Project 1: Measuring Sugar Concentration using Laser Pointers

several 1" × 3" glass microscope slides P 50

diamond scribe or glass cutter (rented)
ruler (own materials)
electrical tape P 50
epoxy glue (either 5-minute or 30- P 50
minute epoxy)
toothpicks P 10
laser pointer P 200
cardboard P 100
tape (own materials)
tape measure (own materials)
paper (own materials)
pencil (own materials)
piece of string (own materials)
sugar (own materials)
water (own materials)
graduated cylinder Borrowed from laboratory
gram scale Borrowed from laboratory
calculator with trigonometric functions (own materials)
(sine,arctangent)
TOTAL P 460

Schematic Diagram

Figure1. Diagram of setup for measuring the index of refraction of a liquid using a laser pointer and a hollow triangular prism (not to
scale; based on the diagram in Nierer, 2002).

Figure 2. Diagram of the sequence of steps for making a hollow glass prism (equilateral triangle) from microscope slides. The steps
are explained below. (Edmiston, 1999)
 Project 2: Using a Laser Pointer to measure Data Track Spacing on CDs and DVDs
laser pointer (with known wavelength) P 200
CD (own materials)
DVD (own materials)
protractor (own materials)
index card (own materials)
several pieces of thin cardboard (cereal (own materials)
box, or similar)
sturdy box, preferably wooden P 100
stack of books (own materials)
black marker (own materials)
calculator with trigonometry functions (sin, (own materials)
cos, tan)
digital camera and tripod (optional) (own materials)
TOTAL P 300

Schematic Diagram

Figure 3. The Main Apparatus

Bibliography Notes:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/home_Phys.shtml?from=Home