cloud of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

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