Okay, this is a reach. Some equipment, such as balls, ramps, rules, and cars, aren’t harmful. (BTW we use a one-meter board cut at Lowe’s as a ramp. There was some difficulty explaining why we needed exactly one meter.). There are several small-scale or micro-scale labs in Physics.
Circuitry: Petri Dish Electrolysis explores electric current. By all means watch the Flinn video! (This reddit post might help, if you understand redox. I use LEO the Lion says GER, not OIL RIG. CAT goes GER helps to reinforce cathode.)
More Circuitry: Another small-scale circuit lab is the Exploratorium’s Squishy Circuits. (Here is the commercial Squishy Circuits product. Here are instructions for using play dough with Makey Makey.). The Exploratorium’s instructions use a button battery—creating a small scale experiment.
Gas Laws: Sizing up Temperature, Charles’ Law, is both a Chemistry and Physics lab.
Optics: Laser Jello requires laser pointers. Rob uses unflavored gelatin and Jello in Petri dishes.
Newton’s Laws: Start with the STEMonstration video before reading Air-Powered Mass, part of the Mass vs.Weight Series. NASA’s STEMonstrations, such as Momentum, tend to be small scale, rather than micro-scale, and use simple materials, such as marbles. (Yes, wading through NASA’s resources is frustrating.)
Heat, Temperature, and Conduction uses water and metal washers—my type of lab! It’s simple, explains a concept, and doesn’t cost much. Use the cup and metal washers with this Inertia demo or this easy lever activity.
I have had exactly one student interested in Ferrofluids. The kit and materials are expensive. Here is a bit of background. I did find DIY Nano!, written for kiddos. Whenever I’m exploring a new topic, I start with elementary or middle school materials. Really. Nanoscale is more of a science than Physics topic; however, I think high school, upper-level students are better prepared to understand nano scale ideas.

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