An inexpensive and robust optical trap system can be built from off-the-shelf optical and opto-mechanical components or acquired as a kit to be assembled in a laboratory. The primary advantages of such a trap, besides being significantly more affordable, are its flexibility, and ease of modification and upgrade. In this paper, we consider several…

Coupled oscillators are an example of resonant energy exchange that is an interesting topic for many students in various majors, such as physics, chemistry, and electrical and mechanical engineering. However, this subject matter is considered too advanced for freshmen and sophomores, usually because of the level of mathematics involved.…

We introduce a dc/dc boost power converter as a didactic prototype intended to support courses on electric circuit analysis experimentally. The corresponding mathematical model is obtained, the converter is designed and an experimental setup is described, constructed and tested. Simplicity of construction as well as low cost of components renders…

Studies regarding the whoosh bottle combustion experiment have largely focused on the detonation hazard of the demonstration, particularly with regards to fuel and container choice. Previous work has suggested that the fuel should be 2-propanol owing to its relatively cool flame characteristics. The current study has found that the combustion of…

Discharge tubes are useful tools for teaching emission spectra and the discrete energy levels of the Bohr model. A new setup uses a plasma globe to illuminate the discharge tube and allows a higher degree of interactivity owing to the omission of a traditional, high-voltage power source. The decreased power consumption also reduces the heating of…

A concerted effort has been made to increase the opportunities for undergraduate students to address scientific problems employing the processes used by practicing chemists. As part of this effort, an infrared (IR) spectroscopy and molecular modeling experiment was developed for the first-year general chemistry laboratory course. In the…

Polymer science represents an important area in industrial and research laboratories for chemists and material scientists. However, experiments involving polymers are uncommon in chemistry and material science curricula; therefore, an experiment involving polymers has been developed. This experiment has been used to teach fabrication of polymer…

In 1930, Einstein argued against the consistency of the time-energy uncertainty relation by discussing a thought experiment involving a measurement of the mass of the box which emitted a photon. Bohr seemingly prevailed over Einstein by arguing that Einstein's own general theory of relativity saves the consistency of quantum mechanics. We revisit…

I describe how to obtain a rather good experimental determination of the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, as well as the obliquity of the Earth's rotation axis, by measuring, over the course of a year, the elevation of the Sun as a function of time during a day. With a very simple "instrument" consisting of an elementary sundial, first-year…

Nearly two centuries ago, Fourier discovered that any periodic function of period T can be presented as a sum of sine waveforms of frequencies equal to an integer times the fundamental frequency [omega] = 2[pi]/T (Fourier's series). It is impossible to overestimate the importance of Fourier's discovery, and all physics or engineering students…

The author used digital photography to supplement learning of biotechnology by students with a variety of learning styles and educational backgrounds. Because one approach would not be sufficient to reach all the students, digital photography was used to explain the techniques and results to the class instead of having to teach each student…

Students must learn content knowledge and develop scientific literacy skills to evaluate and use scientific information in real-world situations. Recognizing the accessibility of scientific information to the average citizen, we developed an instructional approach to help students learn how to judge the quality of claims. We describe a…

This paper reflects upon the development of a multidisciplinary lesson plan aimed at developing science skills for Physics and Astronomy, Geographical and Earth Sciences, and Chemistry students at a research intensive Scottish university. The lesson plan was co-developed with a small group of staff and undergraduate students from these…

The adoption of active learning instructional practices in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been shown to result in improvements in student learning, contribute to increased retention rates, and reduce the achievement gap among different student populations. Descriptions of active learning strategies…

Current literature has emphasized the lack of research into verbal behaviors of teachers as a barrier to understanding the effectiveness of instructional interventions. This study focuses on the verbal behaviors of peer leaders, who serve as de facto teachers in a college chemistry teaching reform based on cooperative learning. Video data obtained…