Two Experiments for First Year Students of Physics

In the first of these the acceleration due to gravity is measured by timing by means of an electrically driven tuning fork the descent of a small metal ball. The start and finish of the fall are recorded electrically on a rotating drum on which the fork is also making a trace. In the second experiment the average velocity of air molecules is measured by finding the volume per second of the gas emerging from a region of higher pressure (usually atmospheric) into one of low pressure, through a small orifice of measured diameter