Physics Education

We present a simple and low-cost experimental setup for quantitatively measuring the size of microparticles in powders. The method requires only inexpensive, readily available materials and can be easily reproduced at home, making it particularly suitable for distance learning applications. The theoretical framework relies on Babinet’s principle, which states that, to very good approximation, a particle generates a diffraction pattern equivalent to that of a circular aperture. In practice, the powder sample is placed on a glass slide and positioned directly over the camera of a smartphone. A small piece of a diffraction grating is attached over the slide, and the resulting diffraction images are captured with the smartphone camera. The images are then quantitatively analysed using the open-source software Tracker. As light sources, light emitting diodes of different colours are employed. This accessible setup provides a robust and reproducible approach to introducing students to diffraction phenomena and particle size measurement.

The Standard Model of particle physics is one of the most successful theories in physics and describes the fundamental interactions between elementary particles. It is encoded in a compact description, the so-called ‘Lagrangian’, which even fits on t-shirts and coffee mugs. This mathematical formulation, however, is complex and only rarely makes it into the physics classroom. Therefore, to support high school teachers in their challenging endeavour of introducing particle physics in the classroom, we provide a qualitative explanation of the terms of the Lagrangian and discuss their interpretation based on associated Feynman diagrams.

Changing acceleration and forces are part of the excitement of a roller coaster ride. According to Newton’s second law, $\mathbf{F} = m\mathbf{a}$, every part of our body must be exposed to a force to accelerate. Since our bodies are not symmetric, the direction of the force matters, and must be accounted for by ride designers. An additional complication is that not all parts of the body accelerate in the same way when the acceleration is changing, i.e. when there is jerk. Softer parts of the body provide varying levels of damping, and different parts of the body have different frequency responses and different resonance frequencies that should be avoided or reduced by the roller coaster designer. This paper discusses the effect of acceleration, jerk, snap and vibration on the experience and safety of roller coaster rides, using authentic data from a dive coaster as an example.

With the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), its potential implications for higher education have become a focal point of interest. This study delves into the capabilities of AI in physics education and offers actionable AI policy recommendations. Using openAI’s flagship gpt-3.5-turbo large language model (LLM), we assessed its ability to answer 1337 physics exam questions spanning general certificate of secondary education (GCSE), A-Level, and introductory university curricula. We employed various AI prompting techniques: Zero Shot, in context learning, and confirmatory checking, which merges chain of thought reasoning with reflection. The proficiency of gpt-3.5-turbo varied across academic levels: it scored an average of 83.4% on GCSE, 63.8% on A-Level, and 37.4% on university-level questions, with an overall average of 59.9% using the most effective prompting technique. In a separate test, the LLM’s accuracy on 5000 mathematical operations was found to be 45.2%. When evaluated as a marking tool, the LLM’s concordance with human markers averaged at 50.8%, with notable inaccuracies in marking straightforward questions, like multiple-choice. Given these results, our recommendations underscore caution: while current LLMs can consistently perform well on physics questions at earlier educational stages, their efficacy diminishes with advanced content and complex calculations. LLM outputs often showcase novel methods not in the syllabus, excessive verbosity, and miscalculations in basic arithmetic. This suggests that at university, there’s no substantial threat from LLMs for non-invigilated physics questions. However, given the LLMs’ considerable proficiency in writing physics essays and coding abilities, non-invigilated examinations of these skills in physics are highly vulnerable to automated completion by LLMs. This vulnerability also extends to pysics questions pitched at lower academic levels. It is thus recommended that educators be transparent about LLM capabilities with their students, while emphasizing caution against overreliance on their output due to its tendency to sound plausible but be incorrect.

