To demonstrate the different vibration characteristics of a magnetic spring compared with those of a metal one, a magnetic spring apparatus was constructed from a pair of circular magnets of the same size with an inside diameter of 2.07 cm and an outside diameter of 4.50 cm. To keep the upper magnet in a suspension state, the two magnets were…

Presented here is an adaptation of George Gamow's derivation of the centripetal acceleration formula as it applies to Earth's orbiting Moon. The derivation appears in Gamows short but engaging book "Gravity", first published in 1962, and is essentially a distillation of Newton's work. While "TPT" contributors have offered several insightful…

Evaporation of a small glass of ethylic alcohol is studied both experimentally and through an elementary thermal physics approach. For a cylindrical beaker and no air flow in the room, a simple quadratic relation is found between the evaporation time and the mass of evaporated liquid. This problem and the obtained results offer excellent…

View change about socio-scientific issues has been well studied in the literature, but the change in the complexity of those views has not. In the current study, the change in the complexity of views about a specific scientific topic (i.e. genetically modified organisms; GMOs) and use of evidence in explaining those views was examined in relation…

Single photon experiments involving a Mach-Zehnder interferometer can illustrate the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, e.g., the wave-particle duality of a single photon, single photon interference, and the probabilistic nature of quantum measurement involving single photons. These experiments explicitly make the connection between the…

Globalization, in the case of science education, leads not only to an increase in homogeneity but also to an increase in cultural encounters. In this study, researchers from 2 distinct cultures, South Africa and Finland, used a qualitative approach to probe student teachers' perspectives on chemistry education. Participants were 1st-year chemistry…

Finding the best ways to introduce quantum physics to undergraduate students in all scientific areas, in particular for chemistry students, is a pressing, but hardly a simple task. In this paper, we discuss the relevance of taking into account lessons from the history of the discipline and the ongoing controversy over its interpretations and…

Synchrophasors, widely used in the monitoring and analysis of power systems, evolved from the phasor method presented by Charles Proteus Steinmetz in 1893. The phasor method is a mathematical method for solving linear sinusoidal steady-state circuits and time-varying electromagnetic fields. This paper traces the history and diffusion of the phasor…

The accurate measurement of speed of light is of great importance in understanding various concepts in Physics in particular and science in general. In Physics we come across various concepts and applications in which high degree of accuracy of speed of light becomes important. In this article we discuss the various attempts made to determine the…

A modified technique for demonstrating the magnitude of Avogadro's number using a new Raspberry Pi computer and the Python language is described. The technique also provides students the opportunity to review dimensional analysis.

Newton's second law is one of the cornerstones of the introductory physics curriculum, but it can still trouble a large number of students well after its introduction, hobbling their ability to apply the concept to problem solving and to related concepts, such as momentum, circular motion, and orbits. While there are several possibilities for…

The traditional introductory-level meterstick-balancing lab assumes that students already know what torque is and that they readily identify it as a physical quantity of interest. We propose a modified version of this activity in which students qualitatively and quantitatively measure the amount of force required to keep the meterstick level. The…

It is argued that knowledge about models is an important part of a profound understanding of Nature of Science. Consequently, researchers have developed different "levels of understanding" to analyse students', teachers', or experts' comprehension of this topic. In some approaches, "global" levels of understanding have been…

Symmetry properties of molecules are generally introduced in second-year or third-year-level inorganic or physical chemistry courses. Students generally adapt readily to understanding and applying the operations of rotation (C[subscript n]), reflection (s), and inversion (i). However, the two-step operation of improper rotation-reflection…

It is hard to observe relativistic effects in everyday life. However, table experiments using a mechanical transmission line for solitons may be an efficient and simple way to show effects such as Lorentz contraction in a classroom. A kink soliton is a deformation of a lattice of several dozen or more pendulums placed on a wire and connected by a…