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Physics Museum

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1637 - Demonstration CRO Tube AV43

Amalgamated Wireless Valve, Aust, Australia

This apparatus demonstrates the operation of a Cathode Ray Tube with electrostatic deflection. The construction includes a fluorescent screen. This shows the path taken by the electron flow within the tube, as the voltage on the deflection plates...

987 - Single magnetic earphone

UNK,

-

118 - Sumpner Reflecting Electrodynamometer

Robt. W. Paul, London N., England

The Sumpner reflecting electrodynamometer is the first item in the One Hundred Years  of Physics at UQ tour. It is located in Display case S16 in the middle of the back wall of Room 231. Although this instrument looks typical of electrical...

1688 - Telescope on stand

W. Wilson, London , England (1913)

An inverting telescope with crosshairs.

1927 - Famous Pitch Drop Experiment

Thomas Parnell, Brisbane, Australia (1927)

The Pitch Drop experiment is designed to demonstrate that pitch is a high viscosity fluid and not a solid. It began in 1927, when Professor Thomas Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. When the pitch...

- ITR Hourly Supervising Pendulum Master Clock

International Time Recording Co. Ltd / IBM, England (circa 1940(?))

This item is a Pendulum Master clock, made by International Business Machines in the United Kingdom around 1963. The wooden case holds the clockwork and pendulum and above the case is a connected dial. Dials such as these are called slave dials and...

2005 - Radon Laboratory

H. Webster, Australia (1930-)

Location:S18        Glass slides of radon preparation plant, and use of radon to treat cancer. In 1937, Hugh Webster, who had earned his PhD with Chadwick in Cambridge, and had almost discovered the neutron (Chadwick...

- Scientific Clocks master clock

ACElec, Australia

This electrically powered pendulum clock was made in Sydney, probably in the 1950s by the firm ACElec, to a design developed by Prouds Electric Clocks and Scientific Instruments thirty years before. The firm Scientific Clocks referred to on the dial...

296 - Ionospheric Recorder Type Y10D/70890/J28A

CSIR Radiophysics Laboratory Workshops, Australia (circa 1947)

Location:  in the large glass case S44 at the right hand end of the back wall. Built by CSIR Radiophysics Laboratory workshops to design of F.W. Wood and A.J. Higgs From 1940 Hugh Webster and Arnold Reimann were seconded to the Radiophysics...

1823 - Synchronome Master Clock

Synchronome Electrical Co of Australasia, Brisbane., Australia (circa 1955)

This clock was made in Brisbane  in 1955. The Synchronome Electrical Company of Australasia built clocks in Brisbane under licence from Frank Hope-Jones' Synchronome Company in England. They also built the clocks in the towers of South Brisbane...

27 - Synchronome Master Clock

Synchronome Electrical Company of Australasia, Brisbane, Australia (circa 1958)

  Grey painted wooden case with glazed door. Lower dial with hour and minute hands and seconds bit.  Upper dial with sweep seconds hand only mounted on inside of door. Black japanned casting carries pendulum, countwheel, gravity arm and...

1505 - Framed Bribie Island mementos

1960-1969 The Bribie array (S44) In the 1960s, ionsopheric physics research was flourishing at UQ. One of the major experiments at the  Department's  ionospheric physics field station on Bribie Island was an array of aerials running...

28 - van de Graaff Ion Accelerator Model AN200

High Voltage Engineering Corp. Burlington, Massachusetts, USA. , Usa (1950s)

  This item represents the 1970s in the '100 Years of Physics at UQ Tour'. In the 1970s, research began in several other areas besides ionospheric physics. These included theoretical astrophysics and experimental spectroscopy. Purchased...

2083 - Big G

UQ Physics Workshops,

1980-1989  Big G Laboratory measurements provide a value of the Newtonian Gravitational Constant “big G” (as opposed to “little g”, the local acceleration due to gravity) with a precision of 6 parts in 104 (6.672 ± 0.0041) x 10-11 m3kg-1 s-2....

2045 - Optical Vortices Demonstration

Australia (1990s/2015)

This demonstration of optical vortices was put together by the UQ Physics Museum. It represents a strand of optical research carried on at the UQ Physics Labs which started in the 1990's and still continues today. It consists of a small base onto...

1819 - Atom Chip for BEC Production

Dr C. Vale, Mr B. Upcroft, Physics Workshop Staff, Australia (2003)

This “atom chip” was a central part of the experiment that produced the first Bose-Einstein condensate in Australia. The “chip” consists of a silver foil mirror, mounted on an alumina substrate. The mirror foil has grooves cut into its surface which...

- The Famous Pitch Drop Experiment

Thomas Parnell,

Location: Parnell Building Foyer, directly opposite the Physics Museum. Recognised by the Guiness Book of Records as the longest running scientific experiment in the world, the Pitch Drop experiment is remembered by generations of staff and...

681 - Optician's lens kit

Gowlands,

A set of lenses used to determine the crrect prescription to correct patient's sight.

