An ice hockey player can strike a puck at speeds up to about 45 m/s (100 mph) using a technique known as the slap shot. There is nothing unusual about the speed, since golf balls, tennis balls, and baseballs can also be projected at that speed or even higher. The unusual part is that the player strikes the ice before striking the puck, causing the…

Could Usain Bolt achieve what teachers often fail to do? Could this famous Olympic winner challenge and motivate students to study mechanics and introduce them to the principles of physics in a fun way, outside of the classroom? In order to answer these questions, we "invited" for one semester the world record holder to visit our Greek…

We describe the principles of macroscopic charged particle detection in the laboratory and their connections to concepts taught in the physics classroom. Electrostatic dust accelerator systems, capable of launching charged dust grains at hypervelocities (1-100 km/s), are a critical tool for space exploration. Dust grains in space typically have…

Introductory lab courses have been a staple of the physics curriculum for over 100 years. Yet these courses are now poised for change as recent research shows that they do not meet a frequent goal of enhancing student understanding of lecture content. In thinking about how to move forward, a look back at experiment courses in history seems wise.…

On July 16, 1988, Florence Griffith Joyner (FGJ) shattered the women's 100-m dash world record (WR) with a time of 10.49 s, breaking the previous mark by an astonishing 0.27 s. By all accounts FGJ dominated the race that day, securing her place as the premiere female sprinter of that era, and possibly all time. In the aftermath of such an…

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Martin Gardner, a man whose writings helped inspire generations of young students to pursue a career in physics and mathematics. From his first to his last, and many in between, Gardner's publications often combined magic and science. A recurring theme was the clever use of physical principles…

A number of articles published in this column have dealt with topics in classical mechanics. This note describes some additional examples employing a smartphone and the new software iMecaProf. Steve Jobs presented the iPhone as "perfect for gaming." Thanks to its microsensors connected in real time to the numerical world, physics…

We physics teachers are forever in search of real-life applications of the theoretical concepts we teach. In mechanics we often utilize vehicle motion exercises, yet most textbook problems involving these are rather tame and deal with constant acceleration. What often captures the imagination of students is the actual performance of cars they…