Presence may occur when actors are alert and relaxed in performance. A positive mood is associated with physical activity, but little is known about how movement qualities affect mood and vital signs of actors. This study examined the effects of vibratory, pendular, abrupt, and sustained movement qualities on the Brief Mood Introspection Scale,…

Past research has investigated students' epistemologies while they were taking courses that required an integrated understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. However, past studies have not investigated students who are not currently enrolled in such classes. Additionally, past studies have primarily focused on individuals who are…

Entertaining and educational experiments that can be conducted in a water park, illustrating physics concepts, principles and fundamental laws, are described. These experiments are suitable for students ranging from senior secondary school to junior university level. Newton's laws of motion, Bernoulli's equation, based on the conservation of…

Mobile device accelerometers are a simple and easy way for students to collect accurate and detailed data on an amusement park ride. The resulting data can be graphed to assist in the creation of force diagrams to help students explain their physical sensations while on the ride. This type of activity can help students overcome some of the…

In educational research, it is well-known that collaborative work on core conceptual issues in physics leads to significant improvements in students' conceptual understanding. In this paper, we explore collaborative learning in action, adding to previous research in engineering education with a specific focus on the students' use of free body…

The aim of this study is to determine the efficiency of use of concept cartoons in elementary school 7th grade students Science and Technology course according to students' perceptions. In terms of this aim, the unit of "Force and Motion" has been taught by concept cartoons and at the end of this period, semi-structured interviews were…

For any given polyomino, is it possible to cut it into pieces and then hinge the pieces, so that the polyomino folds up into a similar version of itself but two levels thick? While we don't know how to do this for every polyomino, the article does show how to cut, hinge, and fold polyominoes from several infinite classes, providing an…

A description is given of a series of recent experiments using a rotating magnetic circuit comprising a permanent magnet ring and yoke, and a stationary conductor in the air gap between the ring and yoke. The EMF induced in this case cannot be described by a simple application of Faraday's flux law. This is because the magnetic flux in the air gap…

A new means of measuring the movement properties of the braille-reading finger is described and exemplified in an experiment in which experienced readers of braille encountered sentences comprised of keywords in which word and orthographic frequencies were manipulated. These new data are considered in theoretical and practical terms. (Contains 2…

Damped harmonic oscillations appear naturally in many applications involving mechanical and electrical systems as well as in biological systems. Most students are introduced to harmonic motion in an elementary ordinary differential equation (ODE) course. Solutions to ODEs that describe simple harmonic motion are usually found by investigating the…

The dynamics of a cylinder rolling on a horizontal plane acted on by an external force applied at an arbitrary angle is studied with emphasis on the directions of the acceleration of the centre-of-mass and the angular acceleration of the body. If rolling occurs without slipping, there is a relationship between the directions of these…

We analyse the force acting on a moving dipole due to an external electromagnetic field and show that the expression derived in Vekstein (1997 "Eur. J. Phys." 18 113) is erroneous and suggest the correct equation for the description of this force. We also discuss the physical meaning of the relativistic transformation of current for a closed…

Bertrand's theorem in classical mechanics of the central force fields attracts us because of its predictive power. It categorically proves that there can only be two types of forces which can produce stable, circular orbits. In this paper an attempt has been made to generalize Bertrand's theorem to the central force problem of relativistic…

One of the subjects that is confusing and difficult for students to fully comprehend is the concept of angular velocity and linear velocity. It is the relationship between linear and angular velocity that students find difficult; most students understand linear motion in isolation. In this article, we detail the design, construction and…

The aim of this study was to measure which three-dimensional spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters differentiate upper limb movement characteristics in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) from those in typically developing children (TDC), during various clinically relevant tasks. We used a standardized protocol containing three reach…