PIRA 5D20.60 - Resistivity and Temperature: Conduction in Glass
Photo and Video Shows the Apparatus Used by the University of Texas at Austin.
Faculty Notes:
This is a step up transformer.
Please, keep clear of any part of the apparatus above the table top.
Turn on the gas on the side of the teaching console.
Using the provided lighter, ignite the Bunsen burner.
Turn on the voltage by flipping red switch at the base of the demo.
Place the burner under the glass rod.
When the glass begins conducting, remove the burner and turn off gas.
Concept Conveyed:
Demo uses an insulating glass rod clipped between electrodes with a voltage applied across it, demonstrating that glass can conduct under high temperatures.
When the glass is initially heated, the air will conduct.
After about 30 seconds, the glass will develop charge carriers and begin conducting.
Demo Staff Instructions:
This demo uses Jacob's Ladder base, please remove Jacob's Ladder and replace with glass conducting demo on the top of the base.
Be sure to include a lighter with demo.
Clip glass rods onto apparatus by placing clips below the rod.
Attach burner tube to gas port on the side of the teaching console.
In the classroom, ground Bunsen burner by clipping one end of a wire to the burner itself and the other end to a port next to the gas port (refer to photo of setup below).
Last Updated 2022 - University of Texas at Austin Physics Dept.
- All Rights Reserved.
