Newton's Laws
Free-fall due to gravity #1 - In the absence of air resistance (no air), a feather and a hammer fall at the same acceleration.
Free-fall due to gravity #2 - In the absence of air resistance (in a vacuum), feathers and a bowling ball fall at the same acceleration.
Bullet fired -vs.- bullet dropped - Jamie and Adam of Mythbusters show us that a bullet falls vertically at the same acceleration regardless of its horizontal velocity.
Newton's First Law - A ship coming into port has a lot of inertia and cannot stop before crashing into the dock.
Newton's Second Law - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station demonstrate Newton's Second Law.
Newton's Third Law is seen in action with the recoil of a powerful rifle.
Relative Motion - A people mover at the airport helps students visualize addition and subtraction of velocity vectors.
Static Equilibrium - A force diagram analysis of an object in static equilibrium.
Atwood's Machine - This video analyzes Atwood's Machine and looks at a specific example using 125g and 75g as the two masses on the machine.
Circular motion and tangential velocity - This video shows the water drops leaving circular motion in a straight line tangent to the circle demonstrating Newton's First Law.
Energy
Meteroid hits the moon and is visible to the naked eye - NASAs video of a 56,000 mph meteroid hitting the moon
Rotation
Pendulum swing from horizontal - This instructional video goes through using Newton's second law for circular motion to calculate the tension in the pendulum string at the bottom of the swing. Then we use lab equipment to perform the experiment and compare our measurements to our calculations. Finally, we see some humorous applications of the concept in the real world in the form of rope swing wipeouts.
Centripetal Force aboard the International Space Station - An astronaut performs a demonstration of centripetal force onboard the International Space Station.
Rotating Space Habitat. Perspective from inside and outside the habitat as it spins.
Professor Walter Lewin discusses the kinetic energy of rotational motion.
Conservation of Angular Momentum
Four solid spheres of different mass and radii race down an inclined plane. Which will win the race?
Animation of circular motion created by parametric equations. x = Acos(ω t + φ), y = Asin(ω t + φ)
Center of Gravity
Center of Gravity and stability demonstrations - Center of Mass and stability demonstrations
Funny videos of torque and COG - Forklift, Hay Bale Truck
Impulse & Momentum
Bouncing - Bouncing increases impulse on a wooden block, knocking it over.
Car Crash With and Without a Seat Belt
Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics. What happens to vehicles and their occupants in crashes is determined by science.
Example of center of mass maintaining constant velocity in the absence of external forces
Waves
Polarizing filter orientation - Blocking glare depends on the orientation of the polarizing filter.
Polarization and reflection angle - Light is polarized when reflected at an angle.
Eliminating glare with polarized sunglasses - Glare on a car windshield is eliminated with polarized sunglasses.
Standing Waves - Standing waves are demonstrated in both longitudinal waves and transverse waves. Here is a super cool video showing acoustic standing waves that can levitate small objects.
Speed of Sound Lab - Speed of Sound Lab using standing waves in a tube closed at one end.
Parallax - Demonstration of Parallax using reflection of a nail in a mirror.
Infrared: More Than Our Eyes Can See - Dr. Michelle Thaller explains infrared light in this older video, produced by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (then known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) before it launched.
Making an iced latte in the infrared spectrum - See the differences of hot and cold in the infrared spectrum as we make an iced latte.
Electricity
DC Circuits Lab – pt 1 - Part One of Ohm's Law Class Lab. Setting up the multimeter to measure current and voltage.
pt 2 - Part Two of Ohm's Law Class Lab. Reading resistors and collecting the data for our graphs.
Resistivity Demonstrations - Electrical resistance is demonstrated by placing various materials in series with a light bulb. The bulb's brightness is an indication of the resistance of the material.
Electric Fields
Water bending - A thin stream of water is deflected by an electric field from negative charges (electrons).
Electroscope - A short demonstration of the electroscope.
Magnetism
Demonstrations of magnetism and induction in a playlist of YouTube videos.
Hooke’s Law
Hooke's Law basics - Description and demonstration of Hooke's Law and the calculation of the spring constant.
Spring constant and oscillation period - Measuring K constants of springs using Hooke's Law and finding the new K constant when the springs are joined together. Also compares measured periods of oscillation to the calculated value using the equation for period of a spring.
MIT Professor Walter Lewin - Topics covered: Concepts covered in this lecture begin with the restoring force of a spring (Hooke's Law) which leads to an equation of motion that is characteristic of a simple harmonic oscillator (SHO). Using the small angle approximation, a similar expression is reached for a pendulum.
Fun in the classroom
Slow motion videos made at Lynbrook High School - tuning fork, breaking glass, slap in the face, and more!
Slow motion part 2 - includes garden hose rainbow and standing wave on a string