March 2018 Issue, Volume 86, No. 3March 2018 issue of American Journal of Physics

 

A compact disc under skimming light rays

The optical properties of a compact disc (CD) under “skimming” light rays have been analyzed. We have noticed that a clear green line can be detected when the disc is irradiated with light rays coming from a lamp in such a way that only those skimming the CD, held horizontally, are selected. We provide a physical interpretation of this phenomenon on the basis of elementary optics concepts. Extension of these concepts to digital versatile discs (DVDs) is given.

 

Papers

A compact disc under skimming light rays by R. De Luca and M. Di Mauro, O. Fiore, and A. Naddeo. DOI: 10.1119/1.5021904

A study of kinetic friction: The Timoshenko oscillator by Robin Henaff, Gabriel Le Doudic, Bertrand Pilette, Catherine Even, Jean-Marie Fischbach, Frédéric Bouquet, Julien Bobroff, and Miguel Monteverde, Claire A. Marrache-Kikuchibi. DOI: 10.1119/1.5008862

Double well potentials with a quantum moat barrier or a quantum wall barrier give rise to similar entangled wave functions by A. Ibrahim, and F. Marsiglio. DOI: 10.1119/1.5019166

Gravitational waves from orbiting binaries without general relativity by Robert C. Hilborn. DOI: 10.1119/1.5020984

Every isochronous potential is shear-equivalent to a harmonic potential by Daniel J. Cross. DOI: 10.1119/1.5019025

Twelve years before the quantum no-cloning theorem by Juan Ortigoso. DOI: 10.1119/1.5021356

Heat transfer and evaporative cooling in the function of pot-in-pot coolers by Arsène Chemin, Victor Dit Vehel, Aude Caussarieu, Nicolas Plihon, and Nicolas Taberlet. DOI: 10.1119/1.5016041

Physics Education Research

A summary of research-based assessment of students' beliefs about the nature of experimental physics by Bethany R. Wilcox, and H. J. Lewandowski. DOI: 10.1119/1.5009241

Notes and Discussions

Can mechanical energy vanish into thin air? by Joaquín Moreno. DOI: 10.1119/1.5019022

Apparatus and Demonstration Notes

Little bits of diamond: Optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers by Haimei Zhang, Carina Belvin, Wanyi Li, Jennifer Wang, Robbie Berg, and Joshua Bridger. DOI: 10.1119/1.5023389

Book Reviews

Mass: The Quest to Understand Matter from Greek Atoms to Quantum Fields by Eugene Hecht. DOI: 10.1119/1.5021906

Books Received

American Journal of Physics 86, 240 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5022579

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