January 2018 Issue, Volume 86, No. 1
Revisiting the round bottom flask rainbow experiment
A popular demonstration experiment in optics uses a round-bottom flask filled with water to project a circular rainbow on a screen with a hole through which the flask is illuminated. We show how the vessel's wall shifts the first- and second-order bows towards each other and consequently reduces the width of Alexander's dark band. We address the challenge this introduces in observing Alexander's dark band, and explain the importance of a sufficient distance between the flask and the screen. The wall-effect also introduces a splitting of the bows that can easily be misinterpreted.
Editorial
AJP and PER by Michael Wittmann, and Richard Price. DOI: 10.1119/1.5016042
Papers
One step beyond the electric dipole approximation: An experiment to observe the 5p→6p forbidden transition in atomic rubidium by F. Ponciano-Ojeda, S. Hernández-Gómez, C. Mojica-Casique, E. Ruiz-Martínez, and Flores-Mijangos. DOI: 10.1119/1.5006775
Revisiting the round bottom flask rainbow experiment by Markus Selmke, and Sarah Selmke. DOI: 10.1119/1.5008745
Harmonic oscillator thermal density matrix: First-order differential equations for the position representation by L. F. Barragán-Gil, and R. Walser. DOI: 10.1119/1.5008268
Demonstrating the conservation of angular momentum using spherical magnets by Johan Lindén, Joakim Slotte, and Kjell-Mikael Källman. DOI: 10.1119/1.5002548
Two famous results of Einstein derived from the Jarzynski equality by Fred Gittes. DOI: 10.1119/1.5003009
The electric field of a uniformly charged cubic shell by Kaitlin McCreery, and Henry Greenside. DOI: 10.1119/1.5009446
Recommendations for the use of notebooks in upper-division physics lab courses by Jacob T. Stanley, and H. J. Lewandowski. DOI: 10.1119/1.5001933
Computational Physics
Parallel programming with Easy Java Simulations by F. Esquembre, W. Christian, and M. Belloni. DOI: 10.1119/1.5012510
Physics Education Research
Race to improve student understanding of uncertainty: Using LEGO race cars in the physics lab by Maria Parappilly, Christopher Hassam, and Richard J. Woodman. DOI: 10.1119/1.5003812
Notes and Discussions
Coefficient of rolling friction - Lab experiment by Leonid Minkin, and Daniel Sikes. DOI: 10.1119/1.5011957
BOOK REVIEWS
Out of the Shadow of a Giant: Hooke, Halley & the Birth of Science by Michael Nauenberg, American Journal of Physics 86. DOI: 10.1119/1.5012509
BOOKS RECEIVED
American Journal of Physics 86, 80 (2018). DOI: 10.1119/1.5016043
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