Alessandra Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I am trying to put together some physics lab stuff for ds. He is in ps and beginning the physics portion of his physical science course. It is a demanding honors course -- having extra practice at home should help (I hope). I have been poring over the Home Science Tools catalogue. I would like a happy medium between Janice VanCleeve (whom I love) physics with household supplies and the big $$$$ science supply houses. So, anyone here (Regentrude??) has some expertise, could you help me figure out what I need. * = pretty sure I want Electricity/Static/Circuits/Magnetism I think I have what I need. HST has an Electricity kit, but I already have most of the stuff in it. Perhaps I can get them to send me the study guide if I place a big order? HST study guides are excellent! http://www.hometrainingtools.com/electricity-investigation-kit/p/EL-KIT01/ We have the big SnapCircuits kit. Sound/Waves * HST Sound measurent kit http://www.hometrainingtools.com/sound-measurement-kit/p/MC-SOUNKIT/ Ring stand & burette clamp for above Slinky Extra tuning forks??? Light/Optics * HST Optics bench kit + candle holder which is not included with kit http://www.hometrainingtools.com/optic-bench-kit/p/KT-OPBENCH/ Additional long convex lens to make telescope, microscope as per instructions Diffraction grating, polarizing film, refraction box -- no idea what these are for Anything for color? Spectroscope -- is it used for anything besides burning chemicals (which ds already did in chemistry) Thermodynamics * HST Thermal conductivity set http://www.hometrainingtools.com/thermal-conductivity-kit/p/MC-THERKIT/ Forces/Motion/Energy/Machines I am at a loss here! Our spring scales have disappeared, so I will need to replce those. We have old, never used K’nex kits, with extra teacher guides that make them a bit more sophisticated: Wheels & Axles Levers & Pulleys Gears ???? HST has a Physics Introduction kit, worth the $? http://www.hometrainingtools.com/physics-introduction-kit/p/KT-PHYSICS/ I would love some advice! Pretend that money is no object, within reason. We can do some homemade things (trying a van der Graaf generator). But I would like NOT to be running around looking for too many miscellaneous ‘household’ objects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 sorry, no help here. We did physics lab mostly with household supplies, and borrowed some stuff from the lab at school. The quality of a physics lab is not so much in the sophisticated experimental equipment, but in the sophisticated analysis of the data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 HST has great customer service. They've sent me some of their guides and I've bought some for about $1. Just email them and ask. I did a lot of conceptual physics labs that are free on the Arbor Science site here: http://www.arborsci.com/conceptual-physics-supplementary-labs Some of the labs are not practical, but I found them a great starting place for physics labs. I think I bought all my supplies from HST. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 sorry, no help here. We did physics lab mostly with household supplies, and borrowed some stuff from the lab at school. The quality of a physics lab is not so much in the sophisticated experimental equipment, but in the sophisticated analysis of the data. I agree. If physics were not my weakest subject, I could probably work with less. But, alas, my knowledge is embarrassingly thin. I am following along with ds's textbook and leaning what I can, just for fun. As for ds, i can't teach him, but I can provide some things so that he can repeat some experiments at home. He did ok with static electricity, using a homemade electroscope instead of the more sophisticated one at school, and we had the other things we needed. The school lab moves really fast, so extra practice is a plus. His teacher gives a lot of extra problems besides what is in the textbook. And thank you for the reminder about data! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 HST has great customer service. They've sent me some of their guides and I've bought some for about $1. Just email them and ask. I did a lot of conceptual physics labs that are free on the Arbor Science site here: http://www.arborsci.com/conceptual-physics-supplementary-labs Some of the labs are not practical, but I found them a great starting place for physics labs. I think I bought all my supplies from HST. Double like this. I had looked at the arbor website in terms of equipment and decided I wnated less choice.. That's a first for me, lol. But I missed the labs -- what an excellent source to help ds review. Good to know HST is generous with their guides. Some are online; others are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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