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The article discusses the advancements in atomic and molecular physics that have allowed scientists to gain control over single atoms. While traditional physics experiments in the classroom have focused on indirect measurements of atoms, this experiment allows students to directly observe and interact with single atoms using an ion trap. The experiment involves exciting barium ions with different wavelengths of light and observing their quantum states. The article also describes a pilot project in which students and teachers successfully performed the experiment and measured the lifetime of the dark state of the ions. The experiment is currently housed in the Swiss Science Center Technorama, and an online platform has been created to allow access to the experiment remotely. [Extracted from the article]

At the top of the trajectory, many physics students mistakenly assume that if the velocity is zero, the acceleration must be zero too. Tying these different arrows to the concepts of velocity and acceleration can reinforce that velocity and acceleration are different quantities - make these detached from the actual object, as this will be helpful to students in distinguishing them from force vectors introduced later. Here is where the realization that "gravity never turns off" and drawn-in velocity and acceleration vectors can again be helpful. Introductory physics students frequently confuse concepts of velocity and acceleration, as in the example of a projectile motion problem where an object (e.g., a ball) is tossed upward in a gravitational field and undergoes freefall. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the concept of Bode's law, also known as the Titius-Bode law, which is used to predict the distances between planets and the Sun. It discusses the history of Bode's law and its limitations, such as its failure to predict the location of Neptune and its inability to account for the asteroid belt. The article presents a project for students to investigate Bode's law and compare it with the laws of Kepler and Newton to evaluate its reliability as a predictor of planetary spacings. While Bode's law may have some predictive power in terms of orbital stability, it is not considered a scientifically accurate explanation for the spacing between planets. Kepler's laws, based on data fitting and ratios of squares and cubes, provide a more accurate description of planetary motion. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides resources and information on the physics of smartphone cameras. It highlights the advancements in smartphone camera technology, including the integration of multiple cameras and rangefinders to produce high-quality images from a compact device. The article also discusses the design and technologies used in smartphone cameras, such as stabilization, detectors, and the use of plastic aspherical lens elements with antireflective coatings. It mentions the use of GRIN elements and prismatic periscopes in some newer camera designs. The future of smartphone cameras is predicted to involve image correction and synthesis using software, including artificial intelligence. [Extracted from the article]

The history of particle physics can be considered nothing less than a huge triumph for science. Over the course of a little more than a century of effort, our understanding of the world of atomic and subatomic physics went from a vague understanding of atoms, to one that is much more detailed. Early in this hundred-year-long period, we learned about electrons (1897), then how they circle a dense nucleus (1911), followed by the discovery of the protons (1917) and neutrons (1932) that form the nucleus. From the 1930s onward, researchers used both cosmic rays and particle accelerators to discover antimatter (1932), and particles that don't exist in atoms (e.g., the muon [1936] and neutrino [1956], as well as a huge number of others). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barriers to women's education and employment in Europe and the United States in the 19th century made it unlikely that any women would be among the few physicists whose ideas are taught in high school and college courses. This paper explores the social settings in which three influential physicists worked—James Clerk Maxwell, Robert Millikan, and Albert Einstein—to better understand the limited opportunities available to women. By acknowledging and explaining why there weren't more women among these founding physicists, instructors may help students understand the barriers that still exist and feel more empowered to overcome them and pursue physics as a career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In high school, and also in introductory physics courses in higher levels of schooling, the law of universal gravitation of planets is introduced by postulating Johannes Kepler's three laws, and later Isaac Newton's law of the inverse of the square of the distance to the Sun. The justification of the laws is only achieved in advanced courses in mechanics. We present material to teach the law of areas and the law of attraction, which is inspired by Newton's analysis of motions under central forces, as done in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The method is geometric, so that the dynamics behind the laws can be discussed with a ruler, triangles, and compass, or some software, without appeal to equations, and can be used on levels of instruction that dispense with analytic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To help bring history to life in the classroom, the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics (AIP) has published Phystory: a timeline-building game that can inspire students to learn about major events and people in the history of physics and astronomy and put them in perspective with the dates of major world events. Students will learn not just whether Hypatia or the Roman Colosseum came first, but also who John Buridan, Su Song, and Ibn al-Shatir were, along with many more scientific thinkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newton married her, Einstein eloped with her, and many a physicist fell head over heels for her beauty, charm, and heavenly elegance! This paper is a heartfelt personal attempt to make sense of the indescribable love many physicists have for their subject matter, physics. My muse's nickname is Feezya and this is how she shall be referred to for the remainder of this essay. What you are about to read is not an educational nor a scientific article. Rather, it is an essay that I hope will rekindle the love of the subject matter within the hearts of many of us whose day-to-day teaching loads and experimental and research obligations may have caused our passion to whither and our genuine affection to wash away. The article may at times poke some fun at math, chemistry, or other noble sciences; it is never out of disrespect but rather out of normal and harmless sibling rivalry amongst equally valuable fields of human knowledge and inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Https://www.aip.org/initialconditions Another historical-cultural-sociological treatment of physics, this time in an hour-long podcast format from a team (Justin Shapiro, Maura Shapiro, and Allison Rein) working at the American Institute of Physics (AAPT is a member society of the umbrella AIP group) Niels Bohr Library and Archives. They have episodes on climate science, energy crises and the environment, the Anthropocene era, quantum counterculture, African-American physics contributions (two episodes), historical romance and LGBTQ+ representation in physics, Newton, Einstein, John Brashear, and Ptolemy's I Almagest i - the last of which I super enjoyed listening to over the weekend. [Extracted from the article]

The article examines the history of relativistic mass. It explores the public role and private thoughts of scientist Albert Einstein about the concept of relativistic mass. Furthermore, it discusses the evolvement of the concept about speed-dependent mass to the idea of disapproval made by Einstein.

Investigates the differences in physics textbooks and high school physics education between China and other countries. Overview of the history of physics education in China; Emphasis of physics textbooks; Teaching methods, strategies and aids; Factors which have lead to the differences in physics education between China and other countries.

Focuses on Galileo's `Dialogue on Two Sciences.' Analysis of falling objects; Views on Isaac Newton's `Principia'; Developments in physics over the years.