Diffraction refers to a kind of optical phenomena which occurs when light approaches an element (object or aperture) whose features are in the range of the illuminating wavelength (small apertures, sharp edges). It can be explained by means of the undulatory nature of light or also geometrically by using simple ray optics. Diffraction phenomena…

Several properties of Earth's magnetic field (field vectors, time dependence) are measured in various locations using a smartphone/tablet magnetic sensor. To enable a proper use of the magnetic sensor as a classroom tool, the exact location of the sensor in the device and its resolution must be identified in a first step. Then, students may…

When the road is wet (there is a water layer on the road surface), the road marks become blurred and drivers are distracted. We discuss the contributing processes and identify which processes are dominant to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Modelling and a simple experiment demonstrate that the dominant processes are: (a) refraction of light by…

What follows is a description of the procedure for and results of a simple experiment on the formation of impact craters designed for the laboratory portions of lower mathematical-level general education science courses such as conceptual physics or descriptive astronomy. The experiment provides necessary experience with data collection and…

Three simple experiments are described using a small water bottle with two holes in the side of the bottle. The main challenge is to predict and then explain the observations, but the arrangements can also be used for quantitative measurements concerning hydrostatic pressure, Bernoulli's equation, surface tension and bubble formation.

A physical pendulum with a magnetic load is proposed for comparison of linear and nonlinear oscillations. The magnetic load is repelled by permanent magnets which are disposed symmetrically relative to the load. It is established that positions of the pendulum and the magnets determine the dependence of restoring force on displacement of the load.…

The "radioactive dice" experiment is a commonly used classroom analogue to model the decay of radioactive nuclei. However, the value of the half-life obtained from this experiment differs significantly from that calculated for real nuclei decaying exponentially with the same decay constant. This article attempts to explain the discrepancy and…

A cordless mouse with an added reed switch is used as a wireless data logger to record every time the wheel of a trolley completes a revolution. The limitations of the system in terms of maximum clicking rate and spatial resolution are considered and data obtained from the descent of a trolley down a ramp at various different angles is analysed in…

With real particle collision data available on the web, the amazing dynamics of the fundamental particles of the standard model can be explored in classrooms. Complementing the events from the ATLAS experiment with animations of the fundamental processes on the quark and gluon level makes it possible to better understand the invisible world of…

With the recent discovery of a new particle at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) the Higgs boson could be about to be discovered. This paper provides a brief summary of the standard model of particle physics and the importance of the Higgs boson and field in that model for non-specialists. The role of Feynman diagrams in making predictions for…

An active learning sequence based on the predict-observe-explain teaching strategy is applied to a lesson on buoyant force. The results obtained clearly justify the use of this teaching method and suggest devising a series of activities to enable more effective removal of students' commonly held alternative conceptions regarding floating and…

A simplified theoretical explanation of dispersion in dielectric materials has been given and experiments have been carried out on two liquids, namely, distilled water and sunflower oil. The appendix contains a detailed description of the construction of a homemade spectrometer and hollow prism and an assessment of its suitability for the above…

A handheld emitter-receiver device suitable for the direct estimation of the velocity of radio waves in air is presented. The velocity of radio waves is measured using the direct time-of-flight method, without the need for any tedious and precise settings. The results for two measurement series are reported. Both sets of results give an estimate…

Measuring the refractive index "n" of a substance or medium is part of every introductory physics course. Various approaches to determine this index have been developed over the years based on the different ways light reflects and transmits in the medium. In this paper, the authors would like to present a simple geometrical derivation of the…

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 physics textbooks published in Korea based on the eight criteria developed in previous research. The result of this study shows that Korean general…