The author, teacher of physics at I.T.I.S. “A. Volta” (high school) of Naples, scholar of Cognitive Science, has applied the strategies of problem solving to physics. This approach gives the students the opportunity to work in an organized and productive way. […]
This experiment consists in the measurement of the oscillation period of a rigid pendulum by using the accelerometer of a smartphone and an ultrasound motion sensor […]
This article presents a simple experiment on the conduction of heat in a metallic bar. Temperatures vs time are measured on-line and plotted in real time with a PC. We discuss me data, then we evaluate heat losses along the sides of the bar and we calculate the heat transmission coefficient using a finite difference algorithm. […]
In this paper we present an experimental didactic approach to the study of cosmic rays with special focus on their interaction with the geomagnetic field of the Earth. The technique presented for the determination of the asymmetry of the flow coming from the east and the one from the west gives the possibility to introduce also concepts of statistics and processing useful data in experimental physics taught in high schools. […]
A one-dimensional dynamical system of 64 particles with forces between neighbors containing nonlinear terms has been studied on the Los Alamos computer Maniac I. The nonlinear terms considered are quadratic, cubic and broken linear types. The results are analysed into Fourier components and plotted as a function of time. […]