Physics open evening ideas

Open evenings are an ideal way to showcase the science department to prospective students and to stimulate enthusiasm in studying Physics.  

But where to start with choosing what to demonstrate? Our in house technicians have organised many open evenings in schools and have chosen their favourite demonstrations for open evenings in the Physics department, to give you a helping hand.

KS3 Physics open evening ideas

You are looking to inspire an interest in Physics, so choose these hands-on demonstrations to get those budding Physicists enthused.

Simple circuits

Students like the opportunity to have a play with simple circuitry equipment. Have an array of circuit components available for visitors to arrange into their own circuits.  You could also provide a couple of activity sheets showing circuits for visitors to try to assemble themselves.

You will need

1. Basic Electricity Kit - BEK by Unilab
2. Elementary Electricity Kit - BEK by Unilab
3. Pack of work cards for the Elementary Electricity Kit - BEK by Unilab
4. D Batteries

Science toys circus

Various toys can be used to enthuse prospective students about the Sciences, whilst having a bit of fun with the equipment.

You will need

1. Sunset egg
2. Balancing pteranodon
3. Tornado in a bottle
4. Plastic Magdeburg hemispheres
5. Coloured floating ring magnets - Pack of 5
6. Planets cube
7. SpillNot

KS5 Physics open evening ideas 

Students at KS5 have elected for further Physics study, so this is the time to showcase the depth of learning opportunities available to them.

Wave demonstrations

Set up a method of determining the frequency of stationary waves using a vibration generator and a power signal generator. A ripple tank is also an excellent visual item for open evening.

You will need

1. Vibration generator
2. Power signal generator
3. Ripple tank tank
4. CLEAPSS Document GL142 Setting Up And Using a Ripple Tank

Anatomy of the eye

Demonstrate the wonders of the eye, including how the lens fine tunes vision by focusing and light refraction. You can provide sheep eyes for the students to conduct a dissection to identify the internal parts of the eye. Then remove and clean the lens, using it to view small text on a piece of newspaper.  A range of model eye kits and eye models could also be available for reference.  Dissection equipment should be closely monitored throughout the open evening. 

You will need

1. Dissection set
2. Dissection board
3. Fluorescein 5g
4. LED.white
5. Sheep eyes
6. Plastic aprons
7. Human eye model
8. Model eye kit
9. CLEAPSS Document G267 Dissection a starter guide to health and safety

Advanced circuitry

A large array of basic and advanced electrical components could be made available for visitors to construct their own circuits.  The equipment could reflect such required experiments as the charge and discharge of capacitors, determination of the resistivity of a wire, and emf and internal resistance of electrical cells.

You will need

1. Basic Electricity Kit – BEK by Unilab
2. BEK Advanced Components
3. Resistivity apparatus
4. Bench power supply

Projectile motion

Demonstrate projectile motion in a fun, visual way with our monkey and hunter launcher. As the projectile is fired, the monkey is released from the electromagnet.  The projectile will hit the monkey as it falls.  This demonstration should always be set up so that visitors are not able to walk in front of the projectile launcher.

You will need

1. Monkey and hunter launcher

Get advice about Physics demonstrations for open evenings

If you have any questions about setting up Physics demonstrations for open evening, please contact our Technical Support Team via techsupport@philipharris.co.uk