The Physics Teacher
April 2026
Volume 64 Issue 4
This Month’s Cover...imagines a world with antimatter people being repelled by Earth’s mass, while people made of matter experience gravity as a force of attraction. See “Does antimatter fall up?” by Don Lincoln for insights about this fundamental question.
Columns
AI Physics Tools, And the Survey Says..., Astronotes, Fermi Questions, Figuring Physics, For the New Teacher, iPhysicsLabs, Just Physics, Little Gems, Physics Challenge for Teachers and Students, Talkin' Physics, Technology In The Classroom, Tricks of the Trade, TCY Tidbits, Visual Physics, and Websights.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Nontrivial steps in a derivation: Recalling “after some algebraic manipulations” by Hasan Yıldırım. DOI: 10.1119/5.0305098
Poka-yoke mini pop-up spectroscopes by Ching-Chi Chu. DOI: 10.1119/5.0310983
PAPERS
Rumble Strip Physics by Marshall Thomsen; Hannah Popofski. DOI: 10.1119/5.0256626
Does Antimatter Fall Up? by Don Lincoln. DOI: 10.1119/5.0330471
Uncovering Hidden Variables: A Physics Classroom Activity on Correlation and Causation by Álvaro Suárez; Marcelo Vachetta. DOI: 10.1119/5.0244433
Empowering Minds: Exploring the Impact of the Contemporary Physics Education Project by R. Michael Barnett; Cheryl Harper; Glen Melnik; Peggy Norris. DOI: 10.1119/5.0190827
Didactic Dice Distributions by Kenneth A. Pestka, II. DOI: 10.1119/5.0225924
Orbit of a Steel Ball Around a Magnet by Rod Cross. DOI: 10.1119/5.0231444
Programmable Simulation of Nuclear Decay James Hecht; Adam Bennion. DOI: 10.1119/5.0234032
Outer Space in the Classroom: An Educator’s Guide to Orbital Simulations by Martin F. Melhus. DOI: 10.1119/5.0230430
Using Student Peer Leadership to Scale Active Learning in Large Introductory College Physics Classrooms by Eliza J. Morris; Mikkel Herholdt Jensen; Bita Rivas; Emily Lam. DOI: 10.1119/5.0198325
Neuroqueer Literacies in a Physics Context: A Discussion on Changing the Physics Classroom Using a Neuroqueer Literacy Framework by Daniel P. Oleynik; Kiley A Fridley; Liam Gregory McDermott. DOI: 10.1119/5.0175766
Physics Videos as an Alternative Assessment for Non-Physics Major Teacher Candidates by E. J. Bahng; Athena Hui Jiang; John M. Hauptman. DOI: 10.1119/5.0203920
Solar Absorptance of Colored Paper Cubes Monitored with Micro:bits: A Middle School STEM Project by Antonios Christonasis; Konstantinos T. Kotsis. DOI: 10.1119/5.0229764
Using Writing to Introduce Thermodynamics to Introductory Physics Students by Dereth J. Drake-Scheuermann. DOI: 10.1119/5.0245228
Simple Laser Power Meter as a Hands-on Project for Electro-optics Education by Nicolás V. del Valle; Ignacio E. Olivares. DOI: 10.1119/5.0240790
Novel Thought Experiments for Obtaining the Dependence of Capacitance of Parallel Plate Capacitors on Area and Distance by Yajun Wei. DOI: 10.1119/5.0219954
Displacement Current: Examples That Go Beyond the Beaten Path by Álvaro Suárez; Martín Monteiro; Arturo C. Martí. DOI: 10.1119/5.0235086
Low-Cost Solutions: Exploring the Drop-Shot Activity with Arduino and Video Tracking by Marcelo Dumas Hahn; Natália Machado; Frederico Alan de Oliveira Cruz; Paulo Simeão Carvalho. DOI: 10.1119/5.0242446
A Novel Experimental Setup of Using a Smartphone to Measure Kinematics Variables by Huaihua Zhang; Jinglu Zhang. DOI: 10.1119/5.0231011
Mastery-Based Assignments for Introductory Physics Courses and a Comparison to Standard Online Assignment Delivery by Mark Robert Baker. DOI: 10.1119/5.0192134
The Ironic Use of Inexhaustible Energy Transfer from Ideal Temperature Reservoirs to Develop the Principle of Entropy Increase by Steven Gimbel; Richard Kaufman. DOI: 10.1119/5.0226422
A Very Low-Current Electromagnetic Induction Experiment Enhanced by Acoustic Means by Santiago Ortuño-Molina; Rod Milbrandt; Juan C. Castro-Palacio; Juan A. Monsoriu. DOI: 10.1119/5.0243862
Selective Cutting and Engraving Using a Kitchen Microwave: Hands-on Manufacturing by Pushpendra Kumar; Shivam Dubey; Rahul Vaish. DOI: 10.1119/5.0196590
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