List of scientific demonstrations

This is a list of scientific demonstrations used in educational demonstrations and popular science lectures.

Physics

• Balsa wood bridge — demonstrates compressive strength and tensile strength, teaches engineering thinking
• Egg drop competition — demonstrates compressive strength, teaches engineering thinking
• Hand boiler — demonstrates vapour-liquid equilibrium and simple heat engine principles
• Newton's cradle — demonstrates elastic collision, conservation of momentum, and conservation of energy
• Prince Rupert's Drop — demonstrates supercooling and tensile stress
• Self-siphoning beads
• Water rocket — demonstrates conservation of momentum, conservation of energy, the gas laws and basic rocketry
• Franklin bells
• Oxford Electric Bell
• Wimshurst machine

Chemistry

• Ammonia fountain — introduces concepts like solubility and the gas laws at entry level.
• Barking dog reaction — demonstrates rapid exothermic chemical reaction
• Blue bottle (chemical reaction) — demonstrates reduction and oxidation reactions, and chemical colour change
• Chemical garden
• Diet Coke and Mentos eruption
• Elephant toothpaste
• Fizz keeper
• Flame test
• Magic sand
• Mercury beating heart — demonstrates electrochemical redox reaction. and an effect of a non-homogeneous electrical double layer
• Screaming jelly babies

Miscellaneous

• Al-Biruni's reaction time
• Alhazen's camera obscura, lamp experiment and magnifying lens
• Al-Jazari's crankshaft, elephant clock and programmable robots
• Avenzoar's parasites
• Detonating a cloud of flour
• Foucault's pendulum
• Galileo Galilei's ball experiments, pendulum and telescope
• Heron's fountain and aeolipile
• Ibn al-Nafis' pulmonary circulation and coronary circulation
• Gyroscopic bicycle wheel
• Shooting a candle through a plank
• Taqi al-Din's alarm clock, steam turbine
• Using a linear motor as a gun
• Using liquid nitrogen to shatter a rose
• William Harvey's circulatory system