Physics Education
Since 1988, the United Nations, through the Programme on Space Applications, is supporting the establishment and operation of regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the…
A pedagogically instructive experimental procedure is suggested for distinguishing between different damping terms in a weakly damped oscillator, which highclights the connection between non-linear damping and initial-amplitude dependence.…
The Lorentz force can be obtained from Maxwell's equations in the Coulomb gauge provided that we assume that the electric portion of the force acted on a charge is known, and the magnetic component is perpendicular to the velocity of motion…
Sir Joseph LARMOR showed in 1897 that an oscillating electric charge emits radiation energy proportional to (acceleration)$^2$. At first sight,the result appears to be valid for arbitrary accelerations. But, perpetual uniform acceleration…
We discuss the interchangeability of the thermodynamic limit \beta \to \infty and the infinite limit of the Trotter number n \to \infty when Trotter formula e^{H_{0}+V} =\lim_{n \to \infty} (e^{H_{0}/n} e^{V/n}) is used to calculate…
This article summarises a Web-book on "Complexity" that was developed to introduce undergraduate students to interesting complex systems in the biological, physical and social sciences, and the common tools, principles and concepts used for…
We report on a very simple and inexpensive method for determining the speed of an electrical wave in a transmission line. The method consists of analyzing the roundtrip time for ethernet packets between two computers. It involves minimal…
The motion of a pendulum is described as Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM) in case the initial displacement given is small. If we relax this condition then we observe the deviation from the SHM. The equation of motion is non-linear and thus…
We solve a difficult problem involving velocity and acceleration components along oblique axes, and propose two problems of central force motion to be solved using oblique axes.
Modification of three ideas underlying Newton's original world view, with only minor changes in context, might offer two advantages to introductory physics students. First, the students will experience less cognitive dissonance when they…
A trajectory of a harmonic oscillator obeying the Schreodinger wave equation is exactly derived and illustrated. The trajectory resembles well the classical orbit between the turning points, and also runs through the tunneling region. The…
Simple airtrack simulations, like those now possible with web-based 3D environments, can provide explorers of any age with experiential data sufficient to formulate their own models of motion. In particular, with a compressable spring, two…
A simple experiment is presented that enables qualitative and quantitative measurement of the extraordinary refractive index direction dependency in an uniaxial nematic liquid crystal. Three liquid crystaline cells were designed in which…
We define 1+1 dimensional de Sitter manifold in this paper and we consider various coordinate systems on it. Some interesting aspects of the general theory of relativity are demonstrated by using the transformations between the considered…
A simple model to help students see the connections between a physics course and their engineering major is described. "Bridging" had positive effects on performance, attitude, and motivation, as measured by grade analyses, surveys, and…
The simple pendulum is one of the first experiments that students of higher physics do. There are certain precautions which the students are asked to take while performing the experiment. In this note we will try to explain as to why these…
We present two experiments in closed-loop feedback control. In the first experiment, students control the pointing angle of a laser to "lock" the laser onto a "target." In the second, students stabilize the pathlength difference in two arms…
Using to a minimum extent special relativity input, and relying on the Lorentz-force expression for the force acting on a charged particle in motion under the influence of electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields, the Maxwell curl equations are…
Several years ago I reported a survey (Hake 1998a,b,c) of pre/post test data for 62 introductory physics courses enrolling a total of 6542 students. The present article provides a summary of that survey and presents fourteen lessons from…
We propose a unified approach to addition of some physical quantities (among which resistors and capacitors are the most well-known) that are usually encountered in introductory physics such that the formulae required to solve problems are…