Physics at the dining table (or, do not play with your food: entertain and educate your fellow guests)

Abstract

A typical place settingfor dinner affords the opportunity to demonstrate about 50 aspects of physics (see the appendix, where they are listed for reference). They range from the commonplace to the fundamental and include one of the consequences of global warming as well as some basic astronomy. One or two require simple imaginary additions to the table setting to ‘perform’ the demonstrations, thus allowing mention of the role of gedanken experiments in the development of physics.

Using river locks to teach hydrodynamic concepts

“…An apparent paradox in communicating vessels systems is discussed in the work of Miranda 15 , in which the author shows that, for a liquid in any connected vessel system, it is not possible to realize simultaneously Pascal's principle, mass and energy conservation. In addition, there are propositions of hydrostatic teaching from experimental activities using low cost materials, e.g., plastic bottles 16 and water cup 17 .…”

“…In addition, there are propositions of hydrostatic teaching from experimental activities using low cost materials, e.g., plastic bottles [16] and water cups [17]. Finally, the transport of water from the roots to the crown of trees is discussed for two conduit architectures in the work of [18] and it is proposed to show this to undergraduate students in order to get an interdisciplinary communication with biology.…”