Asserts that technology has a place in the schools through three spheres: craft and design workshops, hobbies and technology centers, and normal science periods. The teacher need not radically change the content of current science courses, but rather teach the existing material in a technological way, by showing applications, and teaching…

Describes an experimental approach for controlling fusion that involves a toroidal device that holds and heats reactive isotopes of hydrogen with a magnetic field. (GS)

Presents instructions for constructing an electronic device that provides the release of two spheres from the same point, one vertically and the other with a horizontal motion. (GS)

Presents the results of a survey to determine the nature of physics for technology. Urges a compromise between an extensive, rigorous content structuring and one of reduced content with a technology emphasis. (GS)

Describes the use of 35 mm slides consisting of a diagram of photograph and 15 to 60 words of text to augment laboratory instruction. (GS)

Describes an experiment developed to study the velocity components of thermionic electrons, temperature-limited emission, cathode and anode work functions, and the contact difference in potential between cathode and anode. (Author/GS)

Describes the design and use of the dichromate-photometric breath analyzer. The discussion of this instrument provides a vehicle for demonstrating the relevance of chemical principles to everyday life. (GS)

In his "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," Richard Rhodes remarks of the July 16, 1945, Trinity atomic bomb test in New Mexico that "had astronomers been watching they could have seen it reflected from the moon, literal moonshine," an allusion to Ernest Rutherford's famous dismissal of the prospect of atomic energy. Investigating…

Ping-Pong vacuum cannons, potato guns, and compressed air cannons are popular and dramatic demonstrations for lecture and lab. Students enjoy them for the spectacle, but they can also be used effectively to teach physics. Recently we have used a student-built compressed air cannon as a laboratory activity to investigate impulse, conservation of…

Reports on the physical origins of spherical aberrations in axially symmetric electrostatic lenses to convey the essentials of electon optics to those who must think critically about the resolution of the electron microscope. (GS)

Deals with the subject of laser hazards, laser hazards control, and laser safety practices in the laboratory. Describes four categories of hazards: radiative, electrical, explosive, and toxic, and explains the status of federal regulations that seek to define lazer hazards and control safety standards. (Author/GS)