TESS - Training and Experimental System for Students

Measurement of length

Principle

The students should measure length, diameter, and hole depth of various objects with a measuring tape and/or vernier caliper as possible. In doing this they should choose and use the more suitable measuring device. The results should be entered in the ...

Measurement of time

Principle

The student should count the oscillations of a pendulum while timing them with the aid of a stopwatch. To determine the dependence of the oscillation period on  the length of the pendulum is shortened by 50% in the second part of the experiment. ...

Determination of the mass of solid and liquid bodies

Principle

1. The students should determine the mass of solid bodies with the aid of a balance. 

2. The measurement of the mass of liquids can only be performed using a container. The students should determine the mass from the difference of two m ...

Determination of the volume of regular and irregular bodies

Principle

The students should determine the volume of 3 solid bodies. In doing this they should know that the cubic meter (m³) is the unit of volume and also that the term liter (l) is very common.

1. On immersion of a solid body i ...

Determination of the density of solids

Principle

In the previous experiments on determination of mass and volume (ME 1.3 and ME 1.4), the students have learned that both metal columns have the same volume but different masses. They know that the two objects consist of iron and aluminium. Obviou ...

Determination of the density of liquids

Principle

In the determination of the density of solids in Experiment ME 1.5, the density was determined as the quotient of mass and volume from a weighing to determine the mass and measurement of volume by different methods. As a prerequisite for this experime ...

Determination of the density of air

Principle

The density of gases can, in principle, be determined in the same way as for solid bodies and liquids: by measuring the mass, the volume and forming the quotient.

Since the density of gases is much less than that of solid bodies or ...

Measurement of forces

Principle

The students should become acquainted with the dependence of the reading of spring balances on their orientation and with their adjustment.

With the spring balance adjusted for use in the normal vertical position, the weight F in N ...

Force and reaction

Principle

1. The students should learn with the help of the spring balance that a force on a body can only be exerted when a counterforce acts on it simultaneously.

2. Using two spring balances, the students should experimentally determine that the fo ...

Weight

Principle

The students are to determine the weight which a mass experiences in the earth's gravitational field with a spring balance. They should know that force is measured in N = kg  m?s² and recognize that weight is proportional to mass.&nbs ...

Hooke's Law

Principle

The students should verify the declaration of Hooke's Law, i.e. the proportionality of force and extension within the elasticity range of an elastic body, with measurements on 2 helical springs having different spring constants. These springs will be ...

Bending of a leaf spring

Principle

1. The students should investigate the behaviour of a leaf spring under load, make a graph of the measuring results and - most importantly - determine the spring constant D (see also Experiment ME 2.4).
2. In the course of the sa ...

Calibration of a dynamometer

Principle

The students should add a scale to an uncalibrated spring balance by loading it with mass pieces.

In doing so they should know that a mass of 100 g represents a weight (force) of 1 N in the gravitation field of the earth.

Force aligned in the same and opposite direction

Principle

On the one hand, the students should investigate the effect of two forces acting in the same direction on a mass piece; on the other hand, the effect of two forces acting in opposite directions on it.

From the comparison of the two measured ...

Combination of forces; parallelogram of forces

Principle

Based on their knowledge of Experiment ME 2.7, the students should determine the direction and magnitude of the resultant force  F_r  which replaces the two different forces  F₁  and