In 2002, Robert P. Crease polled Physics World readers to determine “the most beautiful physics experiment of all time.”1 While one may argue at length about the resulting Top Ten list of beautiful experiments, they struck me immediately as a possible teaching tool for covering the core topics I teach in my Physics of Everyday Life course for nonscience majors. I was also intrigued and challenged by the notion that the ten experiments could be reasonably carried out by the nonscience students in my course. As an experiment of my own, I decided to devote a significant portion of the Physics of Everyday Life lab requirement to having small groups (two to three students each) research, reproduce, demonstrate, and present a Top Ten experiment of their choosing.

Topics
Education, Teaching
1.
Robert P.
Crease
, “
The ten most beautiful physics experiments of all time
,”
Phys. World
15
,
19
(Aug.
2002
).
Google Scholar
 
2.
See http://academic.georgefox.edu/~kcarr/tpt/top_ten.html for sample materials.
3.
Some organizations who have developed lists of core learning outcomes in physics are the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Project 2061), National Science Foundation, National Research Council, and National Science Teachers Association.
4.
Many websites detail various methods of measuring the circumference of the Earth. For example, see:http://www.inrp.fr/lamap/activites/ciel_terre/projet/eratos/guide_en.htm.
5.
See http://einstein.stanford.edu/STEP/information/data/gravityhist2.html.
6.
See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/galileo.
7.
Isaac
Newton
, “
A new theory about light and colors
,”
Am. J. Phys.
61
,
108
–
112
(Feb.
1993
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
8.
The original Young article is very readable and is reprinted in Great Experiments in Physics, edited by Morris Shamos (Holt, Rinhart and Winston, New York, 1959), pp. 96–101.
9.
See http://www.fourmilab.ch/gravitation/foobar.
10.
John E.
Carlson
, “
Cavendish experiment
,”
Phys. Teach.
27
,
562
–
564
(Oct.
1989
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
11.
John E.
Horne
, “
Classroom Foucault pendulum
,”
Phys. Teach.
34
,
238
–
239
(April
1996
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
12.
Anthony
Papirio
Jr.,
Claude M.
Penchina
, and
Hajime
Sakai
, “
Novel approach to the oil-drop experiment
,”
Phys. Teach.
38
,
50
–
51
(Jan.
2000
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
13.
For example, TelAtomic RS820 Rutherford Scattering Apparatus.
14.
For example, TelAtomic TEL2555 Electron Diffraction Tube.
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© 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2005
American Association of Physics Teachers
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