A physics professor (DS) and a theater technical instructor (BC) came together in 2018 to plan a general education course on the Physics of Theater Stagecraft. This is less surprising than it sounds, because theatrical lighting design had been Smith's hobby for almost 30 years, and he has always felt that his understanding of physics helped him…

Although many laboratory experiments are available to illustrate spectrophotometric or fluorometric methods, few of them introduce the use of luminometry to students. Bioluminescence, a subtype of chemiluminescence, is produced when an enzyme-catalyzed chemical reaction gives rise to light emission. Despite the advantages of bioluminescent…

This brief informs California's LEA leaders about approaches to sustainably modernizing school facilities to advance educational and health equity for students and briefly explores associated funding strategies.

The digital era's technological transformation has a wide range of beneficial effects on the science learning process. Game-based learning (GBL) is the use of game design ideas to learn about some topic while pupils are striving to do their best in the process. This study was carried out with the help of Educaplay apps ("Identify Me…

The objective of this second part of the work is to present heuristic derivations of the three classical tests of general relativity. These derivations are based on the Einstein equivalence principle and use Newtonian physics as a theoretical framework. The results obtained are close to Einstein's original predictions. Historical and anecdotal…

Double-slit interference is a difficult phenomenon for students to grasp in an introductory physics course. A thorough understanding of constructive and destructive interference is critical, but even with such an understanding, visualizing exactly how an interference pattern is formed by light passing through two slits can still be a challenge for…

Light spectrum dispersion is an exciting subject in science because of its beautiful atmospheric colour phenomenon which attracts students. However, to see the phenomenon is not easy since it needs a spectrometer, which is commonly expensive. Therefore, the present study aims to describe a low-cost spectrometer for investigating lighting spectrum…

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…

We outline the basic theory behind white light interferometry and the workings of a typical light interferometer microscope. We study WLI images obtained for rough and smooth chrome steel spheres to illustrate the principle that curved rough surfaces can be imaged with such a device as long as the surface roughness is kept within certain limits.

When teaching a general education introductory astronomy course that includes a mathematics prerequisite, it is important to convey that formulas and equations physically represent properties of actual objects and processes that occur that can actually be observed. Students with varying comfort levels with mathematics often need to be convinced…

In many introductory physics classes, diffraction of light is introduced first, then more advanced diffraction topics such as x-ray diffraction, Bragg's law, and crystallography are covered. Since using x-rays raises safety concerns and atomic spacing in a crystal is not easy to change, microwaves with macroscopic crystals have been used to study…

Trillion Theory (TT), a new theory, estimates the cosmic origin at one trillion years. This calculation of thousands of eons is based upon a growth factor where solar systems age-out at a max of 15 billion years, only to recycle into even larger solar systems, inside of ancient galaxies that are as old as 200 billion to 900 billion years. TT is a…

Measurement instruments of physics, especially those dedicated as teaching aids in physics classroom are improving. These measuring instruments are not only used for measurement purposes, but also to apply theoretical concept into the real world, thus making it easier for students to comprehend. Therefore, this study aims to design, construct, and…

The hydrogen spectrum is one of the most commonly demonstrated and most commonly studied. After the visible spectral lines (Balmer series) are explained by the Rydberg's formula, it becomes immediately apparent that there will also be similar infrared and ultraviolet series. As you may have taught your students, these are called the Paschen and…

The location of the center of mass of a beam can be calculated using the values of the reaction forces at its ends. The success of an apparently erroneous solution leads the authors to seek and find an explanation for why this solution works. We illustrate the procedure with an asymmetric beam.