Richard E. Berg

Director, Lecture-Demonstration Facility

Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1966

The function of the Lecture-Demonstration Facility is to provide teaching materials. We try continually to improve our facility by updating equipment and demonstrations, and by developing new demonstrations using "high-tech" equipment such as digital electronic devices, balloons and computers. A library of over 1,400 demonstrations, covering virtually all physics topics, is now available. Interested individuals are encouraged to suggest new and different ideas for demonstrations, or to work with us in developing new demonstrations. We have also made use of our classroom demonstration materials in developing a series of outreach programs, including the PHYSICS IS PHUN public program series, traveling demonstration programs, and a sequence of NSF-sponsored workshops for middle-school science teachers.
Selected Publications

  1. Richard E. Berg and Todd S. Marshall, "Wilberforce pendulum oscillations and normal modes", Am. J. Phys. 59(1), January 1991, pp. 32-38.
  2. Richard E. Berg, "Van de Graaff Generators: Theory, Maintenance, and Belt Fabrication", The Physics Teacher, May 1990, pp.281-285.
  3. Richard E. Berg, "Rotating liquid Mirror", Am. J. Phys. 58(3), March 1990, pp. 280-281.
  4. Richard E. Berg and Michael R. Collier, "The Feynman Inverse sprinkler problem: A demonstration and quantitative analysis", Am. J. Phys. 57(7), July 1989, pp. 654-657.
  5. R. E. Berg, "Sound," Encyclopedia Britannica 27, 556 (1993).
  6. R. E. Berg, and D. G. Stork, The Physics of Sound, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall (1982).