Here, a relatively simple laboratory experiment of a physical pendulum, suitable for students of science and engineering in the first courses of university physics, is presented to illustrate its dynamic behavior and to determine its inertia moment. To this end, a long wooden rod of length L = 99.8 cm and cross-section radius R = 1.73 cm was used…

The Arduino microcontroller is currently one of the favorite tools of makers, and many teachers have used it in teaching or experiments. In addition, light-emitting diode (LED) smart lighting is the worldwide trend in lighting. There are many teaching demonstrations or applications of color addition using LEDs. Furthermore, the Internet of Things…

Newton's laws are a ubiquitous topic in introductory physics instruction. One common problem involves asking what will happen if you stick your finger into a cup of water sitting on a scale. A way to solve the problem would be to first recognize that the water exerts a buoyant force upward on the finger, which students can recognize as being the…

The various aspects of projectile motion have been analyzed many times in this journal. As a sample, over the years, authors have investigated particular details of the path of a projectile and different situations for launching projectiles. Others have written about a nifty way to determine the maximum height of a projectile, finding the range of…

Old physics textbooks give us a great opportunity to learn about the history of science and rediscover different methods to teach physics to our students. There are many disused and forgotten experiments in them, but these can still be very useful to affirm and understand physics. This is the case of an instrument used in the 19th century to…

In this paper, we discuss a demonstration we have been performing for years with students from different levels, from physics students from our university to high school students in some talks aimed at encouraging them to study science. It provides visualization of Brewster's angle in an ingenious way using a "loaded" liquid crystal…

The Physics Teacher has published over the years many inspiring papers with an historical slant and we agree with Thomas B. Greenslade, who recently wrote that teaching physics is about "integrating physics with human culture.… if we are going to leave a lasting impact on our students, we should do more than teach them pure physics."…

Experiments involving RC circuits are an integral part of introductory physics courses. Previous articles using RC circuits describe determining the charge on a Van de Graaff generator, measuring currents and voltages in a charging RC circuit using a multimeter or an Arduino, measuring the decay constants of complex RC circuits, and using the…

A smartphone is a powerful learning aid in the hands of a large section of students around the world. The camera of the phone can be used for several learning purposes apart from its obvious purpose of photographing. If the focal length of the lens of the camera can be determined, several experiments in optics can be performed with it. In some…

Inspired by a commercially produced scattering experiment that was popular beginning in the 1960s, we have developed a Nerf-projectile-based educational activity to demonstrate the basics of particle scattering experiments.

Drop Tower Physics (DTP) is composed of a set of experiments using standard physics lecture demonstration equipment, such as a pendulum, mass spring oscillator, and so forth, while videotaping them as they fall freely in the Dryden Drop Tower in Portland, OR. An article published in "The Physics Teacher" illustrated the behavior of a…

In physics lessons at secondary school and experimental physics courses at universities, the magnetic field inside a current-carrying solenoid is considered quantitatively. The corresponding equations and theories are supported by measuring the magnetic flux density inside the solenoid with a Hall probe. It has already been shown that smartphones…

The Van de Graaff (VDG) generator is ubiquitous in the physics laboratory, but the high-voltage discharges that emanate from it can cause user discomfort or damage to nearby electronics during experimentation. In this work, an augmented reality (AR) tool is developed to help students conduct the experiment safely. More specifically, it allows them…

Recognized as one of the most beautiful experiments of all time, the oil drop experiment performed by Robert Millikan and his graduate students (primarily Harvey Fletcher) is a standard in the repertoire of experiments performed by undergraduate physics students. However, "as a teaching lab it does not enjoy a good reputation for three…

Although ripple tanks have been used in the past to perform wave simulations for electromagnetic and acoustic phenomena, especially before the advent of computers, they are still often used to demonstrate wave propagation in high school and college physics classrooms. Usually ripple tanks have a rectangular shape. The wave propagating through the…