We propose to reconsider the well-known experiment about the interference of white light from a thin soap film by adopting as an illuminating source the RGB triad produced by a LED projector. The interference pattern shows up in a particularly fascinating way and it contains direct, essential information about both the wave nature of light and of…

The comparative analysis of different meanings of Chemistry is carried out, taking in account philosophical, didactic, psychological and socio-cultural aspects. The issue is discussed in terms of the concurrent existence of two different subsystems referred both to Science and Education which can be found in presentations of chemistry knowledge.…

The relative speed concept was chosen since it is linked with the relative nature of motion and it is likely that the students would harbor many alternative conceptions about it. The research objective was to identify the various ways students conceive relative motion. Qualitative data collected in various forms of representation received a…

The article proposes a new research object for a general physics course--the vapour Cartesian diver, designed to study the properties of saturated water vapour. Physics education puts great importance on the study of the saturated vapour state, as it is related to many fundamental laws and theories. For example, the temperature dependence of the…

Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is the most widely used herbicide on earth. A simple assay to quantify glyphosate concentrations in environmental samples was developed as part of an interdisciplinary effort linking introductory laboratory courses in chemistry, biology, and microbiology. In this 3 h laboratory experiment, students used…

A cylinder rolling down an inclined board is a commonly seen and interesting object to study and it is also easy to experiment with and model. Following what has become a popular practice, we use smartphones to measure the angular acceleration of a cylinder rolling down a plane of different inclining angles. The friction force deviates from the…

Proficiency with instrumental analysis via GC-MS is an important skill for chemistry students. The application of analytical techniques and fundamental theoretical principles to real-world problems can be valuable learning exercises for undergraduates which can also improve their analytical thinking skills. Xylitol is generally considered safe for…

A recent textbook research, carried out on a sample of 20 American physics textbooks, shows that the authors mainly keep the old definition of weight. According to that definition, the weight of a body is the gravitational force on the body. In such a conceptual frame, the objects in the spaceship are "apparently weightless" because they…

An undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory experiment that provides an introduction to the concepts and practices of photoredox catalysis is reported. While undergraduate-level photochemistry experiments typically place emphasis on analytical properties of catalysts rather than synthetic applications, this experiment showcases the power and…

Polymer chemistry is an integral part of art conservation graduate training programs. The list of materials used by artists and artisans and by conservators is vast, with the majority being polymeric in nature. Conservators use an array of polymers as coatings, adhesives, fills, supports, and structures. Aside from the chemistry of these…

To introduce the randomness of a physical process to students, a chaotic pendulum experiment was opened in East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) on the undergraduate level in the physics department. It was shown chaotic motion could be initiated through adjusting the operation of a chaotic pendulum. By using the data of the…

The study of buoyancy becomes very interesting when we measure the apparent weight of the body and the liquid vessel weight. In this paper, we propose an experimental apparatus that measures both the forces mentioned before as a function of the depth that a cylinder is sunk into the water. It is done using two load cells connected to an Arduino.…

Surface modification has been considered as a fundamental item in upper-division undergraduate and master courses. Thus, the development of experiments regarding processes and characterization of surface-modification phenomena is highly desired. In this article, we propose an electrochemical and computational study of widely used…

The research reported in this article represents a systematic, multiyear investigation of student understanding of the behavior of bipolar junction transistor circuits using a variety of different tasks to isolate and probe key aspects of transistor circuit behavior. The participants in this study were undergraduates enrolled in upper-division…

Resonance is an ubiquitous phenomenon present in many systems. In particular, air resonance in cavities was studied by Hermann von Helmholtz in the 1850s. Originally used as acoustic filters, Helmholtz resonators are rigid-wall cavities that reverberate at given fixed frequencies. An adjustable type of resonator is the so-called "universal…