overall: 2 in x 6 in x 7 3/16 in; 5.08 cm x 15.24 cm x 18.25625 cm
Object Name:
demonstration apparatus
second law of motion apparatus
Description:
Alfred Payson Gage (1836-1903) opened America’s first high school physics laboratory, at the Boston English High School, in 1880. He also wrote textbooks that were widely used, and designed simple instruments suitable for students. This Second Law of Motion apparatus was among those instruments. It has a spring hammer that propels one ball and releases another at the same instant. Both balls reach the floor at the same time, although one follows a parabolic arc while the other falls straight down.
This example was used at Illinois State University, a school founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University.
Ref: Ziegler Electric Co., <i>Priced and Illustrated Catalogue No. 8, of Physical Apparatus and Supplies</i> (Boston, 1896), p. 30.
Central Scientific Co., <i>Physical and Chemical Apparatus</i> (Chicago, 1909), p. 71.
Steven Turner, “The Reluctant Instrument Maker: A. P. Gage and the Introduction of the Student Laboratory,” <i>Rittenhouse</i> 18 (2005): 40-61.
