Physics 3D Lab — 107 experiments
The SimOli Physics 3D Lab: 107 university physics practicals in real-time 3D, in 8 branches — Optics and Waves, Mechanics and Properties of Matter, Sound, Oscillations and Resonance and 5 more.
Optics and Waves
Diffraction, interference, polarisation and the behaviour of light.
- Newton’s rings — radius of curvature of a lens / wavelength of light
- Wavelength of the mercury spectrum — plane transmission grating
- Wavelength of a laser using a diffraction grating
- Numerical aperture and acceptance angle of an optical fibre
- Dispersive power / refractive index of a prism — spectrometer
- Air wedge — interference at a wedge / thickness of a thin wire
- Single- and double-slit diffraction
- Particle size determination using a laser
- Wavelength of monochromatic light — Fresnel’s bi-prism
- Specific rotation of a liquid — half-shade polarimeter
- Diffraction grating by minimum deviation — spectrometer
- Wavelength of a laser using a ruler as a grating
- Width of the groove of a compact disc using a laser
- Focal length of a combination of lenses
- Michelson interferometer
- Wavelengths of different colours of light
- Refractive index and dispersion — Abbe’s refractometer
- Angle of divergence of a laser beam
Mechanics and Properties of Matter
Elasticity, viscosity, moments of inertia and the motion of bodies.
- Young’s modulus — bending, cantilever or flexure method
- Rigidity modulus — torsional pendulum / dynamical method
- Coefficient of viscosity of a liquid — Poiseuille’s or Stokes’ method
- Moment of inertia — flywheel, solids or irregular body
- Acceleration due to gravity — simple, bar or Kater’s pendulum
- Modulus of rigidity — Maxwell’s needle
- Poisson’s ratio and the elastic constants
- Surface tension and interfacial surface tension
- Verification of the parallel and perpendicular axes theorems
- Verification of the conservation of energy
- Young’s modulus — Searle’s double bar
- Moment of inertia — bifilar suspension
- Conservation of momentum — ballistic pendulum
- Atwood machine — Newton’s second law
- Rectilinear motion on an inclined plane
- Uniformly accelerated motion — computer-assisted measurement
- Density measurement by pycnometer
Sound, Oscillations and Resonance
Vibrating systems, standing waves, resonance and ultrasonics.
- Velocity of sound and compressibility of a liquid — ultrasonic interferometer
- Frequency of AC mains — sonometer
- Resonance of air columns / volume resonator
- Frequency of a tuning fork — Melde’s experiment
- Resonance and forced oscillations
- Resonant frequency — Pohl’s pendulum
- Coupled oscillator
- Spring-mass oscillator
Heat and Thermodynamics
Conduction, radiation, calorimetry and the gas laws.
- Thermal conductivity of a bad conductor — Lee’s disc method
- Stefan–Boltzmann constant / verification of Stefan’s law
- Specific heat capacity — calorimeter method
- Thermal conductivity of a good conductor — Searle’s method
- Coefficient of thermal conductivity of rubber
- Newton’s law of cooling
- Emissivity of a surface
- Verification of the Clausius–Clapeyron equation
- Coefficient of linear thermal expansion
- Ratio of specific heats Cp/Cv of air — Clement–Desormes method
- Electrical equivalent of heat
Electricity and Magnetism
Bridges, potentiometers, resonant circuits and magnetic fields.
- Resistance / specific resistance — Carey Foster’s bridge
- Potentiometer — calibration of a voltmeter or comparison of EMF
- Series and parallel LCR resonance circuits
- Voltage and frequency measurement using a CRO
- Magnetic field along the axis of a circular coil
- Dielectric constant of a solid or liquid
- Unknown resistance and resistivity — metre bridge
- Conversion of a galvanometer into an ammeter and a voltmeter
- Ohm’s law — resistance of a conductor from its I–V characteristics
- Charging and discharging of a capacitor
- Equipotential surfaces of a point charge and an electric dipole
- Maxwell’s impedance bridge
- De Sauty’s bridge — comparison of capacitances
- Low-pass and high-pass RC filter circuits
- Identification of components in a black box
- Temperature variation of the resistance of a conductor
- Resistance and temperature coefficient of a metal — Wheatstone bridge
- Lorentz force — current balance
- Electromagnetic induction — verification of Faraday’s laws
- B–H curve / hysteresis loop
Semiconductors and Electronics
Diodes, band gaps, the Hall effect and operational amplifiers.
- Planck’s constant using LEDs
- Band gap (forbidden energy gap) of a semiconductor
- Hall effect — charge carrier density of a semiconductor
- I–V characteristics of a semiconductor diode
- I–V characteristics of a Zener diode
- Ripple factor of rectifiers and the effect of filters
- Variation of the conductivity of a semiconductor with temperature
- Solar cell characteristics
- LDR (light dependent resistor) characteristics
- Phototransistor characteristics
- Diode as a temperature sensor
- Fermi energy of a metal
- Logic gates AND, OR and NOT using discrete components
- Clipping circuits
- Integrator using an operational amplifier
- Differentiator using an operational amplifier
- Digital-to-analogue converter using an R–2R ladder network
Modern, Atomic and Nuclear Physics
Spectra, radioactivity, the electron and the quantum world.
- Lattice cell parameter — X-ray diffraction
- Characteristics of a Geiger–Müller tube
- Verification of the inverse square law using a GM tube
- Linear absorption coefficient of gamma radiation
- Nuclear counting statistics — Gaussian distribution
- Franck–Hertz experiment
- e/m of the electron — Thomson’s method
- Specific charge of the electron using a magnetron
- Rydberg constant — hydrogen spectrum
- Zeeman effect
- Ionisation potential of xenon
- Sommerfeld fine structure constant
- Analysis of rotation spectra
- Analysis of rotation–vibration absorption spectra
- Absorption coefficient of KMnO₄ solution
Measurement and Data Analysis
Errors, uncertainty and the treatment of experimental data.
Online Certification Programme for Undergraduate Students
Ten moderately advanced experiments beyond the regular laboratory. Perform all ten yourself to earn the SimOli certificate of completion.
- Millikan’s oil-drop experiment — the charge of the electron
- Electron diffraction — de Broglie wavelength using a graphite target
- Photoelectric effect — Planck’s constant and work function with a vacuum phototube
- Electron spin resonance — the g-factor of DPPH
- Faraday effect — Verdet constant of a glass and a liquid
- Fabry–Pérot etalon — finesse and the separation of the sodium D lines
- Magnetic susceptibility of a paramagnetic solution — Quincke’s method
- Thermionic emission — work function from the Richardson–Dushman equation
- Brownian motion — Boltzmann constant by particle tracking
- Thermal diffusivity of a metal rod — Ångström’s method
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