This paper presents an original undergraduate student project in theoretical mechanics: a demonstration of theory and experiment agreement inspired by a recently theoretically treated mechanical problem of coupled rolling motion of two cylinders. The problem of a mechanical system subjected to non-holonomic constraints is theoretically and…

A ladder network constructed by an elementary two-terminal network consisting of a parallel resistor-inductor block in series with a parallel resistor-capacitor block sometimes is said to have a non-dispersive dissipative response. This special ladder network is created iteratively by replacing the elementary two-terminal network in place of the…

An account of peculiar light patterns produced by reflection in a pool under falling rain droplets was recently reported by Molesini and Vannoni (2008 Eur. J. Phys. 29 403-11). The mathematical approach, however, only covered the case of a symmetrical location of a light source and the observer's eyes with respect to the vertical of the falling…

Empirical correlations are a practical means of providing approximate answers to problems in physics whose exact solution is otherwise difficult to obtain. The correlations relate quantities that are deemed to be important in the physical situation to which they apply, and can be derived from experimental data by means of dimensional and/or scale…