In this paper a series of hands-on demonstrations is described to teach students about hydrostatic pressure and buoyancy using fish. Fish are neutrally buoyant and therefore do not need to expend energy to swim up or down, apart from overcoming friction between their scales and fins, and water. In a first demonstration, the increase in hydrostatic pressure with depth is felt when a hollow plastic cylinder less dense than water is pushed into a tall container of water. In a second demonstration, robot fish of different density are placed at the top of a 1 m tall transparent plastic tube and observed to swim down. A neutrally buoyant robot fish swims steadily to the bottom and is suspended in the water column when not swimming. A negatively buoyant fish sinks continuously to the bottom, and a positively buoyant fish fails to reach the bottom. Archimedes principle can be used to accurately measure and adjust the density of a robot fish as necessary. In a third experiment, a sinker is lowered into an aquarium demonstrating that the weight of an object is independent of depth. Buoyancy brings together physics and marine biology and therefore is a good STEM topic.

This article outlines a simplified approach to approximating the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars at a level appropriate for advanced high school students, beginning undergraduate students, and high school teachers. Using a combination of introductory quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of special relativity, the electron degeneracy pressure is calculated in the non-relativistic and ultra-relativistic limits. By combining the electron degeneracy energy with the gravitational energy for a constant density star, an approximation to the Chandrasekhar mass is derived.

As artificial intelligence (AI)-generated videos become ever more common in our students’ social media feeds, an interesting question arises: Can we use physics to distinguish AI-generated videos from real ones? This paper showcases how a short AI video can be generated for educational purposes for free and provides a simple activity in which a real and an AI-generated video of two falling objects are analysed using freely available online tools. The results reveal some possible ways of identifying that a video may be AI-generated. The proposed activity can be used to help students develop a critical attitude to AI-generated content and can be framed as a forensic activity to add some excitement to the physics lesson.

We present a thermodynamics experiment suitable for first year undergraduate students employing Stirling Engines to create a demonstration of energy transformation and to measure the mechanical efficiency of such engines. Using an inexpensive transparent chambered Stirling Engine, students can connect concepts such as the theoretical pressure-volume diagram with the physical movements of the engine’s pistons and the resultant useful output work of a spinning wheel. We found the majority of students successfully complete this experiment obtaining results similar to when performed by the authors. In addition to the core thermodynamics lesson, this experiment incorporates DC circuits, oscilloscopes, and data analysis so it can be integrated into a wider undergraduate physics course to combine the teaching of multiple subjects.

This paper presents a portable and simple refractive index kit that lets students study refraction, refractive index, and the critical angle in both solids and liquids. In schools, refraction is typically taught using a ray box that produce bright and dim rays, making refraction hard to observe. In addition, the activity also requires drawing lines on paper to trace the rays, which is time consuming and slows the process of teaching and learning. To overcome this problem, the portable refractive index kit uses a monochromatic 532 nm laser beam with a rotating mount and a fixed protractor as the sample stage, making the rays easy to observe without paper tracing and speeding up the lesson. In addition, the kit also offers added value by including a liquid container that enables refractive-index studies of liquids using the same geometry as solids without changing the setup. These additions save time, improve repeatability, and enable clear measurements for both solids and liquids within a single lesson. Refractive index is estimated using Snell’s law from a straight-line Snell plot, and the critical angle for total internal reflection is used as a built-in check. Results for typical classroom samples are n = 1.56 for glass, n = 1.33 for water, and n = 1.45 for cooking oil, with critical angles of 40.17°, 48.75°, and 43.60° respectively. The uncertainties of n, obtained from standard error analysis, range between ± 0.01 and ± 0.02 depending on the measurement method. This project contributed to physics education by providing a low cost, accurate and easy to obtain experimental kit for schools. This innovation adds value to teaching and learning by improving visibility, reducing setup time, and enabling fair comparison between solids and liquids within a single lesson.

