College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
5E60.12 - Piezoelectric Crystal Demo
This demo works on the principle that the bending of the special crystal produces a voltage discharge. The gas light bulbs act as visual indicators of this discharge.
The flash rocks have quartz crystals impregnated in them so that when you subject them to stress the quartz gives an electrical discharge. Stress means hitting, rubbing, or squeezing the rocks together.
Add 2 drops of methanol to the film canister at the end of the Piezo popper. Shake vigorously. Point away from all individuals and pull the trigger. This can be used to show how a gas engine works.
A variation of the first demo described here is to solder a small neon bulb to the contacts of a used grill lighter. Pressing the trigger causes the bulb to flash briefly.
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- H. Richard Crane, "How Things Work: Mini-Motors Driven by Waves", TPT, Vol. 32, #6, Sept. 1994, p. 360.
- H. Richard Crane, "The Quartz Analog Watch: A Wonder Machine", TPT, Vol. 31, #8, Nov. 1993, p. 501.
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- Judith Bransky, "A Measurement Using the Piezoelectric Effect", TPT, Vol. 27, #8, Nov. 1989, p. 637.
- Eugene P. Scheide, "The Piezoelectric-Crystal Mercury Dosimeter", TPT, Vol. 15, #1, Jan. 1977, p. 47.
- Robert E. Apfel, "Acoustic Surface Waves in Piezoelectric Materials—A New Technology", TPT, Vol. 12, #2, Feb. 1974, p. 109.
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- Francis Duck, "Paul Langevin, U-Boats, and Ultrasonics", Physics Today, Vol. 75, #11, Nov. 2022, p. 42.
- Philip F. Schewe, "Giant Piezoresistance", Physics Today, Vol. 61, #6, June 2008, p. 20.
- Stephen G. Benka, "Putting the Squeeze on Ferroelectrics", Physics Today, Vol. 61, #3, Mar. 2008, p. 18.
- Yu-Meng You, Wei-Qiang Liao, Dewei Zhao, Heng-Yun Ye, Yi Zhang, Qionghua Zhou, Xianghong Niu, Jinlan Wang, Peng-Fei Li, Da-Wei Fu, Zheming Wang, Song Gao, Kunlun Yang, Jun-Ming Liu, Jiangyu Li, Yanfa Yan, and Ren-Gen Xiong, "An Organic-Inorganic Perovskite Ferroelectric with Large Piezoelectric Response", Science, Vol. 357, #6348, July 2017, p. 306.
- C. L. Stong, "The Amateur Scientist: An Amateur's Improved Design for a Homemade Quartz Crystal Clock", Scientific American, Vol. 204, #6, June, 1961, p. 181.
- Freier and Anderson, "Ea-9", A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.
- Julien Clinton Sprott, "2.23, Ethanol Vapor Explosion", Physics Demonstrations, ISBN 0-299-21580-6, p. 126.
- H. Richard Crane, "Mini-Motors Driven by Waves", How Thing Work (1983 - 1995), p. 136.
- Simon Quellen Field, "The Mark II Film Can Cannon", Gonzo Gizmos, p. 154 - 155.
- Alan Holden and Phylis Morrison, "The Piezoelectric Effect", Crystals and Crystal Growing, p. 225 - 234.
- Arthur B. Ellis, Margret J. Geselbracht, Brian J. Johnson, George C. Lisensky, and William R. Robinson, "Atoms and Electrons", Chapter 2, Teaching General Chemistry - A Materials Science Companion, p. 20.
- Arthur B. Ellis, Margret J. Geselbracht, Brian J. Johnson, George C. Lisensky, and William R. Robinson, "An Introduction to Materials Science", Chapter 1, Teaching General Chemistry - A Materials Science Companion, p. 12.
- Arthur B. Ellis, Margret J. Geselbracht, Brian J. Johnson, George C. Lisensky, and William R. Robinson, "Piezoelectric Crystals", Teaching General Chemistry - A Materials Science Companion, p. 42.
- Janice VanCleave, "Flash!", 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird, & Fun Experiments, p. 19.
- Fei Li et al., "Giant Piezoelectricity of Sm-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 Single Crystals", Science, Vol. 364, #6437, Apr. 2019, p. 264.
- Borislaw Bilash II, “Bottle Launching“, A Demo A Day – A Year of Physical Science Demonstrations, p. 61.
Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist. The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose. The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources. Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks. These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage. Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.