Volume 54 Issue 6, September 2016
The Physics Teacher
This month's cover features colorful dice and hard candies to help teach about entropy. Jeffrey Phillips' article, The Macro and Micro of it Is that Entropy Is the Spread of Energy, emphasizes that it is better to associate entropy with energy spread than with disorder.
In recognition of The Physics Teachers' volunteer referees/reviewers the issue includes a Guest Editorial, Thank You to our Refrees May 2015-May 2016!
With the start of the 2016 football season you may want to reflect on Deflategate with two articles that look at the physics of this problem. Speaking of sports, we've linked to two Olympics related articles under Additional Resources on this page.
Columns
Figuring Physics, iPhysics Labs, Little Gems, Astronotes, For the New Teacher, Physics Challenge for Teachers and Students, In My Opinion, Fermi Questions, and Websights.
Papers
Baloon and Button Spectroscopy: A Hands-On Approach to Light and Matter, Joseph Ribaudo DOI: 10.1119/1.4961171
Magnetic Viscous Drag for Friction Labs, Chris Gaffney and Adam Catching DOI: 10.1119//1.4961172
Let’s Weigh in on “Deflategate,” Terrence Toepker DOI: 10.1119/1.4961173
“Deflategate”: Time, Temperature, and Moisture Effects on Football Pressure, Jack Blumenthal, Lauren Beljak, Dahlia-Marie Macatangay, Lilly Helmuth-Malone, Catharina McWilliams, and Sofia Raptis DOI: 10.1119/1.4961174
The Law of Entropy Increase – A Lab Experiment, William Dittrich, Robert Drosd, Leonid Minkin, and Alexander S. Shapovalov DOI: 10.1119/1.4961176
Smartphones and Time Zones, William Baird, Jeffery Secrest, Clifford Padgett, Wayne Johnson, and Claire Hagrelius DOI: 10.1119/1.4961177
Color Fringes Bordering Black Stripes at the Bottom of a Swimming Pool, Gonzalo Fuster, Roberto Rojas, and Viktor Slüsarenko DOI: 10.1119/1.4961178
Single-Slit Diffraction: Transitioning from Geometric Optics to the Fraunhofer Regime, Christopher L. Panuski and Carl E. Mungan DOI: 10.1119/1.4961179
Mechanical Energy Change in Inertial Reference Frames, Saeed Ghanbari DOI: 10.1119/1.4961180
Using Peer Feedback to Promote Reflection on Open-Ended Problems, Daniel L. Reinholz and Dimitri R. Dounas-Frazer DOI: 10.1119/1.496181
Acoustics for the Deaf: Can You See Me Now?, Cameron T. Vongsawad, Mark L. Berardi, Tracianne B. Neilsen, Kent L. Gee, Jennifer K. Whiting, and M. Jeannette Lawler DOI: 10.1119/1.496182
Reproducing an Early-20th-Century Wave Machine, John A. Daffron and Thomas B. Greenslade Jr. DOI: 10.1119/1.4961197
Additional Resources
2016 Olympics article: Professor Usain Bolt Welcomes You to the Schoolyard: Physics for Champions
2016 Olympics article: What Makes Usain Bolt Unique as a Sprinter
Article Collections from TPT and AJP
TPT Presents: Columns and other Collections from The Physics Teacher