Related papers: The Bat Signal
Bats use a sophisticated ultrasonic sensing method called echolocation to recognize the environment. Recently, it has been reported that sighted human participants with no prior experience in echolocation can improve their ability to…
A small tabletop experiment for a direct measurement of the speed of light to an accuracy of few percent is described. The experiment is accessible to a wide spectrum of undergraduate students, in particular to students not majoring in…
This article explains and illustrates the design of a laboratory experience for blind students to measure the inertia of simple objects, in this case, that of a disc around its axis of symmetry. Our adaptation consisted in modifying the…
Understanding how sound propagates through different media is fundamental to both science and technology. While sound plays a critical role in natural navigation and underlies a wide range of applications - from medical ultrasound to sonar…
It can be a challenge to come up with simple demonstrations of circular motion and conservation of energy. One such demonstration consists of a large exercise ball, off of which a small solid or hollow ball is rolled. The small balls are…
An approach for engineering student exercises using the Internet is described. In this approach, for a given exercise, each student receives the same problem, but with different data. The exercise content can be static or dynamic, and the…
The main purpose of this article is to make Astronomers aware that Searches for Extraterrestrial Intelligence can be carried out by analyzing standard astronomical spectra, including those they already have taken. Simplicity is the…
Smartphone is a powerful internet connected computer packed with internal sensors that measure sound, light, acceleration and magnetic field strength. Physics teachers can use them as measurement devices to demonstrate science concepts and…
Performing interferometry in an optical lattice formed by standing waves of light offers potential advantages over its free-space equivalents since the atoms can be confined and manipulated by the optical potential. We demonstrate such an…
Wave optics is a prominent part of the undergraduate physics curriculum, and many undergraduate labs contain experiments on wave optics. In our 3rd-year undergraduate lab, we run numerical simulations alongside the experiments (and when…
Experimental activities are an essential part of physics education. In addition to conveying scientific knowledge, they play a significant role in developing scientific literacy, inquiry skills, and critical thinking. In today's world,…
We propose two experiments suited for high school and/or undergraduate physics laboratory which are aimed to the discovery of the practical meaning and usefulness of the FFT analysis as a mathematical and graphical instrument, intended to…
We present an approach to experimental radar systems education based on a combination of commercial low-cost hardware with modern open-source software technologies. Following a discussion of the general top-level architecture of flexible,…
Over the past 10 years, we have developed at University Paris Sud a first year course on geometrical optics centered on experimentation. In contrast with the traditional top-down learning structure usually applied at university, in which…
Many concepts of physical optics can be visually illustrated on a relatively simple optical setup in a table-top format, not requiring any very specific equipment. Diffraction, interferences, speckle, image formation, Fourier optics,…
We describe a simple experimental apparatus which allows one to observe the wave properties of light in a new way. This apparatus also makes possible to introduce and illustrate, in a very suggestive way, some fundamental principles of…
We present a platform for student monitoring in remote education consisting of a collection of sensors and software that capture biometric and behavioral data. We define a collection of tasks to acquire behavioral data that can be useful…
We created a potential for light with a phase mirror and then experimentally realized a photonic quantum ratchet in an all-optical system, in which ratchet effects can be observed with the naked eye up to more than 22 steps, and quantum…
Nowadays many telescopes around the world are automated and some networks of robotic telescopes are active or planned as shown by the lists we draw up. Such equipment could be used for the training of students and for science in the…
Lessons and homework problems involving a pendulum are often a big part of introductory physics classes and laboratory courses from high school to undergraduate levels. Although laboratory equipment for pendulum experiments is commercially…