Fifty years ago this summer, three men aboard Apollo 11 traveled from our planet to the Moon. On July 20, 1969, at 10:56:15 p.m. EDT, 38-year-old commander Neil Armstrong moved his left foot from the landing pad of the lunar module (LM) Eagle onto the gray, powdery surface of the Sea of Tranquility and became the first person to step onto the…

In astronomy, methods such as direct imaging or interferometry-based techniques (Michelson stellar interferometry for example) are used for observations. A particular advantage of interferometry is that it permits greater spatial resolution compared to direct imaging with a single telescope, which is limited by diffraction owing to the aperture of…

The aim of this paper is to provide physics teachers and physics students with interdisciplinary cultural and scientific related content. The "dombra" is on the one hand a cultural symbol of Kazakhstan with a long tradition. On the other hand, the dombra as a musical instrument is an object of interest in acoustics. The topic can lead to…

An introductory approach to black holes is presented along with astronomical observational data pertaining to the presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Concepts of conservation of energy and Kepler's third law are employed so students can apply formulas from their physics class to determine the mass of the black hole…

Described are the contributions of 15 women astronomers to the modern understanding of the stars. Discussed are early women pioneers, early spectrographic studies, and recent women astronomers. A list of 29 references is included. (CW)

Discusses the making of a light engine powered by sunlight or a lamp. Describes the materials and construction method with detailed specifications and diagrams. (YP)

Compared is the mass of a dozen eggs with the mass of air in an empty refrigerator. An answer and reasons for the answer are provided. (YP)

The aim of this paper is to show how the noise reduction by signal accumulation can be accomplished with a data acquisition system. This topic can be used for student projects. In many cases, the noise reduction is an unavoidable part of experimentation. Several techniques are known for this purpose, and among them the signal accumulation is the…

Classroom experiments on atmospheric pressure focus largely on demonstrating its existence, often in a most impressive way. A series of amusing physics demonstrations is widely known and practiced by educators teaching the topic. However, measuring the value of atmospheric pressure(P[subscript atm]) is generally done in a rather mundane way,…

One way to motivate students' interest in physics is to teach it in the context of medicine. Optics, for example, can be taught with examples from the eye. For many years simple optics of lenses has been taught using a model of the eye. However, recent advances in using lasers for ophthalmological (ocular) examinations can be used to increase…