The reflection and refraction of light are more familiar to students than the reflection and refraction of sound. Reflection and refraction that occur during the transmission of sound waves are common phenomena in everyday life but are often difficult to understand during actual learning. In this study, we developed a sound reflection and…

Teaching alternating currents, ac or sound waves, is incomplete without an introduction to the oscilloscope. An oscilloscope is a tool that graphically displays electrical signals and shows their time dependence. However, due to the pandemic, triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, many students do not have the opportunity to master the use of an…

The Crookes radiometer (also known as a light mill) is a fascinating sunlight-powered device, in which a set of vanes is placed inside a glass bulb within which a partial vacuum has been pulled. The vanes then rotate when sunlight shines on the bulb. The reason for the turning of the vanes was subject to intense debate and many students still have…

In this paper, a very simple and low-cost setup design is described for the Seebeck coefficient measurement of the disc and rod-shaped specimens. The setup has been tested for its reliable working by measuring the Seebeck coefficients of standard samples; measured values match with the literature. The setup can be built with commonly available raw…

The determination of the speed of sound in air is a classical experiment, usually performed with a resonance tube apparatus. The measured value can be checked against Eq. (1), which describes the temperature dependence of the speed of sound in dry air. A modern implementation of this speed of sound investigation uses an Arduino Uno microcontroller…

Water rockets can be used in a variety of ways, from schools to planetariums, with very young kids or adults. We propose here simple forms to work with water rockets, going one step further than a simple launch. A smartphone can be used to film the launch and analyze its motion with video analysis or it can even be attached to the rocket, using…

Nowadays, electronic devices (especially smartphones) are developed to use as an alternative tool for recording experimental data in physics experiments. This is because of the embedded sensors in a smartphone such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, camera, microphone, and speaker. These sensors were used in physics experiments, such…

An absorption line at 900 nm has been observed in Perspex. Samples of 1 and 2 cm thickness were used and the integrated absorption (line width times peak absorption) of the line was proportionate to the thickness. Facilities for lowering the sample temperature were not available and therefore both measurements were carried out at room temperature.…

The use of smartphones in experimental physics is by now widely accepted and documented. PASCO scientific's Smart Cart, in combination with student-owned smartphones and free apps, has opened a new universe of low-cost experiments that have traditionally required cumbersome and expensive equipment. In this paper, we demonstrate the simplicity,…

The necessity to teach experimental physics in the pandemic period motivated the development of practices in which students may take measurements with instruments constructed by themselves. In this article, we present an experimental practice to approach Newton's law of cooling with a thermoscope (the earliest device for detecting changes in…

In this article we present a simple technique for determination of the Young modulus of the material of a metallic ruler using it as a cantilever. This method employs with a slide potentiometer and a digital multimeter. The linear region of potentiometer resistance which is calibrated in terms of length has been used to record the load vs.…

The refractive index of a liquid is known to depend strongly on the temperature gradient of liquids. When a laser beam passes through a transparent material going through thermal diffusion, the light projected onto a screen will be displaced in relation to the thermal diffusivity. A simple apparatus is used to measure the time evolution t of the…

By building a schlieren optical system, the visualization of a 40 KHz sound wave is realized. By using the schlieren system, the demonstration of acoustic reflection, interference and diffraction can be easily realized. At the same time, the visual acoustic field provides another simple way for the measurement of sound velocity. In this paper, the…

Smartphones and their internal sensors offer new options for an experimental access to teach physics at secondary schools and universities. Especially in the field of mechanics, a number of smartphone-based experiments are known illustrating, e.g., linear and pendulum motions as well as rotational motions using the internal MEMS accelerometer and…

This study aims to showcase an experiment for introductory physics students that quantitatively describes the relationship between gas pressure, volume, and temperature. For this purpose, an Arduino Uno Microcontroller and BMP180 pressure sensor are used. The BMP180 can also measure temperature, so another temperature sensor is not needed.…