Hands-on experiments on magnetism and superconductivity for secondary schools

Greg Ireson1), Grzegorz Karwasz2), Wim Peeters3), Eryk Rajch4)

1)University of Loughborough, UNITED KINGDOM
2)Faculty of Engineering, Trento University, ITALY
3)University of Antwerp, BELGIUM
4)Instytut Fizyki, Pomeranian Pedagogical Academy, POLAND


karwasz@science.unitn.it

"Supercomet 2" Leonardo da Vinci EU network

We discuss methods in which simple experiments on magnetism and superconductivity can be introduced at a secondary school level, in a pan-European dimension. Three classes of experimental set-ups are proposed:

  1. complex equipment, owned by university or local education centre and loaned to schools at request after previous training of teachers; an example is the Leybold apparatus for measurements of transition temperature in superconductors
  2. cheap intermediate set-ups to be used in single schools; several examples of magnetic levitation and illustrations of Lenz's principle would form this packet
  3. easy experiments which can be constructed at zero cost by individual teachers, like the model of Volta's electrophore made of a polystyrene "glass".

Didactical aims and constructions details will be given of these set-ups.