Guinea and Feather Tube
date: label: date made
content: 1764
notes: label: Description
content: This guinea and feather tube is an early piece of science teaching apparatus from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. It is believed that this object was part of a group instruments purchased by Dr. William Small, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics, for the college while visiting England in 1764. The long glass tube has a stopcock at one end. A feather and two coins are inside. After most of the air was removed via the stopcock, the tube was rotated to show that light and heavy objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum.
label: Description
content: See: Galen W. Ewing, "Early Teaching of Science at the College of William and Mary in Virginia," <i>Bulletin of the College of William and Mary in Virgina</i> (April, 1938).
label: Description
content: Deborah Jean Warner, "Guineas and Feathers Falling in a Vacuum," <i>Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society</i> No. 139 (2018):42-3.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of the Physics Department, William and Mary
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2019.0119.01
label: catalog number
content: 2019.0119.01
label: accession number
content: 2019.0119
objectType: label: Object Name
content: guinea and feather tube
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass; metal; wood; paper; wax; feather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 53 1/2 in x 12 1/4 in; 135.89 cm x 31.115 cm