Sci/tech Demos & Experiments

Here are descriptions of about 200 demos and experiments that I’ve run over the last decade or so, mostly in the last four years. (It will take time to get these all up on the site.)  The depth of description ranges from minimal, for demos or experiments found in similar form on other sites, in books, etc., to more elaborate for those I developed myself more intensively.  I aim to provide evaluations of how well each demo or experiment worked, practically and in imparting concepts.  I distinguish demos, which at one limit are just “gee-whiz” teasers to stir some interest, from experiments that follow the scientific method.

I won’t claim any scientific discoveries.  I’ve added some novelty, I believe, to some demos and experiments.  I’ve morphed some demos presented elsewhere into experiments that test hypotheses.  An example is elephant toothpaste, in which the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and O₂creates a mass of foam, given some surfactant in the mixture.  Measuring the volume tests the hypothesis that all the O is liberated.