Evidence from isotopes other than radiocarbon shows that dinosaur fossils are millions of years old. Despite that, bone mineral from Mesozoic dinosaur fossils yields a falsely young radiocarbon "date" of less than 50,000 years, due to its accumulation of new radiocarbon via recrystallization. Similarly, the so-called collagen fraction of…

Why does a raindrop on a window pane show an image of the environment that is turned upside-down? And why does vision go blurry underwater, but is perfectly clear with diving goggles? Our everyday life is rich in optical phenomena. Unfortunately, these phenomena often play a subordinate role in Optics teaching, compared to ray constructions or…

Different methodologies have arisen in the last century, and all of them advocate for a change of the traditional method. In this paper, Inquiry-Based Learning is introduced in an experimental group (17 students) to see the different results of children following this innovative method as compared to the control group (16 students) that followed…

The topic of the seasons is covered in both primary and secondary schools in Australia. It may be difficult for some students to comprehend how the Sun alters its position throughout the year. This article shows how to calculate the changing rising and setting positions of the Sun for one's locality and the extremes of its elevation near noon over…

This work provides a missing manual needed to understand permanent magnets (also known as "hard" magnets), the only source of "magnetic induction field B" (units of teslas), often called the magnetic field, that students are familiar with when they confront magnetic force acting on moving charges. Students see this magnetic…

A simple experiment is described to compare the descent time between two vertically separated points when an object slides down tracks of varying shape. A surprising result is that the descent time is shortest when it follows a circular track rather than a cycloidal track. Cycloidal tracks are usually predicted to result in the shortest descent…

Scientific reasoning competencies enable students to engage in scientific inquiry through a wide range of methods, for example by asking questions, formulating hypotheses, and planning, carrying out, and evaluating experiments. Laboratories are particularly suitable to foster these competencies in higher education. In order to give lab educators…

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) can have open pore structures with high surface areas and applications in hydrogen storage, carbon dioxide capture, water harvesting from air, chemical separations, and catalysis. The chemical structure of these crystalline solids can initially appear daunting. Simplification by considering the arrangement of the…

Spectroscopic characterization of molecules is typically reinforced in the organic chemistry teaching laboratory via the analysis of reaction products by NMR and IR, and initial coverage of these topics can include experiments involving the identification of unknown compounds. To combine the unknown identification component with common laboratory…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses are considered to be challenging for students and may present unique challenges for each domain. This study addresses a gap in the research literature by investigating the challenges students face in general and organic chemistry lecture courses. Students provided information…

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a rapid and powerful method for evaluating the pore structure of membranes. However, the application is limited due to the lack of appropriate training of engineers in electrochemistry and materials engineering. The introduction of laboratory practices can effectively improve the understanding of…

This article reports about a lesson series that focuses on engaging students in sustainability, plastics, and life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of the lesson series is to give students insights into sustainability in the context of plastics and to foster awareness of and insights into the benefits of the LCA method. The lesson series…

An individual harmonic wave (i.e., having a single frequency and wavelength over all time and space) traveling in a loss-free medium has a single constant speed, which is equal to the magnitude of the phase velocity of the wave. However, when a set of different harmonic waves are traveling in the same direction, they interfere to form wave…

This article analyzes and experimentally verifies the stability behavior of the equilibrium states of a conical pendulum. An analysis of the motion presents that the equilibrium states of the pendulum are determined by the pendulum angular speed. For a given pendulum length there exists a critical angular speed that determines stability…

Points near the top end of a falling rod hinged at its bottom end can fall faster than g. If a rod falls on a frictionless surface then the bottom end slides backwards and the centre of mass falls vertically with acceleration less than g. The effect was simulated by mounting a rod on wheels and filming the result with a video camera. The…