Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Image Gallery
On March 13, the Department of Physics and Astronomy presented Demos Unleashed! 2026, which showed real-life physics in action through engaging demonstrations. 
Greg Howes presents Dale Stille with a retirement gift
DEO Greg Howes presents Dale Stille with a plaque honoring Dale on his retirement.
This year, we celebrated Instructional Services Specialist Dale Stille and his many years of contributions to the department. This was Dale’s final Demonstration Show, and he presented some of his all-time favorite demos, including the rocket bike, potato guillotine, collapsing 55-gallon drum, pulse jet engine, smoke rings, glass breakers, superconductors, plasmas, and more.
Thanks to Dale, Andi Swirbul, Prof. Vincent Rodgers, and our student assistants, who made this year's show a great success!
 

Gallery

Student assistant shows a parent and children a plasma globe and LED glow cube
A table display before Demos Unleashed 2026
Arissa Khan in a tie-dye lab coats shows an interactive physics demo to a child
a cake with an picture of Dale Stille and students with the words Happy Retirement
Dale Stille presents a physics demo showing combustion with a balloon
Dale Stille in front of an audience in Van Allen Hall
Dale Stille and Vincent Rodgers help a child with a physics demo
Dale Stille in a vibrant, tie-dye lab coat stands in an auditorium, holding a large red Boomwhacker (musical tube). On the table in front of him are several more colorful tubes. He is facing an audience of children and adults seated in tiered theater chairs, some of whom are also holding their own musical tubes for interactive science or music demonstration.
A young boy wearing safety goggles and heavy blue gloves uses a mallet to smash frozen lettuce on a table. He is accompanied by another child in goggles and two adults in lab coats—one in white and one in a vibrant tie-dye pattern—all standing behind a clear safety shield during a science demonstration.
Dale Stille, an Instructional Resource Specialist at the University of Iowa, is performing a physics demonstration involving electromagnetism or low-temperature physics
Dale Stille, stands behind a lab table. He is wearing safety goggles and a vibrant, tie-dye lab coat in shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. He is presenting the Pickle Light - Electrocute a Pickle science demonstration.
Dale Stille presents a physics demo
Student riding a rocket bike for a physics demo
Dale Stille and two assistants in tie-dye lab coats cover their ears in a university lecture hall as they prepare to fire a long, clear supersonic vacuum cannon. A young boy in goggles watches from behind a lab table where several soda cans are lined up as targets at the end of the pressurized tube.
Dale Stille and chaos machines
Dale Stille presents a physics demo
Dale Stille demonstrating the principles of air pressure and vortex rings using a large, homemade "air cannon."
Dale Stille and another demonstrator stand in Van Allen Hall as two groups of children and adults engage in a tug-of-war using yellow ropes. The ropes are attached to a pair of Magdeburg hemispheres—two metal halves held together by a vacuum—to demonstrate the immense strength of atmospheric pressure. Several student assistants in vibrant tie-dye lab coats watch from the side
Dale Stille, in a vibrant tie-dye lab coat, holds a clear plastic soda bottle connected to a vacuum pump via a metal hose. A young boy watches closely, Vincent Rodgers is behind them
Dale Stille and three students in vibrant tie-dye lab coats stand around a large black metal barrel that has partially imploded. A vacuum pump sits on a nearby wooden cart, connected to the top of the crushed barrel by a thick metal hose, illustrating the immense power of atmospheric pressure.