Risultati della ricerca
Anno XL - n.1 - gennaio/marzo 2007 Perché aspettare dieci minuti per misurare la febbre?
How long must we wait in order to measure our body temperature? A simple experiment allows to apply mathematical techniques while discussing thermodynamics, half-time, time constant. […]
Anno XL - n.1 - gennaio/marzo 2007 Valigia Antigravitazionale in Cavorite
A simple and very impressive version of ‘Einstein’s elevator’. A toy gun in a suitcase aims a ball horizontally towards a hole on the opposite side of the suitcase. If the suitcase is falling the ball exits the hole, demonstrating the absence of the gravitational field in a free-falling environment. […]
Anno XL - n.1 - gennaio/marzo 2007 Insegnare e divulgare (Una congettura elementare e due culture)
The role of language in science popularisation and teaching is examined. Some difficulties in going from an ‘elaborative’ (formalized, mathematical) language to a ‘communicative’ (colloquial, everyday) language are discussed. The activation of a primordial form of communication used in early childhood called ‘mentalese’, […]
Anno XXXIX - n.4 - ottobre/dicembre 2006 Da Leonardo da Vinci alla nanotribologia: storia delle ricerche e delle teorie sui fenomeni d’attrito
The most important topics and results of research on friction, from antiquity to now, are outlined: the early laws and theories, from Leonardo to Amontons and Coulomb; the theory of lubrication and the models of rolling friction from 1840 to 1930; […]
Anno XXXIX - n.4 - ottobre/dicembre 2006 Trasformazione relativistica delle velocità
A short argument is given as to why the conventional terms ‘addition’ or ‘composition’ of velocities are not appropriate and should be replaced by ‘transformation’. A simple proof of the relativistic law is presented, based on a geometrical approach (invariance of the space-time interval) without employing Lorentz transformations. […]
Anno XXXIX - n.4 - ottobre/dicembre 2006 La classe in moto: analisi di una corsa
Students running a race were timed at fixed distances, the measured data were plotted as position vs time diagrams and analysed from a kinematic point of view. The students were at the centre of the learning process and participated enthusiastically in this learning experience. […]
Anno XXXIX - n.2 - aprile/giugno 2006 Un’applet Java per lo studio dei moti relativi
An interactive Java Applet aimed at helping students to understand classical relative motion is described. The applet simulates the fall of a body from an airplane with or without air friction. The learner can fix the system of reference to the ground or to the airplane. […]
Anno XXXIX - n.2 - aprile/giugno 2006 Una descrizione fisica del volo
Why airplanes have lift is commonly explained with reference to the Bernoulli principle. This simplistic ‘explanation’ is wrong and cannot account for a number of important features of flying. The physics of flight entails an understanding of Newton’s laws of dynamics and of the viscous properties of air. […]