The so-called "Rutherford's experiment," as it is outlined in many physics textbooks, is a case in point of the flaws around the history at the educational level of one of the decisive event of modern physics: the discovery that the atom has a nucleus. This paper shows that this alleged experiment is a very approximate and very partial…

Observation of the water jets flowing from three equidistant holes on the side of a vertical cylindrical bottle is an interesting and widely used didactical experiment illustrating the laws of fluids in motion. In this paper we analyze theoretically and numerically the ranges of the stationary water jets flowing from various rotationally symmetric…

Many illustrations and problems on the vector nature of forces have weights and forces in a vertical plane. One of the common devices for studying the vector nature of forces is a horizontal "force table," in which forces are produced by weights hanging vertically and transmitted to cords in a horizontal plane. Because some students have…

Since long time ago, many authors advocated for more presence of physics history in physics teaching and learning in order to give students a better vision of the "nature of science", in other words, to let them learn not only established physics knowledge but also the ways of how physicists managed to get that knowledge. Generally,…

For students to develop an understanding of science content and processes, teachers must create classroom environments in which students use inquiry to understand the natural world. However, teachers frequently find it difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate complex scientific concepts, which textbooks often fail to properly explain. During…

In the study of kinematics it is often emphasized that freefall time is independent of particular parabolic trajectory, provided that the initial velocity is parallel to the horizontal plane. There are various experiments to prove features of freefall in textbooks and other literature. Using a PC one can make precise measurements of time intervals…

One of the difficulties in teaching 20th-century physics ideas in introductory physics is that many seminal experiments that are discussed in textbooks are difficult or expensive for students to access experimentally. In this paper, we discuss an analogous exercise to Millikan's oil-drop experiment that lets students experience some of the physics…

Research in science education has recognized the importance of teaching atomic structure within a history and philosophy of science perspective. The objective of this study is to evaluate general chemistry textbooks published in Turkey based on the eight criteria developed in previous research. Criteria used referred to the atomic models of…

The principles of magnetism are a common topic in most introductory physics courses, yet curricular materials exploring the behavior of permanent magnets and magnetic materials are surprisingly rare in the literature. We reviewed the literature to see how magnetism is typically covered in introductory textbooks and curricula. We found that while…

While the new movement in the teaching of physics--the study of the physics of daily life--is the keynote of the recent text-books, yet the laboratory manuals still adhere to the old method, leaving the presentation of material from everyday life to the text-book alone. It is the authors' belief that the manual as well as the text-book should be…

In preparing this volume, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the most recent authorities have been consulted, and it is believed that a faithful view is presented of the various sciences embraced, as far as they are at present developed. It is the intention of the author to keep his book up to the times by constant revision, and to…