Suppose a block of mass "m"[subscript 1] traveling at speed "v"[subscript 1] makes a one-dimensional perfectly inelastic collision with another block of mass "m"[subscript 2]. What else does one need to know to calculate the fraction of the mechanical energy that is dissipated in the collision? (Contains 1 figure.)

Few plays in baseball are as consistently close and exciting as the stolen base. While there are several studies of sprinting, the art of base stealing is much more nuanced. This article describes the motion of the base-stealing runner using a very basic kinematic model. The model will be compared to some data from a Major League game. The…

Have you ever noticed that you can go all day without a single call on your phone and then suddenly you get two calls at once? This is actually not as uncommon as it sounds and there is a mathematical reason for why we should expect it to happen, believe it or not.

A $1 plastic helicopter toy (called a Wacky Whirler) can be used to demonstrate lift. Students can make basic measurements of the toy, use reasonable assumptions and, with the lift formula, estimate the lift, and verify that it is sufficient to overcome the toy's weight. (Contains 1 figure.)

The Frahm resonance principle, in which resonating reeds indicate the frequency of mechanical or electrical oscillations, is a hardy perennial. In this note we will give some history, show some original apparatus, and show how it may be reproduced with relatively little effort.

"Modern science began in the Middle Ages," a fact that has been forgotten thanks to the celebrated accomplishments of Copernicus and Galileo, who did not acknowledge their predecessors. So states James Hannam in a January 2010 article in "History Today." Among the scientists of the Middle Ages that Hannam mentions is John…

Transverse standing waves produced on a string, as shown in Fig. 1, are a common demonstration of standing wave patterns that have nodes at both ends. Longitudinal standing waves can be produced on a helical spring that is mounted vertically and attached to a speaker, as shown in Fig. 2, and used to produce both node-node (NN) and node-antinode…

To learn why natural selection acts only on existing variation, students categorize processes as either creative or sorting. This activity helps students confront the misconception that adaptations evolve because species need them.

Introductory general and physical chemistry courses often deal with colligative properties of solutions and do not discuss nonideal solutions in detail. Yet, a growing body of evidence reveals that even at physiological concentrations electrolyte solutions cannot be treated as ideal when a charged or partially charged solute (such as a protein) is…

Students' mental models of diffusion in a gas phase solution were studied through the use of the Structure and Motion of Matter (SAMM) survey. This survey permits identification of categories of ways students think about the structure of the gaseous solute and solvent, the origin of motion of gas particles, and trajectories of solute particles in…

A special topics course combining two relevant and contemporary themes (forensic DNA analysis and illicit drug detection) was developed to stimulate student enthusiasm and enhance understanding of forensic science. Building on the interest of popular television shows such as "CSI" and "Breaking Bad," this course connects…

This task asks readers to figure out why when you stir a cup of hot liquid and tap on the side of the cup with a spoon, the pitch of sound starts low and ends up high. The solution to last month's tasks relating to the circumference of the Earth and how many stars are in the (visible) sky is also presented.

A synthetic procedure is outlined where upper-level undergraduate organic chemistry students perform a two-week, semimicroscale "aza"-Baylis-Hillman reaction to generate an allylic sulfonamide product. Students evaluate several green chemistry reaction metrics of industrial importance (process mass intensity (PMI), E factor, and reaction…

In our previous article on CCl[subscript 4] in this "Journal," we presented an investigation of the fine structure of the symmetric stretch of carbon tetrachloride (CCl[subscript 4]) due to isotopic variations of chlorine in C[superscript 35]Cl[subscript x][superscript 37]Cl[subscript 4-x]. In this paper, we present an investigation of…

November 10, 2015, marked the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the "S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald," a Great Lakes bulk cargo freighter that suddenly and mysteriously sank during a severe winter storm on Lake Superior. A year after the sinking, Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot wrote and recorded the ballad "The Wreck of the 'Edmund…