The combined effects of the Sun’s gravitational attraction and of the pressure of radiation allow to calculate the maximum dimensions of electrically neutral dusts in one of the tails of a comet. […]
In a previous paper, the same author showed that the usual definition of thermal efficiency of heat engines becomes intrinsically ambiguous when applied to cycles in which the system exchanges heat in both senses with the same thermal reservoir, and proposed two ways in which (in order to resolve this ambiguity) the elementary definition can be precised, […]
This article analyses notorious problems concerning Newlon’s third law against the historical background. A proposal is made to reformulate this law by substituting the term ‘interaction’ far ‘action’ and ‘reaction’. […]
Information about the French biennial Conferences on Computers in physical science teaching. […]
While learning Relativity in high school requires the pupils to think in ways that are not supported by their common reasoning, the teachers usually think that its understanding requires removing everyday experience. The paper describes a discussion in wich the author, […]
The intuitive ideas about the gravitational field of 5 to 9 year-old children were explored in an informal science context with the aim to connect common experience and scientific knowledge through spontaneous thinking. Oral questioning based on a written questionnaire, discussion, […]
The widespread idea that the moon affects the number of births at full moon. fewer births at new moon – is not supported by any fact. A survey on births at the cities of Padua and Venice during the year 1996 shows no correlation whatsoever between moon phases and birth rates. […]