Engine Cadaver Lab: Hands-On Physics that Kicks Back

Previous generations of physics students learned how common machines work, as evidenced by their textbook illustrations (Fig. 1). Such understanding of machines that daily life depends on seems to be evaporating. In response, for two decades I have conducted an introductory physics “engine cadaver lab” (Figs. 2 and 3). It offers opportunities for hands-on engagement with concepts such as moment of inertia, center of mass, Faraday’s law, Bernoulli’s equation, engine efficiency, thermal expansion, etc. Unlike biologists, we put our cadavers back together!