In this paper, an experimental setup composed of a color-mixing device, power supply, and spectrometer is developed. This setup is available for students to do hands-on color mixing with red, green, and blue light in undergraduate labs. LED volt-ampere and spectrum characteristics are investigated. The apparatus was used to perform additive color…

There is an ongoing challenge with STEM education: making physics, math, and science, in general, interesting, understandable, and retentive for college science and non-science majors, K-12 students, and the public. If not imparting detailed knowledge, at least one would like to introduce important concepts that will be remembered, appreciated,…

When the road is wet (there is a water layer on the road surface), the road marks become blurred and drivers are distracted. We discuss the contributing processes and identify which processes are dominant to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Modelling and a simple experiment demonstrate that the dominant processes are: (a) refraction of light by…

The incandescent bulb has been a useful tool for teaching basic electrical circuits, as brightness is related to the current or power flowing through a bulb. This has led to the development of qualitative pedagogical treatments for examining resistive combinations in simple circuits using bulbs and batteries, which were first introduced by James…

An important aspect of science education involves helping students learn to read and communicate scientific information and arguments. In this note, I would like to share a resource that I have come across which I have found to be a useful tool for helping students improve those skills, learn content material, and acquaint them with a great…

This paper presents an argumentation-based demonstration experiment to teach the light-matter interaction using an observable laser beam and vacuum pump. In the experiment, the concept of darkness was addressed using a virtual space environment created by gradually decreasing the pressure inside a quartz glass bell jar with a vacuum pump. This…

The standard method to create dramatic color images in astrophotography is to record multiple black and white images, each with a different color filter in the optical path, and then tint each frame with a color appropriate to the corresponding filter. When combined, the resulting image conveys information about the sources of emission in the…

This article discusses two "magic tricks" in terms of underlying optical principles. The first trick is new and produces a "ghost" in the air, and the second is the classical real image produced with two parabolic mirrors. (Contains 2 figure and 6 photos.)

In the "The Science Study Series" book "The Physics of Television", it is stated that persistence of vision lasts for about a tenth of a second. This will be a notional figure just as 25 cm is taken to be the least distance of distinct vision. Estimates range from 1/8 to 1/16 s.

A simple low cost demonstration experiment is performed using common apparatus in order to show various flexural patterns and to give a dynamical measure of Young's modulus. (Contains 4 figures.)

This paper tries to demonstrate that it is not reasonable to judge the quality of pictures that a camera can produce just by the number of pixels that the sensor has. It does so by trying to relate the number of pixels in a picture to the resolution that the eye can see at various distances away from prints of different size.

A holographic process is presented where the object is made of the real image produced by a two-mirror system. Single-step reflection hologram recording is achieved. Details of the process are given, optics concepts are outlined and demonstrative results are presented. (Contains 6 figures and 2 footnotes.)

Many simple experiments can be performed in the classroom to explore the physics of vision. Students can learn of the two types of receptive cells (rods and cones), their distribution on the retina and the existence of the blind spot.

Describes an experiment enabling students to apply concept of diffraction, determine limits of their color perception, learn how to measure wavelength with a simple apparatus, observe continuous and line spectra, and associate colors with corresponding wavelengths. The homemade diffraction-grating spectrometer used is easily constructed. (JN)

Describes inexpensive method of determining harmonic content of a repetitive signal such as a sound wave and demonstrations of the precession of a bicycle wheel and inversion shadows on the retina. Also describes a resonance demonstrator (made from scrap material) driven by a portable jigsaw. (JN)