Vacuum sealer with Vernier Gas Pressure Sensor connected We sometimes use an inexpensive vacuum sealer here at our offices. I was curious about the pressures involved, and whether these could be used as an alternative to expensive vacuum pumps in...

By Richard G. Born, Northern Illinois University, Operations Management and Information Systems Increasing interest in going "green" by the use of alternative energy sources makes the study of solar energy especially suitable for students of physic...

In the December 2001 issue of The Physics Teacher described a unique way to use motion detectors. In "Obtaining the Length and Width of a Rotating Box with a Motion Detector," Tom Lough (Murray State University, Murray, KY) describes placing a cardb...

The March, 1999 issue of The Physics Teacher includes an article entitled "Measuring Equilibrants with a Bracket-Mounted Force Sensor" by Robert Kingman and David Maddox (Andrews University, MI). The article shows how to use our Dual-Range Force S...

Introduction Different types of hot dogs will cool at different rates after they have been cooked. This activity takes the first steps in investigating this phenomenon by measuring the rate that a warmed hot dog cools. Students can compare the ingre...

In March 2005, Olathe North HS (Olathe, KS) students Kevin Skov and Greg May, along with teacher Steve Obenhaus, took a trip to the southern reaches of Texas to explore Laguna Madre's hypersaline characteristics. Laguna Madre, a large body of shallo...

Students from the University of Akron regularly enter the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Aero Design® Competition. The Aero Design Competition challenges engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate, and test a radio-controlled air...

David Drummer, physics teacher at Kutztown Area High School in Kutztown, PA uses a K'NEX® rollercoaster and Vernier 25-g Accelerometer to investigate impulse. His students mount the Accelerometer in a rollercoaster car and roll it down the coast...

Ute Kaden is the first teacher in Brownsville ISD, Texas, to teach AP Physics. To keep the interest of her students at Hanna High School, she literally spans the globe in search of new and exciting ways to bring real-world data into the classroom. R...

In order to determine the mass of a copper atom, students in William Green's AP Chemistry class at E.O. Smith High School, Storrs, CT, follow a procedure similar to the lab "Determining Avagadro's Number" found in Advanced Chemistry with Vernier. Hi...