Presents and critiques an experiment relevant to the development of the submarine cable that was found in the 1895 edition of Silvanus P. Thompson's ELEMENTARY LESSONS ON ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. (GS)

Illustrates that the knowledge of crystal structure, particularly face centered cubic array, can be applied to an explanation of how a solid fuel nuclear reactor works. (MLH)

Describes Fraunhofer's scientific career as a glass and lens maker, a discoverer of dark lines in the solar spectrum, a corrector of lens aberration, and investigator of diffraction. Gives biographical data and anecdotes. Includes a bibliography, mainly of German sources. (GH)

The leap of a grasshopper is used as an introduction to the capabilities of muscle, using Newton's laws of motion and other standard equations as the basis of the study. (Author/PEB)

There are a number of ways of exciting standing waves in ropes and springs using non-commercial vibrators such as loudspeakers, jigsaws, motors, or a simple tuning fork, including the rhythmical shaking of a handheld Slinky. We have come up with a very simple and cheap way of exciting stationary waves in a string, which anyone, particularly…

Science museums and popular physics shows often exhibit a blower in whose air stream a ball is held hovering in equilibrium some distance above the jet's orifice. The weight of the ball, "mg," is balanced by the drag force of the turbulent air stream, often written as ?Cv[superscript 2]A, where "?" and "v" are the…

Presents a general classification of charged particles, their electrical properties, and their industrial applications. (GS)

Reports interference fringes that appear when a loaded plate of transparent non-crystalline plastic is placed between crossed polars; describes polarization of light sources and the origin of the analyzing polarizer. (GS)

Demonstrations in astronomy classes seem to be more necessary than in physics classes for three reasons. First, many of the events are very large scale and impossibly remote from human senses. Secondly, while physics courses use discussions of one- and two-dimensional motion, three-dimensional motion is the normal situation in astronomy; thus,…

Described are the elementary principles of Fourier transform spectroscopy and typical experimental results obtained with a modified Michelson interferometer. (RH)

Described is a device that can be set up on a bench with inexpensive apparatus. The device performs in non-coherent white light according to the laws of geometrical optics. (RH)

Calls attention to the fact that if the Atomic Energy Commission proceeds with its plans to authorize the nuclear power industry to use plutonium as a fuel in commercial nuclear reactors around the country, this will result in a dramatic escalation in the risks posed by nuclear power. (PEB)