Overhead plate with ball bearings
Overhead plate with ball bearings.
Magnet & Ball Bearings

 

Code Number: 1L20.66

Demo Title: Orbits on the Overhead/Mass Spectrometer Model

Condition: Excellent

Principle: Orbits Around a Gravity Well

Area of Study: Mechanics and Astronomy

Equipment: 

Overhead plate with ball bearings.

Procedure:

See also: 7D30.90 in Modern Physics and 1L20.66/7D30.90 in Astronomy.

Place the Plexiglas plate with attached ring magnet on the overhead projector.  Roll one of the ball bearings at a grazing angle across the ring magnet.  Watch the ball bearing either be deflected to a different direction, or orbit the magnet.  The ramp can be attached to several places on the plate and will be a great help in controlling ball bearing speed and direction or grazing angle.

References:

  • Michel Gagnon, "A Mass Spectrometer Simulator in Your Computer", TPT, Vol. 50, # 9, Dec. 2012, p. 553.
  • Matthew Lowry, "Teaching Universal Gravitation with Vector Games", TPT, Vol. 46, # 9, December 2008, p. 519.
  • S - 190: "Atoms, Molecules and Solids", DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.
  • David Kutliroff, "A Mass Spectrograph Analog", 101 Classroom Demonstrations and Experiments for Teaching Physics, p. 219.
  • Borislaw Bilash II, David Maiullo, "Model of Mass Spectrometer: A Demo A Day: A Year of Physics Demonstrations, p. 293.