Collisions are real-world situations from everyday life (such as car crashes, playing billiards, etc.) that can be described and understood by the principle of conservation of momentum. One might expect that learning from simple collisions might help students understand more complicated physical phenomena. However, from our teaching experiences we…

Computer-assisted analysis of students' written responses to questions is becoming a possibility due to developments in technology. This could make such constructed response questions more feasible for use in large classrooms where multiple choice assessments are often considered a more practical option. In this study, we use a previously…

In recent years, general relativity (GR) and gravitational-wave astronomy have emerged both as active fields of research and as popular topics in physics classrooms. Teachers can choose from an increasing number of modern instructional models to introduce students to relativistic ideas. However, the true potential of an instructional model can…

Light emitting diodes have been used to determine Planck's constant in introductory physics laboratories. One common method relies on the energy of the light emitted by the LED and its relation to the energy gap in the solid of which the diode is composed. However, there could be a problem with the data that are collected for this experiment. For…

Males (n = 29) and females (n = 34) performed vertical jumps. Jump height was estimated from force platform data using five numerical methods and compared using intraclass correlation ([rho]), and linear and rank regression standard error of estimate ("SEE"). Take-off velocity plus center of mass height at take-off and mechanical work…

Radical chemistry is an essential part of the organic chemistry curriculum. Free radical halogenation experiments provide an excellent opportunity to introduce important topics related to the outcome and mechanism of organic reactions. In this communication, a green photochemically activated benzylic bromination of p-toluic acid is described. In…

The prompt transfer of cutting-edge science into students' curricula is a challenging task. Often research experiments are too complex or expensive to be translated into a secondary or tertiary education setting. Herein, we introduce a laboratory experiment that translates the recently developed research technique of a wavelength dependent,…

Examination of my students' individual gains on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) over the course of several semesters led to the realization that student pretest knowledge on certain key questions appeared to be correlated to enhanced gain during the class. Acting under the hypothesis that early intervention aimed at helping the class perform…

This report presents a miniproject for teaching sustainability through the production of adsorbents from sewage sludge. The activity was tested during the Physical Chemistry II portion of an Agro-Industrial Engineering Course and lasted 4 weeks. The activities developed by the students included preparing the adsorbents ("in natura,"…

This paper describes an upper-division undergraduate exercise involving the synthesis and iodometric and infrared spectroscopic analysis of the peroxide double salt [Zn(NH[subscript 3])[subscript 4]][Mo(O[subscript 2])[subscript 4]]. Here, iodometric methods are employed to determine the peroxide content of the compound, a procedure widely used…

This paper describes a first-year undergraduate exercise involving the synthesis of an "unknown" polyiodide salt, (NMe[subscript 4])[I[subscript 5]], and the determination of its formula using the classic iodine-thiosulfate (iodometric) titration. The exercise introduces students to simple synthetic and titrimetric techniques, assists…

Using Tracker, a popular video-based physics modeling tool, the position-time data of magnetically damped oscillations of a simple pendulum are acquired. Eddy currents are generated on an aluminum sheet as the magnetic pendulum bob passes over it and the induced magnetic field opposes that of the magnetic bob. This causes the damping. A…

Resonant cavity perturbation as a means to measuring permittivity has been used since the early 1940s. It is attractive because it is non-contact, non-destructive and experimentally simple. Only recently, however, has the cost of a small analyser board become acceptably low that experiments can be carried out in schools and colleges. Using the TE…

A central goal of science education is to help students develop higher order thinking skills to enable them to face the challenges of life. Accordingly, science instructors are now urged to craft their classrooms such that they serve as not only spaces for disseminating information, but also an arena through which students are encouraged to think…

The author introduces the Passive Dynamic Walker robot, which is constructed with LEGOs and operates without any electronics. Building this robot offers an excellent platform for investigating center of mass and other important physics and engineering concepts.