Uncertainty is a central feature of experimental physics: without it, measurements cannot be compared, validated, or meaningfully interpreted. Nevertheless, in many teaching environments it is introduced only briefly, often through significant figures or approximate ‘error bars.’ This narrow treatment encourages the misconception that uncertainty measures mistakes rather than confidence in a result. This article presents a teaching framework inspired by the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM), providing a clearer and more coherent way to discuss uncertainty in school and university laboratories. The approach highlights the complementary roles of statistical methods (Type A) and non-statistical information (Type B), promotes explicit reporting of uncertainty, and uses accessible mathematics consistent with GUM notation. Several classroom-ready examples illustrate uncertainty propagation, coverage factors, and how uncertainty shapes the interpretation of a measurement. A learning progression and suggestions for assessment are also proposed. Framing uncertainty as a quantitative expression of knowledge—rather than a correction for error—supports better scientific reasoning and encourages students to approach data with greater rigor and confidence.

This article presents an experimental setup designed to automate the measurement of the thermal sensitivity of diodes using the ExpEYES-17 computer-interfaced test and measurement system, with the motivation of developing a modern pedagogical tool for physics laboratories. The experiment focuses on the temperature dependence of the knee voltage in P–N junction diodes, a critical phenomenon in semiconductor physics. A key feature is the integration of a PT-100 temperature sensor with Python-based automation, allowing continuous, high-resolution data logging of the forward I–V characteristics as the diode cools down after being heated to a predefined temperature. The results obtained from the experiment are in close agreement with established theoretical values, validating the effectiveness of this method. Numerical analysis techniques, specifically the use of linear extrapolation and linear regression, are employed to extract the thermal sensitivity coefficient precisely. This approach introduces students to modern techniques of data acquisition and analysis while reinforcing fundamental concepts in semiconductor physics, making it an ideal, scalable experiment for a physics practical course in an undergraduate or postgraduate physics curriculum.

Quantum mechanics has revolutionised our understanding of reality. At the heart of this theory lies Planck’s constant $h$, which plays a fundamental role in describing the behaviour of matter on the smallest scales. In this paper we present a teaching approach that combines a concise historical overview of the origin of h with a simple experiment in which students determine its value from measurements on a photovoltaic panel. The article integrates methodologies from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and problem-based learning to demonstrate how contemporary educational techniques can not only aid in understanding quantum concepts, but also enable the experimental determination of one of the most fundamental constants of nature. Using low-cost components available in school and introductory university laboratories, students measure the threshold voltage of a photovoltaic cell for different wavelengths of light and, by analysing the linear dependence of the electron energy $eU$ on $c/\lambda$ to obtain an experimental estimate of $h$. In contrast to other works where light-emitting diodes have been used to determine Planck’s constant (Chakarvarti and Sharma 1988 Phys. Educ.23 416; Ward 2013 Phys. Educ.48 20–1; Morton and Abraham 1986 Phys. Educ.21 414; Korpal et al 2023 Phys.Educ.58 045003), this article presents a method of experimentally determining $h$, by measuring the threshold voltage of a photovoltaic panel as a function of the frequency of incident light. The proposed experiment can be easily conducted in a school setting, for example as a group project under the guidance of a teacher. It illustrates that core quantum concepts can be explored experimentally even at the introductory level. Furthermore, this experiment can complement university-level lectures or laboratory courses.

Physics is often perceived as a difficult subject due to its abstract nature, which calls for innovative media such as virtual reality (VR) to enhance students’ conceptual understanding. This study aims to analyse students’ perceptions of VR in physics learning and to identify factors influencing behavioural intention (BI) based on differences in gender, age, and prior VR experience. A quantitative survey with a cross-sectional design involved 213 physics education students at a state university in Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. The research instrument was a questionnaire measuring performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), and BI, analysed using structural equation modelling with SmartPLS version 4.0.9.9. The results show that, overall, students have a positive perception of VR use (average 73%, categorized as high). All three constructs—PE, EE, and SI—significantly influenced BI, with PE emerging as the strongest predictor. Multi-group analysis revealed that gender and age did not moderate the relationships among the variables, while prior experience with VR in physics learning significantly strengthened the predictive relationships with BI. The findings highlight the importance of improving infrastructure, providing teacher training, and fostering social support to enhance VR adoption in physics learning, while also offering valuable insights for policymakers and educational technology developers.

