Data derived from teaching experience point to some problems referred to the conceptualization of constants that appear in relationship between physical magnitudes. Some significative problems are identified. Two general hypotheses and four derived hypotheses are formulated. In order to get more information some questionnaires are prepared. […]
The law of Titius and Bode is presented and the meaning of the word ‘law’ is discussed. A comparison is drawn with Kepler’s third law and several school applications are examined. […]
We propose an apparatus for teaching experimental thermodynamics in undergraduate introductory courses, using thermoelectric modules and a real-time data acquisition system. Although it is low cost, the device provides an easy approach to investigating liquid-solid and liquid-vapour phase transitions and metastable states (supercooling). […]
A short argument is given as to why the conventional terms ‘addition’ or ‘composition’ of velocities are not appropriate and should be replaced by ‘transformation’. A simple proof of the relativistic law is presented, based on a geometrical approach (invariance of the space-time interval) without employing Lorentz transformations. […]
This paper presents a simple educational on-line experiment about gas (air) transformation. This experiment was performed using an intelligent serial interface (ULI) and a volume transducer designed for this purpose. The paper is divided into two parts: the first explains the design and the calibration of the volume transducer, […]
Bonacini Prize entry, 1991-92. The article briefly describes the experiments on solar energy done by 12 year old students, and their subsequent classroom discussion. […]
Many properties of steel depend on its microcrystalline structure. By heating a steel wire it is possible to show, with a simple experiment, how its mechanical and magnetic characteristics change with phase transformation in solid state steel. […]
This article describes an entry to the Bonacini Annual Contest for experimental work in the school. The pupils built a model of an ancient roman catapult and measured its elastic constant and the projectile’s initial velocity. At the end the efficiency of the energy transfer was evaluated from the energy balance of the machine. […]