At-home labs
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The table below lists possible labs to do at home for the prescribed practicals.
Prescribed Practicals
Grab Bag Content and Descriptions
Practical 1: Determining the acceleration of free-fall (2.1)
Students could vary the distance a marble rolls along a coffee table at home when one end is slightly raised by stacking books under one end. They would answer the research question: What is the relationship between the distance a marble travels and the time taken to travel that distance when the marble is rolling down a ramp? Similar to Galileo’s first investigations with ‘diluted gravity’. The students then use vector components to determine the acceleration of free-fall.
Grab bag materials: marble, meter stick/measuring tape/, protractor.
Practical 2: Applying the calorimetric techniques of specific heat capacity or specific latent heat (3.1)
This allows exploration of both specific and latent heat for known and unknown materials.
Practical 3: Investigating at least one gas law (3.2)
This allows exploration of the gas laws: constant volume, constant temperature, constant pressure and the ideal gas law.
Practical 4: Investigating the speed of sound (4.2)
Here are two ways to measure the speed of sound, both using a smart phone with .
Method 1 Distance and Time: the student will measure the distance and the phone will measure the time between sounds. It can be done with one or two phones. Here two videos that to show your students: (2 minutes) and more (6 minutes).
Grab bag materials: meter stick/measuring tape/.
Method 2: using a bottle and smart phone. Set up is shown in and example of data processing is shown in this . While the video shows a wine bottle, I have gotten decent results with a normal 500 mL plastic bottle.
Grab bag materials: if students do not have access to using for cooking at home they can use the following for a regular drinking glass to measure the volume.
Practical 5: Determining refractive index (4.4)
The PhET simulation, with its guides student inquiry into Snell's Law. You can then test your students by assigning them to determine the refractive index of a 'mystery' substance.
Practical 6: Investigating one or more of the factors that affect resistance (5.2)
As the graphite in pencils conduct electricity, students can measure the resistance of a pencil line with a multimeter. Using graph paper easily allows students to vary the length or width of the pencil line.
Grab bag materials: multimeter, graph paper.
Practical 7: Determining internal resistance (5.3)
The PhET simulation allows students to set an internal resistance of a cell and then verify it by obtaining pairs of voltmeter and ammeter readings over a wide range.
Practical 8: Investigating half-life (7.1)
This lab can easily be done with coins or candies.
Practical 9: Investigating Young’s double-slit (HL only) (9.3)
The PhET simulation allows investigation into double slits.
Some students may also have access to pen lasers. If so they can conduct the experiment at home. Here is a video that shows how to modify a laser pen for the experiment.
Grab bag materials: meter stick/measuring tape/.
Practical 10: Investigating a diode bridge rectification (HL only) (11.2)
The Falstad simulation will allow students to build half wave and full wave rectifiers and display the input and output voltage.
Other Labs:
The Phyphox app has a that can be done with the students smartphone. Motion labs are generally very open and accessible.
For other topics you may need simulations. Fortunately, we have a lot to support student learning.