The Physics Teacher

November 2025
Volume 63 Issue 8

This Month's cover...features one of the top photos in the 2025 AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest, “A Dandelion Star,” by Sarina Tseng from Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (Teacher: Isaac Huerta). Illuminated with ultraviolet light, the dandelion radiates visible light more intensely from some regions than others, resulting in beautiful star-like patterns.

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

Three chapters of homework in 11 minutes? by Nathan Moore. DOI: 10.1119/5.0289962

If your car were the only thing left in the universe … by Ferat Bulatov. DOI: 10.1119/5.0295075

Resistance is fuzzy by Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr. DOI: 10.1119/5.0303827

PAPERS

A Simple Problem with a Counterintuitive Result by Pirooz Mohazzabi. DOI: 10.1119/5.0208836

Supporting Effective and Inclusive Group Work in Introductory Physics Courses: A Guide for Instructors by Matthew W. Guthrie; Xian Wu; Erin M. Scanlon. DOI: 10.1119/5.0175809

A Physicist and a Philosopher Walk into a Classroom by Matthew P. Wiesner; Steven Burgess. DOI: 10.1119/5.0208383

Comparing Physics Examination Performance with and without ChatGPT by Lazar Radenković; Ljubiša Nešić; Darko Radovančević. DOI: 10.1119/5.0240794

Polygons, Path Integrals, and Ampère’s Law by Wes Johnson. DOI: 10.1119/5.0207591

The Mechanical Universe: Still Useful by Roeland Boot. DOI: 10.1119/5.0202124

Seeing the Light by Richard Kaufman; André Heck. DOI: 10.1119/5.0207491

An Intuitive Model for Illustrating the Classical Doppler Effect Equation by Hangtian Lei. DOI: 10.1119/5.0245140

Reversibility of Light Disproves the Two-Prism Method by Chiu-king Ng. DOI: 10.1119/5.0205590

Two Misconceptions About a Cone of Light in Demonstrations of the Critical Angle by Jiseon Cha; Yu Chen; Hoon Yu; Jung Bog Kim. DOI: 10.1119/5.0233752

Measuring Force and Acceleration in a Moving Elevator to Verify Newton’s Second Law by Júlia Esteves Parreira; Pablo L. Saldanha. DOI: 10.1119/5.0223177

The Kinematics of Fireworks Explosions by Yuan Zhang; Aiguo Mei; Zhaoyang Peng. DOI: 10.1119/5.0255703

Using a Pencil-Drawn Wheatstone Bridge as a Teaching Tool by Aditya Singh Thakur; Abhay Singh Thakur; Shivam Dubey; Rahul Vaish. DOI: 10.1119/5.0200512

Visualization and Exploration of the Electric Field of a Point Charge Using Computer Software by Shengbin Yang; Yufeng Lin. DOI: 10.1119/5.0210373

Beam Bending as a Simplified Boundary Value Problem by Hollis Williams. DOI: 10.1119/5.0134787

Connecting Disciplines: An Application of Vectors in Advanced Statistics by John A. Long. DOI: 10.1119/5.0208375

Effectiveness of a Teaching Program Using GeoGebra to Learn about Probability in the Context of Atomic Orbitals by Young-Ha Hwang; Seoung-Hey Paik. DOI: 10.1119/5.0250799

Visualizing Radioactive Decay in the Classroom: Dice vs. Centicubes by Alexandria Black; Wilson J. González-Espada. DOI: 10.1119/5.0206007

Newton’s Rings: A Dynamic Simulation in GeoGebra by Fabián Andrés Jalk Duque; Sonia Valbuena Duarte; Francisco Juan Racedo Niebles. DOI: 10.1119/5.0260456

Does ChatGPT Exhibit Physics Scientific Thinking? A Rigorous Assessment Using Chinese-Style Middle and High School Exam Questions by Xuan Zhang. DOI: /10.1119/5.0189260