This study investigated the efficacy of cartoon-integrated instruction for enhancing concept mastery and problem-solving in secondary physics. A quasi-experimental design employed pre-test equivalence to assign 41 students to experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 21) groups. The experimental group learned about sound waves using curated cartoons and animations, while the control group received conventional instruction. Post-test results revealed the experimental group achieved a significantly higher mean score (18.06 vs 13.33) and lower dispersion (SD = 3.88 vs 6.86). A Welch independent-samples t-test confirmed a statistically significant difference, $t(25.5) = 2.388,\ p = 0.0247$, with a large practical effect (Cohen’s d = 0.85). These findings provide empirical support for cartoon-integrated instruction as a method to foster effective and more uniform concept understanding among diverse learners.

Quantum mechanics has revolutionised our understanding of reality. At the heart of this theory lies Planck’s constant $h$, which plays a fundamental role in describing the behaviour of matter on the smallest scales. In this paper we present a teaching approach that combines a concise historical overview of the origin of h with a simple experiment in which students determine its value from measurements on a photovoltaic panel. The article integrates methodologies from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and problem-based learning to demonstrate how contemporary educational techniques can not only aid in understanding quantum concepts, but also enable the experimental determination of one of the most fundamental constants of nature. Using low-cost components available in school and introductory university laboratories, students measure the threshold voltage of a photovoltaic cell for different wavelengths of light and, by analysing the linear dependence of the electron energy $eU$ on $c/\lambda$ to obtain an experimental estimate of $h$. In contrast to other works where light-emitting diodes have been used to determine Planck’s constant (Chakarvarti and Sharma 1988 Phys. Educ.23 416; Ward 2013 Phys. Educ.48 20–1; Morton and Abraham 1986 Phys. Educ.21 414; Korpal et al 2023 Phys.Educ.58 045003), this article presents a method of experimentally determining $h$, by measuring the threshold voltage of a photovoltaic panel as a function of the frequency of incident light. The proposed experiment can be easily conducted in a school setting, for example as a group project under the guidance of a teacher. It illustrates that core quantum concepts can be explored experimentally even at the introductory level. Furthermore, this experiment can complement university-level lectures or laboratory courses.

In this short note, we report and analyze a striking event: OpenAI’s large language model o3 has outwitted all students in a university exam on thermodynamics. The thermodynamics exam is a difficult hurdle for most students, where they must show that they have mastered the fundamentals of this important topic. Consequently, the failure rates are very high, A-grades are rare—and they are considered proof of the students’ exceptional intellectual abilities. This is because pattern learning does not help in the exam. The problems can only be solved by knowledgeably and creatively combining principles of thermodynamics. We have given our latest thermodynamics exam not only to the students but also to OpenAI’s most powerful reasoning model, o3, and have assessed the answers of o3 exactly the same way as those of the students. In zero-shot mode, the model o3 solved all problems correctly, better than all students who took the exam; its overall score was in the range of the best scores we have seen in more than 10 000 similar exams since 1985. This is a turning point: machines now excel in complex tasks, usually taken as proof of human intellectual capabilities. We discuss the consequences this has for the work of engineers and the education of future engineers.

We present a simple and low-cost experimental setup for quantitatively measuring the size of microparticles in powders. The method requires only inexpensive, readily available materials and can be easily reproduced at home, making it particularly suitable for distance learning applications. The theoretical framework relies on Babinet’s principle, which states that, to very good approximation, a particle generates a diffraction pattern equivalent to that of a circular aperture. In practice, the powder sample is placed on a glass slide and positioned directly over the camera of a smartphone. A small piece of a diffraction grating is attached over the slide, and the resulting diffraction images are captured with the smartphone camera. The images are then quantitatively analysed using the open-source software Tracker. As light sources, light emitting diodes of different colours are employed. This accessible setup provides a robust and reproducible approach to introducing students to diffraction phenomena and particle size measurement.

