In one of the Faraday's experiments an electric current is induced in a conducting loop when a magnet in front of it moves towards or away from the loop. While the direction of circulation of the electric current in the loop has only two options, it depends on three experimental conditions that generate eight cases. Even though the Faraday law or…

We describe here a low-cost experiment for introductory physics students where they compare the physical properties of aluminum and steel by means of cantilever oscillations. This, in turn, allows the students to improve their physical intuition about these materials. Further, the students can apply their physics and mathematics knowledge and…

We propose an experiment in which the sound of a drumroll is recorded and analysed according to a simple mechanical model in which the inelastic restitution coefficient of the collision between the stick and drum surface, as well as the ongoing kinematics of the drumstick, are considered. The agreement shows that this model is well suited for…

A cost-effective method has been developed with utmost efficiency for the determination of density of a liquid. The experimental setup for this purpose is a Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cylinder fitted with an overflow spout, a volume measuring cylinder, a wooden block along with a hook and a known mass taken from scientific weight box. For this…

It is well known that Newton's work on mechanics depended in a crucial way on the previous observations of Galileo. The key insight of Galileo was that one can analyze the motion of bodies using experiments and mathematical equations. One experimental observation that roughly emerges from this work in modern terms is that two objects of different…

The Van de Graaff (VDG) generator is ubiquitous in the physics laboratory, but the high-voltage discharges that emanate from it can cause user discomfort or damage to nearby electronics during experimentation. In this work, an augmented reality (AR) tool is developed to help students conduct the experiment safely. More specifically, it allows them…

In diffraction experiments, natural gratings often create uncommon diffraction patterns compared with those resulting from manufactured gratings. This study analyzed a unique diffraction pattern obtained by a grating from a flying termite wing. A ring-like diffraction pattern was formed because of the grating morphology from a flying termite wing,…

In this laboratory experiment, students modify a series of surfaces and explore the effects of varying surface chemistry and texture on wettability by different probe liquids. Students begin by building a simple contact angle goniometer utilizing their mobile phone cameras. Next, they contrast the wettability of planar glass substrates…

This study embarked on the development of a comprehensive Junior High School Biological Inquiry Experiment Manual. This manual was utilized in a research initiative involving 30 students in the control group and an equal number in the experimental group. Rigorous data analysis techniques, encompassing mean values, standard deviations, paired…

In this paper, a very simple and low-cost setup design is described for the Seebeck coefficient measurement of the disc and rod-shaped specimens. The setup has been tested for its reliable working by measuring the Seebeck coefficients of standard samples; measured values match with the literature. The setup can be built with commonly available raw…

As intriguing optical phenomena that occur in nature, mirages are widely known and often mentioned in physics classes when introducing the basics of optics. In the atmosphere, a mirage occurs under the condition of vertical variations in air density, which are usually caused by a temperature gradient. The light rays are continuously refracted and…

Experimental results are presented concerning a bead sliding on a rotating, horizontal rod. If the rod rotates at constant angular velocity then the sliding speed in the radial direction increases exponentially with time, provided that the rotation speed is sufficient to overcome friction. Otherwise the bead rotates in a circular path of constant…

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical work and an electric generator converts mechanical work into electrical energy. The symmetry between the motor and generator naturally leads to questions about creating a perpetual motion machine. The allure of this question has inspired textbook problems, physics education articles, and…

A simple experimental setup using a smartphone and a pair of speakers is presented to perform an accurate experiment on interference of two point sources. The proposed experiment allows simple but interesting measurements to be done to introduce students to interference and diffraction phenomena. As such, the experiment effectively introduces the…

Under most conditions, a liquid mixture does not have long-range structural order and may be considered to be a homogeneous collection of molecules in random motion. However, if a single-phase critical mixture of a partially miscible liquid--liquid system is subjected to a small temperature jump into the two-phase region, then structural coherence…