The Edison Institute predicts that there will be at least 19 × 10[superscript 6] all-electric vehicles (EVs) in use by 2030. This will produce significant effects on our transportation system and its energy requirements. Investigating these effects is an ideal activity to show the relevance of physics. How efficient are EVs in using energy? What…

With the rapid spread of high-speed railway technology, there is a resurgence of interest in trains and railways. The main propulsive engine for railways was the steam engine for over a century, which gave way to the diesel and electrical engines. The steam engine was crucial to the birth and development of the railway industry, and understanding…

When we travel in a train moving at a certain velocity, we observe the stationary objects outside are moving backwards. These stationary objects seem to move due to a relative velocity. Consider that the stationary object outside the train is a man standing on the stationary floor watching a woman moving on a train. The woman on a train will see…

Most two-wheel motorcycle riders know that, at highway speeds, if you want to turn left you push on the "left" handlebar and pull on the "right" handlebar. This is called "countersteering." Countersteering is counterintuitive since pushing left and pulling right when the front wheel is not spinning would turn the…

While it has been demonstrated how air resistance could be analyzed by using mobile devices, this paper demonstrates a method of how to determine the drag resistance coefficient "c" of a commercial automobile by using the acceleration sensor of a smartphone or tablet. In an academic context, the drag resistance is often mentioned, but…

I report an innovation that provides a compelling demonstration of rocket propulsion, appropriate for students of physics and other physical sciences. An electrical spark is initiated from a distance to cause the deflagration of a combustible vapor mixed with air in a lightweight plastic bottle that is consequently propelled as a rocket by the…

Given that transportation is an essential topic in any Physics and Society or Energy course, it is necessary to have useful statistics on transportation in order to have a reasoned discussion on this topic. And a major component of the transportation picture is the automobile. This paper presents updated transportation statistics for American…

November 10, 2015, marked the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the "S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald," a Great Lakes bulk cargo freighter that suddenly and mysteriously sank during a severe winter storm on Lake Superior. A year after the sinking, Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded the ballad "The Wreck of the 'Edmund…

A television advertisement and a website present an interesting question: can rail company CSX "really" move a ton of freight 468 miles on a gallon of fuel, or is the claim preposterous? Let us examine the claim, first by understanding what is meant, looking at their data, and then converting units to examine the claim quantitatively.

Those who come to Cambridge soon learn that the fastest route between Harvard and MIT is by the subway. For many students, this short ride is a quick and easy way to link physics and calculus. A simple, homemade accelerometer provides all the instrumentation necessary to produce accurate graphs of acceleration, velocity, and displacement position…

Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA) is renowned for the number of its courses that offer international and study-away opportunities. Inspired by the theme of sustainability, and my growing concern about the environmental impact of conventional fuels, I offered a course, Physics of Energy, for the first time during PLU's January 2011 term (a…

The recent implementation of technology in the classroom is probably one of the most challenging innovations that many teachers are having to confront today. Teachers have to develop a knowledge base that goes beyond technology proficiency, into learning about how technology, for example, can be used for various forms of representations of subject…

Comments on a news item on rail traffic that is meant to promote conservation of energy. (GA)

Describes how one logical scheme for the gearing for a multi-speed touring bicycle leads to a set of gear ratios which increase in an exponential function. (BT)

Demonstrates that the number of kilometers of highway in the U.S. tends to grow exponentially and discusses what can be done to modify this growth. (MLH)