Un esperimento sulla dissipazione in un sistema meccanico

A simple dissipative mechanical system is discussed in order to introduce, at high school level, the basic ideas on which are founded some typical experimental techniques concerning condensed matter. Some reflections are made concerning the passage from a macroscopic description to a microscopic one. both for this instructional apparatus and the much more sophisticated ones (though logically equivalent) used by researchers (i.e. torsion pendulums, viscometers…). In the last part a reflection is suggested about the role of “explanation” in physics.