Scientific demonstration

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A scientific demonstration is a scientific experiment carried out for the purposes of demonstrating scientific principles, rather than for hypothesis testing or knowledge gathering (although they may originally have been carried out for these purposes).

Many scientific demonstrations are chosen for their combination of educational merit and entertainment value, which is often provided by dramatic phenomena such as explosions.

Some famous scientific demonstrations include:

• Foucault's pendulum
• Heron's fountain
• Hero's engine
• Alhazen's camera obscura
• Shooting a candle through a plank
• Gyroscopic bicycle wheel
• Using a linear motor as a gun
• Prince Rupert's Drops
• Using liquid nitrogen to shatter a rose
• Detonating a cloud of flour
• Using compressed air to drive a water rocket

Note: many scientific demonstrations are potentially dangerous, and should not be attempted without considerable laboratory experience and appropriate safety precautions. Many older well-known scientific demonstrations, once mainstays of science education, are now effectively impossible to demonstrate to an audience without breaking health and safety laws. Some older demonstrations, such as allowing the audience to play with liquid mercury, are sufficiently dangerous that they should not be attempted by anyone under any circumstances.