358 - Rate Meter and scintillation counter

EKCO Electronics Ltd, England The scintillation counter is a device used to measure radiation output, more specifically gamma rays or photons and charged particles. The counter consists of a portable metal box housing all the electronics, while the...

202 - Ruhmkorff Induction Coil

Harry W Cox & Co. Ltd., London, England

H.W. Cox Ltd/London Patent No. /16926 Harry W Cox & Co. Ltd. 61*33*33 Consists of two concentric coils of wire wound on a cylindrical core of soft iron wires impregnated with paraffin wax, all mounted on a hollow base containing a capacitor (...

244 - FOCUS X-RAY TUBE

6/six/No 37592 33*23*15 Blown glass tube with anode, anticathode and focus cathode. Electrodes are connected to soldered terminals by wires. Side discharge tube with anode and cathode. Sealed, rubber capped exhaust tube. Glass discoloured due to...

245 - X-ray tube, collimating type

Has side arm with auxiliary discharge for pressure adjustment, focus cathode, anode and long side arm with X-ray transmitting glass end. Uses a curved cathode to focus the electron beam onto a tungsten anode. The tube has a high lead content to...

328 - COOLIDGE X-RAY TUBE

Spherical glass bulb (purple from radiation damage) with cylindrical stems carrying the electrodes (cathode end broken). The Coolidge Tube, first produced in 1913 by W. Coolidge, is the forerunner of all the types of x-ray tubes in common use today...

1435 - Laser Disc Player

Philips 22VP831 05,

LaserDisc player used to play lecture demonstration videos. The LaserDisc was the first commercial optical disc storage medium, beginning in 1978, and was the forerunner of CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray. The discs were  300 mm in diameter and were...

1060 - Laser Disc of Physics Demonstrations

Usa

This laser disc comes from a set of  twenty LaserDiscs produced in the early 1990s by the Education Group as the Video Encyclopaedia of Physics Demonstrations. It contains lecture demonstrations suitable for first year physics students. The...

965 - Magnetron Magnet

(World War II)

This magnet assembly was used with a WW II Magnetron.

1004 - Discharge Tube and Induction Coil

Pressler, Cenco, (circa 1960)

1791 - Laboratory Balance Type 1106

Sartorius Werke Goettingen,

1792 - Cylindrical Mirror in Metal Frame

1793 - Simple Orrery

Norman Heckenberg, Australia (1983)

Norman Heckenberg built this simple Orrery at home to show his children how solar and lunar eclipses occur. Maintenance of the inclination of the Earth's axis of rotation to the ecliptic is achieved using a Ferguson Mechanical Paradox implemented...

1794 - Three thermal detectors

Three thermopile IR detectors probably used in lecture demonstrations.

1795 - Box of Parts

Hawksley & Sons Ltd, London w.1, W. Watson & Sons, Ltd, London and C.F. Palmer,

A box of parts donated by Dr Rex Newsome. Some came from a large kymograph in the Psychology Department.

1796 - Domestic Wattmeter Demonstration

Warburton Franki, Chatswood NSW, Australia

A domestic electricity supply wattmeter is mounted with its housing removed to demonstrate its mode of operation.

1797 - Double Rheostat

Two units, each consisting of a helical coil of resistance wire with a sliding tap, ganged together.

1798 - Step-down Transformer Demonstration

Australia

Lecture demonstration transformer. Toroidal core supports primary winding, while a secondary of only three turns is supported on insulating posts and can be connected across a piece of copper or iron wire which can be rapidly heated to destruction.

1799 - Concave Metal Mirror

A concave mirror, proably for use with IR radiation, or possibly acoustical experiments.

1800 - Transmitter valve 6166A (7000)

RCA, Usa (1970)

Output valve from transmitter constructed by AWA for Channel 8, Wide Bay Television. Valve dates from 1970. The transmitter, situated on Mt Goonaneman, 60km WNW of Maryborough, was replaced by a solid state system in the 1980s and donated to UQ...

1801 - Vernier Potentiometer

Cambridge Instrument Company, England (First quarter 20th century)

A potentiometer is a system of resistors used in conjunction with a standard cell and a galvanometer for making null measurements of potential (voltage) .

1 - Potentiometer, 1500 ohm

International Resistance, Sydney, Australia

2 - Bubble Sextant Mark IX

England (1940)

Black japanned metal case with rubber rimmed eyepiece at back and open slot at front where a black drum houses the clockwork automatic averaging attachment. The left half of the sextant carries the bubble and its collimating system, which together...

3 - Optical Device

5 - Bunsen Burner

6 - Unknown

W.G. Pye & Company, Cambridge, England

7 - AC Power Analyser

Paton Electrical Pty Ltd, Australia (before 1950?)

This analyser showed the voltage, current and power absorbed by an AC power load. The voltage range is altered by selecting different resistors in series with the meter moving coil. The current range is altered by selecting taps...

