The integration of physics, music, and mathematics has long been used to increase students' interest and motivation in these subjects. For example, previous articles in this journal have shown how to teach physical concepts in a musical context, use a smartphone to check the resonant frequencies of whistles, use a smartphone to examine the spectra…

The question of how the processes around the Faraday generator with its rotating magnet should be interpreted has been controversial since its discovery by Faraday. Does the magnetic field rotate together with the rotating magnet or does it remain stationary? Furthermore, does one only need Faraday's flux law to interpret inductive processes, or…

Laboratory astrophysics and astrochemistry are emerging fields highlighting the importance of laboratory simulations and experiments to benefit remote observations. In particular, ice mixtures found in the outer solar system may offer insight into the early evolution of organic molecules. H[subscript 2]O-ice mixtures containing other species such…

Using a Geiger-Müller tube, sound-capturing software, and a simple computer program, students measured to reasonable precision the half-value layer of steel in absorbing high-energy gamma rays from a Radium Ore Revigator (pronounced re-vig-a-tor with the accent on "vig"), an early quack medical device. This article describes the process…

Students experience current electricity every day in our wired world, yet the circuit problems that students work through in physics class can seem far removed from the common experience of switching on a light bulb. However, current electricity provides many opportunities to engage students in hands-on learning. Through circuit construction,…

Prompt determination of the positive or negative signs of charged objects promotes students' understanding of electrostatics and motivates them to learn more about this field of physics. We developed a low-cost (about US$5) and easy-to-use device for checking the signs of the static charges in objects. It consists of two easy-to-build circuits,…

Energy is a disciplinary core idea and a cross-cutting concept in the K-12 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As numerous authors point out, the energy model in these standards emphasizes the connections between energy and systems. Using energy ideas to interpret or make sense of phenomena means…

The use of analogies is a well-known teaching strategy to bridge unfamiliar and familiar concepts. However, analogies may become ineffective if the familiar concept is not familiar anymore. For example, this may occur when we describe rotational sense as clockwise and counterclockwise, assuming students know how to read a clock with hour and…

Project-based learning has been shown to be an effective pedagogical strategy that motivates students and thus promotes learning. In this article we describe a project-based unit centered on the physics of solar cookers (Fig. 1 and 3). Our goal was to elevate the solar cooker from a summer camp activity to a college-level project that could be…

Energy consumption in the world is increasing more and more due to the huge energy request coming from emerging countries such as China, India, etc. To face the challenge of sustainability, a solution may be the use of solar energy, since it is the most abundant renewable energy source on Earth. The electromagnetic energy coming from the Sun can…

For many years, Atwood's machine has been used to demonstrate, illustrate, or verify Newton's laws in introductory physics courses. It consists of two objects of different mass that are fastened to the ends of a string that hangs over a pulley. In an idealized situation, one assumes that pulley friction, the string's mass, and changes in the…

Possibly the greatest irony of physics education is the difficulty of demonstrating optics in a visible way. The two most common solutions to this conundrum are to either use "all-inclusive" optical apparatuses, like a large-format camera, or to rely on classic ray-tracing diagrams. While the former looks elegant while demonstrating the…

At the undergraduate level, the composite motion of simple harmonic vibrations has always been the main content of physics as well as several other scientific disciplines. Many textbooks tell us clearly that when the frequency ratio [omega][subscript 1]/[omega][subscript 2] of two perpendicular vibrations is simple integer ratio n[subscript…

Resonance is a widely observed physical phenomenon, occurring when an oscillator experiences a driving force whose frequency closely matches one of its own natural frequencies. Due to its broad applicability in physics, resonance is a familiar topic in the physics teaching literature. Previous studies include resonant energy transfer between…

In everyday language, "zero" and "nothing" are generally synonyms if not interchangeable. In physics, however, these two terms are quite distinct. Zero often refers to a number and nothing often refers to the vacuum state. Furthermore, the number zero has a variety of different meanings, among which physics teachers shift…