Our effort is to teach physics concepts to secondary school students through a laboratory approach, giving a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary view of the topics explained. This article illustrates a didactic project carried out in two third year classes. Starting from a familiar and concrete object such as the bicycle, […]
An elementary treatment of the critical mass used in nuclear weapons is presented and applied to an analysis of the wartime activities of the German nuclear program. In particular, the work of Werner Heisenberg based on both wartime and postwar documents is discussed. […]
A simple way to estimate reasonable values of the forces and pressures acting on the head during collisions is proposed to highschool students. Starting from known situations, the physiological tolerance limit is estimated. The limit situations are then analysed and conclusions are drawn on the convenience of protecting the head with technologically suitable helmets. […]
Although the methods of quantum mechanics may be usefully employed in studying the physics of molecules, they are unable to solve some typical chemical problems such as predicting the outcomes of new synthetic processes. The reason for this is the lack of a satisfactory quantum mechanical description of the time evolution of transformation processes in complex systems. […]
The splitting of the resonant frequencies of N oscillatory LC circuits interacting by the mutual induction between their coils is a classical analog for the formation of energy bands in the system of interacting atoms in a crystal lattice. This article describes how to carry out an experimental demonstration of this phenomenon. […]
A brief analysis of meteorites and their effects on earth is given. In particular, the paper focuses on the relationship between the energy of a meteorite fallen on the earth and the width of the crater. The reader will find a very simple experiment that simulates the fall of a meteorite and allows to measure energy and the diameter of the crater. […]