We investigate the tension distribution in systems of mass-less ropes under different loading conditions. For a two-rope system, we demonstrate how the breaking scenario depends on the applied force dynamics: rapid pulling causes the lower rope to break, while gradual pulling leads to upper rope failure. Extending to a three-rope Y-shaped configuration, we identify a critical angle $\theta_\mathrm{C} = 60^{\circ}$ that determines which rope breaks first. When the angle between the upper ropes exceeds this critical value, the upper ropes fail before the lower one. We further analyse how an attached mass at the junction point modifies this critical angle and establish maximum mass limits for valid solutions. Our results provide practical insights for introductory physics students understanding static forces and system stabilities.

We designed and implemented an educational escape room on particle physics, titled ‘PER me si va ne la fisica recente’, to introduce secondary school students to concepts rarely addressed in formal curricula. The activity combines content-driven puzzles, narrative engagement, and structured debriefing, and is now a permanent installation at the University of Pavia. The study involved around 300 participants, with matched pre-/post-test data available for 232 students. The assessment focused on both curricular and extra-curricular items, as well as on the persistence of common misconceptions. Results show significant conceptual gains, particularly on extra-curricular questions related to the standard model, while misconceptions such as the confusion between antimatter and dark matter proved more resistant. The normalized gain analysis confirms that even short interventions can produce measurable improvements in understanding. This work demonstrates that a low-cost, replicable escape room can effectively engage students with frontier physics and complement classroom teaching. It also highlights the importance of targeted debriefing for addressing persistent misconceptions, contributing to the growing body of evidence on the role of game-based and non-formal strategies in STEM education.

Alternative energies and sustainable development are articulated, for example, in the 2030 Agenda. This articulation should also be made in the educational field, particularly in Physics classes. However, this articulation is still absent, specifically in the official programs for this subject in Angola. This article presents and discusses a study conducted at School Complex No. 101 M—“Álvaro Manuel Boa Vida Neto“ in Namibe (Angola) with 44 students from the 10th Grade (II cycle of Secondary Education in the Physical-Biological Sciences Course). Methodologically, an action, descriptive and interpretative investigation approach was used, as the school teacher, who also took on the role of researcher, is the primary author of this article. Mixed data (qualitative and quantitative) was collected through documentary analysis, researcher field notes and a questionnaire provided to the students at the beginning and end of implementing an innovative, designed-based teaching sequence. The data was treated by content analysis and descriptive statistics. The action research, which, due to time constraints, only includes one cycle, consisted of the planning, implementation and validation of a teaching sequence focused on the inclusion of photovoltaic energy, already being used in the school region where the study was developed. Notice that photovoltaic energy can be used as an alternative method for producing electrical energy as a guarantee in the sustainability of communities. The implementation of the proposed teaching sequence enabled interactions between the purpose of knowledge, the skills and the reality of the students, thereby contributing to individual and collective thinking in search of new ways to approach everyday problems, in addition to improving the quality of teaching. It is suggested that further research should be done on this topic, namely through studies that analyze actions that promote the professional development of Physics teachers from a sustainable development perspective. This study should focus on emphasizing the proposal developed, introducing new action research cycles that enable a focus on the understanding of the educational reality and the construction of knowledge.

In this paper a series of hands-on demonstrations is described to teach students about hydrostatic pressure and buoyancy using fish. Fish are neutrally buoyant and therefore do not need to expend energy to swim up or down, apart from overcoming friction between their scales and fins, and water. In a first demonstration, the increase in hydrostatic pressure with depth is felt when a hollow plastic cylinder less dense than water is pushed into a tall container of water. In a second demonstration, robot fish of different density are placed at the top of a 1 m tall transparent plastic tube and observed to swim down. A neutrally buoyant robot fish swims steadily to the bottom and is suspended in the water column when not swimming. A negatively buoyant fish sinks continuously to the bottom, and a positively buoyant fish fails to reach the bottom. Archimedes principle can be used to accurately measure and adjust the density of a robot fish as necessary. In a third experiment, a sinker is lowered into an aquarium demonstrating that the weight of an object is independent of depth. Buoyancy brings together physics and marine biology and therefore is a good STEM topic.

