This paper deals with temperature variations over time of objects placed in a constant-temperature environment in the presence of thermal radiation. After a historical introduction, the paper discusses cooling and warming laws, by taking into account first solely object-environment energy exchange by thermal radiation, and then adding…

We present a teaching module dealing with the thermal effects of interaction between radiation and matter, the infrared emission of bodies and the greenhouse effect devoted to university level and teacher education. The module stresses the dependence of the optical properties of materials (transparency, absorptivity and emissivity) on radiation…

This article describes a research study concerning students' conceptions and reasonings about fluids and pressure in static situations. After a preliminary survey involving interviews and observations in class, some written questions were answered by various groups, totalling 428 Italian and French pupils in upper secondary school, 458 first-year…