Exploring Historical Scientific Instruments by Using Mobile Media Devices

Abstract

We describe an educational activity that can be completed with mobile media devices in order to understand the working principle of a pair of tuning forks, from the Historical Collection of Physics Instruments of the University of Palermo, and how they were used to explain acoustic interference and beats with the Lissajous optical method. This approach can be used with any tuning fork and it is a valuable teaching strategy that does not require specific laboratory equipment.