In a 1993 book review, E. Pearlstein asks, "Why don't textbook authors begin their discussion of magnetism by talking about magnets? That's what students have experience with." A similar question can be asked, "Why don't professors have students measure the force between permanent magnets in introductory physics labs?" The…

A planetarium is an invaluable tool for teaching introductory astronomy, but one that few astronomy educators have ready access to. Here we describe a do-it-yourself planetarium that can be built with modest funding. There have been other planetarium construction projects described in the literature and online, most of which use cardboard to make…

Today's students are increasingly immersed in a landscape of screens and handheld digital devices through which a good deal of their interactions with the world around them are mediated. Physics educators, meanwhile, continue to rely on traditional human interactions with the physical world, such as sliding down a ramp or throwing a baseball, in…

Gravitational lensing is an interesting phenomenon in astronomy and is most typically given rise to by galaxies. The majority of the matter in a galaxy is thought to be dark matter, and the galactic gravitational lensing effect is mainly caused by dark matter halos. In gravitational lensing-related demonstrations in physics education, the feet of…

Originally an empirical law, nowadays Malus' law is seen as a key experiment to demonstrate the transverse nature of electromagnetic waves, as well as the intrinsic connection between optics and electromagnetism. In this work, a simple and inexpensive setup is proposed to quantitatively verify the nature of polarized light. A flat computer screen…

There is an increasing emphasis on fundamental particles, including quarks, in the high school physics classroom. However, many teachers might not feel comfortable teaching particle physics because it is a highly abstract and complex topic, and there are few hands-on activities to help teachers bring it into the classroom. In 2010, a…

We present a versatile experimental apparatus for exploring rotational motion through the interplay between the moment of inertia, torque, and rotational kinetic energy of a wheel. The heart of this experiment uses a 3D-printed wheel along with easily accessible stock components that allow for the adjustment of the moment of inertia while keeping…

Recently devices such as the optical mouse of a computer, webcams, Wii remote, and digital cameras have been used to record and analyze different physical phenomena quantitatively. Devices like tablets and smartphones are also becoming popular. Different scientific applications available at Google Play (Android devices) or the App Store (iOS…

Signal generators, oscilloscopes, and data acquisition (DAQ) systems are standard components of the modern experimental physics laboratory. The sound card, a built-in component in the ubiquitous personal computer, can be utilized for all three of these tasks and offers an attractive option for labs in developing countries such as…

The pages of "The Physics Teacher" have featured several clever designs for homemade diffraction gratings using a variety of materials--cloth, lithographic film, wire, compact discs, parts of aerosol spray cans, and pseudoliquids and pseudosolids. A different and inexpensive method I use to make low-resolution diffraction gratings takes advantage…