A smartphone is a powerful learning aid in the hands of a large section of students around the world. The camera of the phone can be used for several learning purposes apart from its obvious purpose of photographing. If the focal length of the lens of the camera can be determined, several experiments in optics can be performed with it. In some…

Practical experiments enhance students' understanding of basic concepts and promote deep learning experiences in chemistry. The smartphone application of Lab4Chemistry was utilized to replace colorimeters with smartphone camera sensors. Low-cost and readily available materials, including anthocyanin (fresh red cabbage) and common kitchen…

There is a growing need for chemistry students to be able to handle and manipulate large datasets and analyze them in an efficient and accessible way. This creates the need to develop course materials that introduce these topics early in the undergraduate curriculum. To address this growing need, this activity introduced RStudio to students…

We propose a laboratory experiment on the quantitative study of the normal dispersion of light. A triangular isosceles prism made of flint glass TF3 is used as the object of study, and we describe a simple and affordable device for observing and photographing the dispersion spectrum on a smartphone. A possibility of the quantitative investigation…

A smartphone magnetometer is used to record the magnetic field of a freely falling point dipole magnet. The recorded magnetic field vs. time data are analyzed in accordance with the spatial dependence of the magnetic field to calculate the acceleration due to gravity g. The experiment gives local g to be 9.79 ± 1.9% m/s[superscript 2].

Studying the dynamics of beams is considered an indispensable field for mechanical and civil engineering students. This paper describes, in detail, the use of smartphones in educational practical works to determine and examine the dynamic characteristics of beams subjected to free vibration. Where the smartphone is equipped with a mobile…

In this laboratory experiment, students modify a series of surfaces and explore the effects of varying surface chemistry and texture on wettability by different probe liquids. Students begin by building a simple contact angle goniometer utilizing their mobile phone cameras. Next, they contrast the wettability of planar glass substrates…

Water rockets can be used in a variety of ways, from schools to planetariums, with very young kids or adults. We propose here simple forms to work with water rockets, going one step further than a simple launch. A smartphone can be used to film the launch and analyze its motion with video analysis or it can even be attached to the rocket, using…

Providing hands-on practical education without access to laboratories during the COVID-19 pandemic has required creativity and innovation. In this paper, co-authored by academic staff and students, we describe an at-home mobile phone-based 'spectrophotometer' experiment used in an introductory undergraduate biology course. Using colour picker…

pH determination and acid-base titrations are essential experiments performed by high school and university undergraduate students alike throughout their chemistry education. While these experiments often rely on conventional pH meters for quantification and pH test strips or indicators for qualitative assessments, we demonstrated herein that a…

Granular flows appear frequently in the natural world and in civil engineering applications. These flows can exhibit features which are surprising and counter-intuitive and are often used to test the limits of the classical continuum approximation for modelling of fluid flows. An important sub-class of the granular flows are the gravity-driven…

We present an experiment designed to study standing waves in a tube with one closed end. Two smartphones are used, one to emit a sound signal with a chosen frequency and another equipped with a microphone to detect the sound pressure level inside the tube. Due to the finite diameter of the tube, the standing wave node (or antinode) appears…

This paper demonstrates the use of a smartphone's sensors in recording experimental data for investigating the large angle of a physical pendulum. The smartphone (iPhone 5s) was attached to a beam to record simultaneously both the angular position and the angular speed of the beam oscillating about the pivot. The period and phase space of the…

The flight of a quadcopter drone, readily available as a toy, is analyzed using simple physics concepts. A smartphone with built-in accelerometer and gyroscope was attached to the drone to register the accelerations and angular velocities along the three spatial axis while the drone is taking off, landing or rotating. The vertical speed, the…

The current pandemic era demands distance learning, including physics experiments on the topic of optics. One of the optical phenomena that needs to be explained in optic courses is fluorescence. This study offers a simple home experiment regarding the application of fluorescence, namely to identify the purity of olive oil using simple…