•Theo. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY · CALCUTTA THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO A LABORATORY MANUAL IN PHYSICS TO ACCOMPANY BLACK AND DAVIS' "PRACTICAL PHYSICS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS" BY N. HENRY BLACK, A.M. SCIENCE MASTER, ROXBURY LATIN SCHOOL New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1913 All rights reserved HARVARD COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1913. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co. INTRODUCTION It is now more than twenty years since we began to teach elementary physics in the laboratory and we already have many laboratory manuals. Why add another to the list? Every teacher of physics undoubtedly takes up the task of organizing his laboratory with great enthusiasm and high hopes. But sooner or later he finds that this business of teaching young people physics by means of laboratory exercises is a very difficult problem. No amount of costly apparatus or elaborate laboratory directions will produce that mental activity about physical phenomena that we all want to stimulate in our students. Doubtless the ideal method would be for each teacher to make his own laboratory manual, and many have done so. This book is the result of one teacher's attempt to get together a set of experiments that represent a well-balanced course. The aim has been to make the directions so clear and concise that the average boy or girl, who already has in mind a general outline of the problem, can not only do the experiment but can also see the point to it. It is assumed that when the class assembles for the laboratory exercise the teacher will first make a few introductory remarks to indicate just what the problem of the day is and how it is related to the previous work and to the practical affairs of life; then he will briefly outline just how the problem is to be attacked in the laboratory. If the student has already mastered the written directions, he ought then to be able to proceed intelligently and expeditiously with the work in hand. |
