In the late 18th and throughout the 19th century, lead shot for muskets was prepared by use of a shot tower. Molten lead was poured from the top of a tower and, during its fall, the drops became spherical under the action of surface tension. In this article, we ask and answer the question: How does the size of the lead shot depend on the height of the tower? In the process, we explain the basic technology underlying an important historical invention (the shot tower) and use simple physics (Newtonian mechanics and the thermodynamic laws of cooling) to model its operation.

As a physics teacher I like recycling old apparatus and using them for demonstrations in my classes.1–4 In physics laboratories in schools, sources of high voltage include induction coils or electronic systems that can be bought from companies that sell lab equipment. But these sources can be very expensive. In this article, I will explain how you can use a car ignition coil as a high voltage source. Such a coil can be obtained from an old car found in a car salvage yard and used to power cathode ray tubes and discharge tubes to observe the spectra. It can also be used as a source of ignition to simulate explosive combustion that occurs in car engines, rockets, etc. You can also buy these coils in shops that sell car accessories and they are cheaper than induction coils. In Fig. 1 you can see a coil that I used.

A simple pipe whistle can be made using pieces of PVC pipe. The whistle can be used to measure the resonant frequencies of open or closed pipes. A slightly modified version of the device can be used to also investigate the interesting dependence of the sound frequencies produced on the orifice-to-edge distance. The pipe whistle described here allows students in a physics of music or introductory physics course to study an example of an “edge tone” device that produces discrete sound frequencies. From their textbooks, students likely know about standing waves produced by pipes or strings, as well as the resonant frequencies for open and closed pipes. To go a bit further, they can also learn how the frequency of the sound wave depends on the orifice-to-edge distance of the wind instrument.