The study of buoyancy becomes very interesting when we measure the apparent weight of the body and the liquid vessel weight. In this paper, we propose an experimental apparatus that measures both the forces mentioned before as a function of the depth that a cylinder is sunk into the water. It is done using two load cells connected to an Arduino.…

The domain of motion or kinematics is important because it forms the basis of mechanics, an important branch of physics. By studying kinematic phenomena in the laboratory, high school students are likely to develop a better understanding of kinematics concepts as well as elements of the scientific approach to study natural and constructed…

Although the teaching of mechanics at advanced K12 levels often starts with a brief introduction to physical quantities and units, the nature and function of measurements in physics and their inherent uncertainty are hardly ever discussed. The laboratory is mainly used to illustrate the theoretical principles taught in class. This paper presents a…

The acoustic resonance in four glass Helmholtz resonators with diameters of 70, 52, 40, and 32 mm was detected in the frequency range of 360 to 1700 Hz using the simple experimental setup presented in this paper. The measured amplitudes of acoustic pressure required correction since the sound pressure amplitude of the loudspeaker used was not…

Progress is made in science by constructing many models (possibly of different complexities), testing them against measurements, and determining which of them explain the data the best. It is my observation, however, that in many introductory physics labs we provide students with the materials and methods to verify the "correct" model of…

We believe that a natural focus of the physics education research community is on understanding and improving students' learning in our physics courses. Due to the increase in technology, we can bring laboratory experiments closer to our students. It is necessary to update our laboratories technologically to get closer to the world in which our…

We present a modernization of the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory experiment for determining the speed of sound in various gases from resonant frequencies in a spherical resonator. The resonator (schematic IR = 7.5 cm) is constructed by 3D printing with eco-friendly poly(lactic acid), a commercially viable alternative to traditional…

In this paper, we present a demonstration of Ohm's law on a spreadsheet. Students can perform an experiment of Ohm's law like they perform in laboratories. The only difference is that the apparatus is virtual. The students record readings of current through the circuit and potential difference across a resistor. A graph is drawn between I and V to…

The resonance phenomenon is widely known in physics courses. Qualitatively speaking, resonance takes place in a driven oscillating system whenever the frequency approaches the natural frequency, resulting in maximal oscillatory amplitude. Very closely related to resonance is the phenomenon of mechanical beating, which occurs when the driving and…

The so-called Diet Coke and Mentos experiment is initiated by dropping Mentos candies into a bottle of Diet Coke or other carbonated beverage. This causes the beverage to rapidly degas, causing foam to stream out of the bottle. Simple application of the gas laws leads to the straightforward prediction that ejection of greater foam volume is…

Teaching the tools and concepts associated with modern physics can often be a daunting and difficult task for secondary science teachers. Classical physics is often perceived as intimidating and complex in its own right. Modern physics addressing quantum phenomena where Newtonian laws break down is even more abstract for learners. However,…

In introductory physics laboratories, spring constants are traditionally measured using the static method. The dynamic method, via vertical spring-mass oscillator, that uses a stopwatch in order to measure the period of oscillations is also commonly employed. However, this time-measuring technique is prone to human errors and in this paper we…

As soon as children can see, they observe that objects fall freely. From a young age, we spontaneously construct interpretative models to understand this everyday phenomenon. Over the last three decades, numerous experiments have been developed to help students understand physics concepts regarding free fall. Although there are many…

Contribution: Prior studies indicate that students experimenting with characterization of optical planar waveguides use expensive ready-made prism couplers without clear understanding about construction of the entire optical measurement system. This paper presents a cost-effective modified bright-mode prism coupler that helps students learn…

Introductory physics labs often focus on a series of common experiments intending to teach the student the measurement side of physics. While these experiments have the potential to be quite instructive, we observed that our students often consider them to be boring and monotonous, which often leads to them being uninstructive. To combat this, we…