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…

A solar eclipse provides a well-characterized reduction in solar radiation. Solar radiation is a driving factor in meteorological and climate models. Hence, solar eclipses provide a unique opportunity to do large-scale meteorological experiments by measuring the effects on temperature, pressure, and wind while the atmospheric conditions stay…

In this work, we present an experimental approximation to the study of the phenomenon of radioactivity in secondary schools, taking as an analogy the process of release of carbon dioxide in a carbonated beverage. In this way, we intend to facilitate the approach to the mathematical formalism and to the graphical description of this phenomenon, as…

An easy circuit for measuring the power of a solar panel in physics classroom by using the microcontroller Arduino will be introduced in this article. The measured data is transferred via Bluetooth to the smartphone app 'phyphox' where it is displayed graphically. The circuitry enables measuring the power of a solar panel in different situations…

Crystallography is a fascinating subject and an argument of great importance in the study of structure of matter and fundamental physics. Moreover, many characteristics of crystals, as well as other organic and inorganic substances, are analyzed with x-ray diffraction. In order to introduce at a basic level the above mentioned subjects, and also…

As part of their third-year general chemistry program, students at the University of the Côte d'Azur are taught the basics of radioactivity. The view that third-year university students have of the periodic Table of the Elements is often reduced because it ignores the vast majority of isotopes. As part of this program, a practicum devoted to the…

A fast, operationally simple, and reproducible synthetic protocol for anthraquinone dyes (AQDs), suitable for upper-division undergraduate industrial and organic chemistry laboratory courses, has been developed. This experiment is composed of three stages; the first step deals with the synthesis of AQDs, followed by a purification step, and…

The concept of black body is of primary importance in studying the energy transfer of thermal electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths. Several physical bodies like incandescent lamps, electric heaters, stoves, the sun and the other stars, microwave background radiation, etc., are considered to be black bodies as their radiation spectra fits…

The Cosmic-Ray Extremely Distributed Observatory (CREDO) is the project to search and study ultra high-energy cosmic ray particles from deep space producing simultaneous extensive air showers over the entire exposed surface of the Earth. The concept of the CREDO infrastructure assumes absorbing all kinds of cosmic ray data from any apparatus all…

Water can exhibit many different colors due to a variety of physical properties. Here, we focus on some observable colors within very pure freshwater. We only treat the absorption of light due to electronic and ro-vibrational excitations and scattering due to refractive index fluctuations of the water and the respective consequences for the…

In Vietnam, nuclear physics is a fundamental part of the national curriculum for physics. However, due to a lack of experimental apparatus (detectors, radioactive sources, etc) at most of the schools, the majority of students do not have opportunities to experience the phenomena behind the concepts. Moreover, safety is another major concern when…

Electroscopes have been widely used in physics education for several reasons, such as their simplicity, sensitivity and visual appeal, showing macroscopic phenomena related to the microscopic world. Although they are capable of highly accurate measurements, the procedures involved in these measurements encounter some obstacles when performed with…

This paper describes a cost effective and safe device to perform realistic experiments on the physics of radioactivity in classrooms. It can be used to study both a- and ß-radioactivity as well as ?-emitters and shows extremely realistic behaviour. The device, in the form of a Geiger--Müller tube, was tested during a public lecture and it deceived…

Most didactic lab experiments deal with the influence of temperature, concentration, pressure, surface area, and catalysts on chemical kinetics; however, few of them explore the influence of light radiation and the presence of inhibitor agents on reaction rates. In order to investigate the effects of the radiation source and the presence of…

In this article we present simple and low-cost experiments about the polarization of light. We use an LCD monitor or an RGB LED light bulb with a Polaroid as a source of polarized radiation, a polarizer sheet as an analyzer, and a smartphone camera to measure light intensities. Thus, using a digital camera to acquire videos students can explore in…