Over the past half-century, numerous attempts have been made to derive the centripetal acceleration formula by treating circular motion as a superposition of uniform and accelerated rectilinear motions over short time intervals. Critical examination reveals that these methods are manifestations of the same approach pioneered by Huygens to…

What happens when a perfectly elastic ball collides with a completely inelastic ball? It is shown that the outcome depends on the stiffness of each ball. A standard textbook problem in mechanics is to calculate the outcome of a head-on collision between two balls using conservation of momentum and kinetic energy. It is easily shown that the…

The well-known artificial intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT-4 has become able to process image data as input in October 2023. We investigated its performance on the test of understanding graphs in kinematics to inform the physics education community of the current potential of using ChatGPT in the education process, particularly on tasks that…

Hurricane and galaxy tidal effect are routine teaching topics in community college first year science courses, but there is a knowledge gap without a quantitative discussion of the physics of non-inertia frame. A survey of YouTube videos posted by Education Centers and professors showed that the hand-waving conceptual explanation is the most…

The trajectory of a ball in air is affected by aerodynamic drag and lift. In general, the trajectory needs to be calculated numerically since the acceleration varies with time in both the horizontal and vertical directions. If the trajectory remains approximately parabolic, then simple analytical solutions can be found, giving useful insights into…

To explain experiences of riders of rotating systems, such as a merry-go-round, some physics educators have employed the concept of 'centrifugal force.' However, others have suggested that the term is unnecessary in explaining experiences in rotating systems and that it encourages misconceptions surrounding circular motion dynamics. Owing to this…

Science education, particularly physics, remains a priority for many countries, as their future economic prosperity is closely linked to student success in science and technology. Given the persistent challenges faced by teachers in stimulating students' interest in this discipline, the integration of innovative teaching methods has become…

Teaching special relativity to lower-division students is challenging because results such as time dilation, length contraction, and frame dependence of simultaneity are counterintuitive. The literature is extensive, so only a brief list is given here, with articles divided roughly between discussions of general principles and calculations applied…

Eigentheory concepts are central in mathematics and physics; they serve multiple functions, such as symbolizing physical phenomena and facilitating mathematical computations. Words and meanings associated with eigentheory develop and vary over time, as do their associated symbols. In this study, we investigate how "eigen" develops over…

In instructional settings involving social interactions, emotions such as discomfort, embarrassment, and shame can be induced by social comparison of competence, judgment from peers, and conflict with other students. As part of the special issue "Centering Affect and Emotion Toward Justice and Dignity in Science Education," this paper…

In STEM education, grit is increasingly the focus of research, with scholars and educators seeking to develop and test interventions that will enhance persistence. As part of the special issue Centering Affect and Emotion Toward Justice and Dignity in Science Education, in this paper, we use interviews with 12 white physics faculty to show that…

The Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey (EMCS) is an instrument designed to assess students' understanding of key physics concepts in introductory mechanics. In this study, we applied a combination of classical test theory (CTT), item response theory (IRT), and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to a dataset of over 10 000 students collected…

An alternative method for obtaining analytical solutions of the time-independent Schrödinger equation (TISE) is developed and applied to 1-dimensional model quantum systems of interest in atomic and molecular physics. The method is based on proposing a wave function that is a product of two functions, one of them an integrating factor. The…

In this article, we will present the HEC BB bag, a simple but elegant model originally invented to help students imagine how air molecules move around in vacuum. The HEC BB bag is made by packing 20 to 30 BBs in a resealable plastic bag of several tens of square centimeters (see Fig. 1). When inflated fully via a straw, the volume of the bag is…

Simulation of physics phenomena is an indispensable part of experimental studies. Undergraduate and postgraduate physics students are often introduced to the simulation of various phenomena as one of the most important pedagogical tools. In this document, we demonstrate the simulations of the two-body decay of a particle and equilibrium states in…