Physics Workshop for teachers

A Physics workshop titled Experimentation: The Poetry of Reality was organised at the Sadhu Vaswani International School on 7th May, 2016. Ms. Archana Raichandani and Mr. Pallab Roy of our School were present at the workshop. The workshop was led by Dr. B N Das, retired professor, Presidency College, Calcutta.The objective of the exercise was to demonstrate ways to conduct innovative experiments and activities in the classroom using low cost material so as to make the learning of Physics realistic and more accessible to the students. A number of experiments were demonstrated to explain certain phenomena. Some of them are as below.Hot air being lighter, rises.

This was illustrated with a cylinder made of tea bag paper. Upon burning completely, the tea bag rose as it became lighter. Cool air from the sides then took its place and exerted pressure on the teabag to push it up further. The formation of clouds was shown by filling a plastic bottle with a small amount of water. Then the bottle was shaken, pressed and released. Clouds of vapour began to appear in the bottle. The process of scattering was beautifully illustrated with the help of an incense stick and a laser beam. The beam was directed on the incense stick while it was burning. The path of smoke formed by the burning incense stick immediately became visible. Why does the sun appear reddish at the time of sunrise and sunset? This phenomenon was explained while focussing the light of a torch on paper sheets with varying thickness. The thickness represents the distance in the atmosphere. When light travels over a long distance through the atmosphere, then red colour with the maximum wavelength gets least scattered, hence becoming visible.A verification of the laws of reflection and refraction was made by focusing a laser beam on a mirror as well as a convex lens at different angles of incidence. These activities used simple techniques to explain phenomena. Being practicable, they were easily applicable in the classroom and can be used to demonstrate concepts effectively. Ms. Archana Raichandani.