Physics Kit: Let’s break down the contents!

Do you look at a kit and wonder how the materials are used?  I love to cannibalize kits!  I also like to track down labs germane to the materials in a kit.  Let’s do that!  My husband, Rob, teaches Math and Physics for the local Co-op.  He has a background in math and finance and a strong interest in physics.  While he had experience as an adjunct at the University of Delaware, he didn’t have any experience planning Physics’ labs.  Guess what?  I have loads of experience with Physical Science and labs; I just ramped up the lab content.  It’s my experience planning labs which helps me to identify equipment and its uses.  

First I look at an introductory syllabus.  While this kit isn’t extensive, it does have key items used in loads of Physics labs.

Many of the labs which use similar  equipment are in the Physics 6 Lab Manual.  The protractor and washers can be used to measure Freefalling Washers. It might be used to make a Protractor Launcher.  The pulley can be used with the spring scale and washers in a standard pulleys lab.

Look at the Slinky lying between the safety glasses and hole punch.  A Slinky is useful to learn about Waves.  The blocks may be for Center of Mass, as is the photo of the bag near the bottom from another kit.  Yes, I dig when I want information.

Aluminum Pan: The hole punch is to create paper chads to use with static electricity labs, such as Exploratorium’s Charge and Carry.  The colorful rocket flingers can be used with rocket-related labs, such as this Rocket Range Experiment.

The acrylic, tubular, dynamometer are spring scales.  Apparent Weight, Measure Weight, and Force and Mass are basic Physics labs using a spring scale.  See the bag with the steel rod, paper clips, and blocks of wood?  I think the bag has a magnet/and or washers.  My guess is the Floating Paperclip Lab.

Note in the lab list at the top is Buoyancy and Archimedes.  There are pipettes and a nut in the kit; the lab is  likely a Cartesian Diver. Here are instructions. (BTW, the nut and pipettes are not easy to spot.)  

Physics has loads of measurements.  The wooden blocks and items in the bag on the left can be used for density labs and measures.  The plastic egg might be used for Kinder Eggs and Physics—just a guess with the clay.

I don’t see a thermometer.  However, several Gas Law Experiments use pipettes, string, balloons, and cups.  Additionally, many of these lab materials can be used with Kinematics labs.  It is much easier to buy a kit with a lab manual.  But, you can find many of these materials at Walmart and rig your own labs.

I looked for clues on eBay, too.  Sometimes the kit contents are labeled Kinematics,  Ideal Gas Law, Thermodynamics, and Center of Mass.  Free Fall and Lab 1D Kinematics (part of Kinematics) uses hex nuts and string.  The hex nuts fall into an aluminum pan.  

Below is the Ideal Gas bag with pipettes, a syringe (cap), and a cup. The Ideal Gas Law includes Charles’ Law lab, Boyle’s Law Lab, or Gas Laws.  Another bag in the kit is marked Thermodynamics with a bag of sand.  This might be Shaken Sand.

 

Every Physics kit is customized by the instructor.  Contents vary.  Some do list the labs; others only list the contents.

Compare this kit with QSL kits, which are loaded.  Be sure any used kit has a lab manual!  You might not want to spend umpteen hours looking for labs to go with the kit.