Tales from the Prep Room: the Ames Room
Produced by the Royal Institution, this short video clip shows how perception can be confused in an Ames room. The video shows the production of the room, which has a checked floor, windows and ceiling that appear to be normal but is in fact distorted. The overall effect is that moving to different parts of the room give a distorted…
Tales from the Prep Room: Diffraction
From the Royal Institution, this short video shows how to use a laser and a piece of thin wire to show a diffraction pattern. Adding more wires into the path of the laser changes the diffraction pattern that is generated. Another diffraction pattern is seen when the laser is aimed at the fine coil of a filament lamp. The process…
Cloud Chamber
This video from the Royal Institution shows tracks within a cloud chamber. A supersaturated layer of alcohol vapour exists just above the floor of the chamber and the ionisation radiation causes vapour to condense along the path of the radiation. An Americium source is introduced into the chamber so that tracks from alpha radiation…
Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video demonstrates how to freeze argon gas using liquid nitrogen. The solid argon can be used to show the transitions from solid to liquid and to gas. Argon freezes at around -190oC and boils at about -187oC, so it has a very narrow liquid phase. The video shows how the solid argon quickly…
Tales from the Prep Room: Magnus Cups
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video demonstrates the effects of air movement over a spinning surface and how it can be used to generate lift. The demonstration is simple and uses just two polystyrene cups joined to produce a 'Magnus Cup.' When launched, the Magnus Cup spins backwards and this generates lift…
Tales from the Prep Room: Lighting a Match with Water
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video shows how superheated steam can be generated and used to light a match. The clip shows how the equipment is set up to produce steam and then heat it further in a copper coil. This produces superheated steam at a temperature in excess of 200oC. The demonstration can be used to stimulate…
4/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Video
Thorium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Physicist Suzie Sheehy demonstrates how element thorium could be used as a fuel in future nuclear reactors. Unlike uranium, thorium needs to be bombarded…
Colour Mixing
This video from the Royal Institution describes how colour mixing works. Colours of light cannot be mixed in physics but different cones in your eyes are sensitive to different colours. The brain interprets a mixture between the two as a colour somewhere between the two. In the case of magenta, your brain invents this colour…