Volume 55 Issue 5, May 2017

 

The Physics Teacher

This month's cover is a composition of 29 images of the 2015 total eclipse taken from Svalbard, north of Norway. The prominences at upper left are bright here, but against the backdrop of the Sun would appear as darker filaments.The diaphanous plumes and loops of the corona seen here are only visible during a total eclipse, such as the one coming this summer to much of the U.S. (see the AstroNotes column). Photo credit: Miloslav Druckmüller, Shadia Habbal, Peter Aniol, and Pavel Štarha

 

Editorial

Thanks to Our TPT Referees: June 1, 2016–March 15, 2017! DOI: 10.1119/1.4981026

Letters to the Editor

Remembering Charles Hellman by Walter Hellman.  DOI: 10.1119/1.4981027

AAPT Member Spotlight: Gina Quan, grad. student at University of Maryland, College Park.  DOI: 10.1119/1.4981028

Columns

And the Survey Says..., Figuring Physics, iPhysicsLabs, Little Gems, Technology in the Classroom, Astronotes, Physics Challenge for Teachers and Students, Fermi Questions, Talkin' Physics, Visual Physics, and Websights.

Papers

The Polarization of Light and Malus' Law Using Smartphones by Martín Monteiro, Cecilia Stari, Cecilia Cabeza, and Arturo C. Martí. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981030

The Hindenburg Disaster: Combining Physics and History in the Laboratory by Gregory A. DiLisi. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981031

An Arduino-Based Magnetometer by Mike McCaughey. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981032

Too Early for Physics? Effect of Class Meeting Time on Student Evaluations of Teaching in Introductory Physics by R. G. Tobin. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981033

Focusing on Concepts by Covering Them Simultaneously by Pete Schwartz. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981034

Lazy Days: An Active Way to Put Newton's First Law into Motion (or Rest) by Christopher Roemmele, and David Sederberg. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981035

Gravitational Wave Detection in the Introductory Lab by Lior M. Burko. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981036

Development of a New Method for Assembling a Bipolar DC Motor as a Teaching Material by Yuki Matsumoto, Kei Sakaki, and Mamoru Sakaki. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981037

Significance of a Recurring Function in Energy Transfer by Subodha Mishra. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981038

Low-Cost Alternative for Signal Generators in the Physics Laboratory by Shirish Rajan Pathare, M. K. Raghavendra, and Saurabhee Huli. DOI: 10.1119/1.4981039

Additional Resources

DNA Science Lesson & Digi-Kit

Inspired by an article from The Physics Teacher, this multidisciplinary lesson and digital resource collection is based on How Rosalind Franklin Discovered the Helical Structure of DNA: Experiments in Diffraction (Braun, Tierney, & Schmitzer, 2011). Click the image to access this resource.

 

Article Collections from TPT and AJP    

 

TPT Presents: Columns and other Collections from The Physics Teacher