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The well-known experiment of the rapid expansion and cooling of the air contained in a bottle is performed with a rapidly responsive, yet very cheap thermometer. The adiabatic, low temperature limit is approached quite closely and measured with our apparatus. A straightforward theoretical model for this process is also presented and discussed. Both the experimental setup and the associated theoretical interpretation of the cooling phenomenon are suited for a standard general physics course at undergraduate level. (Contains 6 figures.)

A simple experiment is presented to visualize inferior and superior mirages in the laboratory. A quantitative analysis is done using ray tracing with both photographic and computational techniques. The mirage's image, as seen by the eye or the camera lens, can be used to analyse the deflection and inversion of light rays. (Contains 6 footnotes, 1 table and 10 figures.)

We discuss some simple experiments dealing with intriguing properties of light and its interaction with matter. In particular, we show how to emphasize that light reflection, refraction and scattering can provide a proper, physical description of human perception of the "colour" white. These experiments can be used in the classroom with an enquiry approach, and it is in this spirit that we will present them. (Contains 3 footnotes and 4 figures.)

We discuss three methods of measuring the density of air most commonly used in a teaching context. Emphasis is put on the advantages and/or difficulties of each method. In particular, we show that the 'rubber balloon' method can still be performed with meaningful physical insight, but it requires a very careful approach. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)

As is well known, scientific entertainment can be a fruitful way to attract people of any age to science. Depending on the specific purpose, different mixtures of science and amusement can be considered, so emphasizing scientific education with respect to fun aspects or vice versa. Moreover, when proposing "hands-on" activities in such learning contexts, group participation and the development of manual skills are often achieved. Science centres and museums play an important role in this respect. Informal learning is a widely recognized and constantly developing approach to the familiarization of scientific subjects to a large, occasional audience. In this article, the authors propose a new format of scientific entertainment in which customers of a restaurant can order small experiments in place of entrees and drinks. (Contains 3 figures.)

The measurement of the mass, or the density, of air can easily be done with very simple materials and offers many interesting phenomena for discussion--buoyancy and its effects being the most obvious but not the only one. Many interesting considerations can be done regarding the behavior of gases, the effect of the external conditions in the measurement, and the reason for the choice of the procedure, among others. One of the most widespread approaches makes use of rubber balloons. Such an approach can be misleading if attention is not paid to the effect of the buoyant force on the balloon, exerted by the surrounding air. Air is weightless in an environment full of it. While this fact can usually be neglected in daily, nontechnical weight measurements, it is not the case when we are interested in the weight of air itself. A sketch such as the one depicted in Fig. 1 is often presented in elementary science textbooks, as a demonstration that air has weight. A search of the Internet will reveal that this misleading approach is often presented as the simplest one for this kind of measurement at an elementary level 1 and represents one among other common misconceptions that can be found in K-6 science textbooks as discussed, for instance, in Ref. 2. For a more detailed description of the flaws inherent to the measurement of air's weight with a rubber balloon, see Ref. 3. In this paper we will describe two procedures to measure the density of air: weighing a PET bottle and a vacuum rigid container. There are other interesting ways to estimate the weight of air; see, for instance, the experiment of Zhu and Se-yuen using carbon dioxide and Archimedes' principle. We emphasize the experimental implications and the physical reasons for the accuracy and conceptual correctness of each method. It is important not to undervalue the importance of both simplicity and reliability for any experimental measurement made in a didactic context.

The glutathione (GSH) system is the main defence of tissues against free radicals and red blood cells (RBC) are the most efficient sites for GSH redox cycle activation. Total GSH was assayed during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in RBC and serum from the coronary sinus, peripheral arteries and veins in 18 children corrected of their cardiac defect. Our conclusions are: (l) RBC-GSH redox cycle is activated during heart ischaemia and reperfusion; (2) the activation of intracellular GSH system is preponderant compared with the extracellular one; (3) variations in intraerythrocytic total GSH during heart ischaemia and perfusion are detectable in peripheral veins and arteries, which can be the convenient sites for monitoring changes in the GSH cycle; and (4) increased total GSH levels are present in RBC before aortic crossclamping: at the beginning of mechanical ventilation in veins and, when CPB is started, also in arteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glutathione (GSH) system is the main defence of tissues against free radicals and red blood cells (RBC) are the most efficient sites for GSH redox cycle activation.Total GSH was assayed during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in RBC and serum from the coronary sinus, peripheral arteries and veins in 18 children corrected of their cardiac defect. Our conclusions are: (1) RBC-GSH redox cycle is activated during heart ischaemia and reperfusion; (2) the activation of intracellular GSH system is preponderant compared with the extracellular one; (3) variations in intraerythrocytic total GSH during heart ischaemia and perfusion are detectable in peripheral veins and arteries, which can be the convenient sites for monitoring changes in the GSH cycle; and (4) increased total GSH levels are present in RBC before aortic crossclamping: at the beginning of mechanical ventilation in veins and, when CPB is started, also in arteries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]