Northeastern Illinois University
Society of Physics Students

One of the main goals of the National SPS is to encourage outreach programs that improve public awareness of physics.  As a chapter of SPS, the responsibility falls to us to conduct this outreach.  For us, the program is still in its infancy.

In the long term, our plan is to develop labs and demonstrations that can be performed in grammar schools and high schools in our neighboring community.  To date, we have been brainstorming possible lab ideas AND we've made contact with a  local high school science department for information.  Following is a list of what we still need to accomplish, and then a list containing possible lab ideas.

To Do Checklist

• Decide whether to convert the outreach program into a project and assign a project leader
• Decide on reasonable labs or demonstrations to perform
• Create an expected budget
• Acquire materials to make the lab completely self-contained
• Contact localschools to get their impressions of the program, and plan presentation dates
• Develop documentation such as lab manuals and demonstration talking points
• Identify learning goals for each lab, and design documentation with that in mind

Possible Labs/Demonstrations

• Young Experiment - This proved the wavelike properties of light. Later it was used to confirm light's duality.
• Chladni Plates - These are vibrating plates with sand or salt on them. The dimmensions and material of the plate produces unique interference patterns from the compression waves.  The salt or sand settles in the regions of destructive interference.
• Wave Lab - Use slinkies and taut rubber rope to show the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves and calculate wave speed from wavelength and frequency.
• Egg Protector - Design and build a protection system for an egg that's dropped from a height.