9 - Abney Level

unknown,

The Abney level is a handy instrument for rough surveys and distance measurements suitable for gardeners,  foresters, roadbuilders etc. A  spirit bubblelevel on the protractor axis can be viewed with a telescope at the same time as a...

10 - Standard Signal Generator

Marconi Instruments, England

11 - Crystal Oscillator and Frequency Divider, Type 124A

T.E.L.,

12 - Demonstration reflecting galvanometer

Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, England

Used in large lecture theatres with a scale on the opposite wall.

15 - Spectrum Analyser Model 30-2

Rayspan, Usa

Audio Frequency spectrum analyser used by Dr J. Crouchley for analysis of low-frequency atmospheric emissions such as whistles, hiss and dawn chorus.

16 - Discharge Tube to demonstrate focussing of Cathode Rays

(before 1920)

Focussing of cathode rays by a concave cathode was an important feature of early discharge type x-ray tubes as a small emitting spot on the anode gave sharper pictures.

17 - Temperature Sensor

Cambridge Instrument Company, England

18 - Temperature Sensor

Leeds and Northrup, Usa

Resistance thermometer used with a Wheatstone Bridge.

19 - Standard 10000 ohm Resistor

Leeds and Northrup, Usa

21 - Potentiometer

Leeds and Northrup, Usa

Mueller Bridge for Pt resistance thermometry

22 - Compound Pendulum Timer

Stanford,

A compound pendulum is driven by an electromagnet which impulses it on demand using a Hipp toggle switching mechanism. Believed to have been used to produce electrical pulses for some biomedical application.

24 - Wall Galvanometer

Physics Department, The University of Queensland., Australia

Reflected beam across room onto scale on wall. In silky oak case, rough copy of 0012

26 - blank

1614 - Valve, Twin Triode, AZ41

Philips, Holland

Full-wave rectifier valve, used in domestic radio receivers.

1613 - Valve Diode 9006

Ken-Rad Tube & Lamp Corp Inc, Usa

Detctor diode used in VHF-UHF radio equipment in WW II.

1612 - Valve Pentode 12AU6

Philips, Australia

Used as an RF and audio amplifier, particularly in communications receivers.

1611 - Valve Pentode 6AS6

Philips, Usa

Pentode valve, typically used as IF amplifier in Black& White TV sets, and in communications receivers.

1610 - Valve, Twin Triode 6ES8/ECC189

Mullard, Australia

Used as cascode amplifier in tuners for black and white TV sets.

1609 - Valve, Triode 6GK5

Amalgamated Wireless Valve, Aust, Australia

Used as grounded-grid RF amplifier in TV tuners for black and white TV sets.

1608 - Valve, Triode-Pentode 6HG8

Teonex (Supplier?), England

Used as frequency converter in tuners in black and white TV sets.

1607 - Valve, Triode-Pentode ECL86/6GW8

Philips,

Used in audio amplifiers.

2002 - List of Books in Museum Library

Physics Museum Book Hand-list 13.09.94 Author: | Title: -----------------------------------+------------------------------------------- Aderet, J. |Das Rotorschiff und seine physikalischen Gr...

2001 - Robert Hawthorne Slide Rule and Manual

Robert Hawthorne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,

2003 - Synchronome Letter Book 1, 1902 to 1904

Copies of letters written by A.G. Jackson survive in a bound book of spirit copies. Many are quite difficult to read but Tony Roberts and Norman Heckenberg have transcribed them as best they can.         Number    ...

2012 - Synchronome Goods and Details Book

Alfred George Jackson,

An exercise book survives from the earliest days of the Synchronome Electrical Company of Australasia. It contains information about sources of supply and prices. In 2003 Robert Miles transcribed the contents.

1606 - Valve, Pentode 6EW6

Teonex (Supplier?), England

Used as RF amplifier, possibly in the IF strip of black and white TV.

1605 - Valve, Beam Power tetrode 6BG6GA

Unknown,

Used as horizontal deflection amplifier in black and white TV sets.

1491 - Bombproof Radium Storage Vessel

UQ Physics Workshops (?), Australia

In 1936 Hugh Webster was appointed to a lectureship jointly funded by UQ, the Qld Cancer Trust and the Brisbane and South Coast Hospitals Board with the aim of setting up a plant for the production of radioactive radon gas to be used in...

67 - Palec Valve Tester Model VCT-V

Paton Electrical Pty. Ltd., Sydney, Australia (1935 (?))

Location: The tester is encased in a wooden stained box with various pin sockets for testing tubes and a milliammeter so measurements can be made of the plate current. Furthermore, there are switches for the zeroing of the milliammeter, for...

203 - Koenig's Acoustic Interferometer (Quinke's apparatus)

Max Kohl, Chemnitz, Germany (c1910)

An acoustic interferometer using a 'manometric flame' as detector. Coal-gas is fed to a pinhole burner via a chamber closed by a membrane upon which the acoustic signal is incident. Motion of the membrane causes the flame to wax and wane. Even when...
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