EXPERIMENT GUIDES
Pick one. Book a bench. Run it.
Full protocols with apparatus lists, step-by-step technique, safety notes, and the results you should expect — so you know when you've nailed it.
7 of 19 experiments
Ohm's law: V–I characteristics of a resistor
Build the classic ammeter-voltmeter circuit, vary the current with a rheostat, and show that V/I is constant for a fixed resistor at constant temperature.
Simple pendulum: measuring g
Time a swinging pendulum at five lengths, plot T² against L, and extract the acceleration due to gravity from the gradient. Expect within 2% of 9.81 m/s².
Moments: finding the weight of an unknown mass
Balance a metre ruler pivoted at its centre against an unmarked mass Q, using a 2.0 N load and then a 3.0 N load, and use the principle of moments to find Q's weight two independent ways.
Resistance of a wire: R depends on length (slide-wire method)
Tape ~105 cm of bare constantan wire to a metre rule, slide a contact along it to vary the length between a fixed terminal and the contact, and show that resistance is directly proportional to length.
Refraction through a rectangular glass block
Trace a ray of light into a rectangular glass block with optics pins, sight through the far side to find where it emerges, and show the emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray — displaced sideways, but travelling in the same direction. Measure the angle to confirm it equals the original angle of incidence.
Spring oscillations: series vs parallel stiffness
Hang a mass from two expendable springs — first in series as one 'double spring', then in parallel — and time the vertical oscillation period in each. Repeat across five masses and plot √T2 against √T1: the straight line through the origin reveals how series and parallel springs trade off stiffness.
Deformation of paper cylinders: testing w = k(y − p)
Roll a strip of paper into a cylinder and stand it under a spring-loaded 100 g mass. Squash it by a fixed amount and read how much the springs 'give back' — then test whether a wider strip needs proportionally more give, via w = k(y − p).