This paper presents a portable and simple refractive index kit that lets students study refraction, refractive index, and the critical angle in both solids and liquids. In schools, refraction is typically taught using a ray box that produce bright and dim rays, making refraction hard to observe. In addition, the activity also requires drawing lines on paper to trace the rays, which is time consuming and slows the process of teaching and learning. To overcome this problem, the portable refractive index kit uses a monochromatic 532 nm laser beam with a rotating mount and a fixed protractor as the sample stage, making the rays easy to observe without paper tracing and speeding up the lesson. In addition, the kit also offers added value by including a liquid container that enables refractive-index studies of liquids using the same geometry as solids without changing the setup. These additions save time, improve repeatability, and enable clear measurements for both solids and liquids within a single lesson. Refractive index is estimated using Snell’s law from a straight-line Snell plot, and the critical angle for total internal reflection is used as a built-in check. Results for typical classroom samples are n = 1.56 for glass, n = 1.33 for water, and n = 1.45 for cooking oil, with critical angles of 40.17°, 48.75°, and 43.60° respectively. The uncertainties of n, obtained from standard error analysis, range between ± 0.01 and ± 0.02 depending on the measurement method. This project contributed to physics education by providing a low cost, accurate and easy to obtain experimental kit for schools. This innovation adds value to teaching and learning by improving visibility, reducing setup time, and enabling fair comparison between solids and liquids within a single lesson.

This paper presents a model-based teaching intervention designed to introduce the concept of electric current while engaging participants in modelling activities that foster scientific literacy and 21st-century learning skills. Although textbooks often include images representing microscopic phenomena, these are rarely utilised as tools for active exploration, explanation, and prediction. The intervention utilises such textbook images, transforming them into functional models that support both exploratory and expressive modelling. Collaborative work and reflective tasks are integrated to promote communication, critical thinking, and creativity. The intervention is structured around the 5E instructional model, integrating three key dimensions: teaching the cognitive content (electric current), familiarisation with scientific practices (understanding the nature and function of models), and development of 21st-century learning skills. Activities include analysing electron movement within conductors, constructing and comparing models to explain observable phenomena, and predicting the effects of manipulating circuit components. Through the transformation of static images into functional models, students gain metamodelling knowledge, recognising that representations must incorporate theoretical ideas to explain or predict phenomena. A preliminary validation phase, conducted through semi-structured interviews with ten in-service physics teachers, provided feedback on the clarity, feasibility and pedagogical coherence of the intervention and identified specific phases that support students’ use, construction and revision of models. Their feedback also highlighted practical considerations for classroom implementation, informing directions for future refinement. The next step involves classroom implementation to investigate the intervention’s impact on learning outcomes and on students’ perceptions of modelling as a scientific practice.

This paper presents the educational application of a Python-based model simulating the interference of light on spherical micron-sized particles deposited on a plane-parallel glass plate. The model integrates the geometric conditions of interference with the angular intensity distribution derived from Mie theory. This approach enables the investigation of the effects of wavelength, source spectral width, refractive indices, particle size, polydispersity, and glass plate thickness on the interference pattern. Virtual experiments have been developed in which students modify model parameters, analyse the results, and solve the inverse problem of determining the modal particle radius. The proposed methodology fosters the development of computational thinking, analytical skills, and a deeper understanding of optical interference phenomena. The model is distributed as open-source software under the MIT licence and is available in a public repository, thereby facilitating its integration into the teaching process by educators and its adaptation to the appropriate level of education.