Poggendorff’s Scales—Demonstration of Newton’s Laws in a Less Traditional Way

Abstract

Newton’s laws are essential for understanding causes and description of mechanical motion. Great attention is paid to them during physics education. Unfortunately, many students, not only in high school, but also undergraduates, can recite them but do not understand their essence. Therefore, it is useful to demonstrate different experiments in the classroom in order to support and strengthen their understanding. Less traditional experiments demonstrating Newton’s laws can be performed using Poggendorff’s scales (also known as Poggendorff’s fall device). This article presents four experiments with such a device that are not common and lead to a deeper understanding of Newton’s laws.