Burning,Fluttering, and Extinguishing of a Candle Flame in a Tube

In this article, we report some experimental results on the behaviour of the flame of a candle kept at the bottom of a glass tube, which is open at the top and closed at the bottom. Thus, the supply of oxygen for the continuous burning of the flame is possible only from the top open end of the tube. We find that the candle burns steadily below a critical tube height. Above this height, the flame oscillates in size, and a further increase in tube height leads to the flame extinguishing quickly.     

Self Reflections of Undergraduate Students on Using Web-Supported Counterintuitive Science Demonstrations

Analysis of self-reflections of undergraduate education students in a project involving web-supported counterintuitive science demonstrations is reported in this paper. Participating students (N?=?19) taught science with counterintuitive demonstrations in local elementary school classrooms and used web-based resources accessed via wireless USB adapters. Student reflections to seven questions were analyzed qualitatively using four components of reflection (meeting objectives/perception of learning, dynamics of pedagogy, special needs accommodations, improving teaching) deriving 27 initial data categories and 12 emergent themes. Overall the undergraduates reported meeting objectives, engaging students in pedagogically relevant learning tasks including, providing accommodations to students with special needs, and gaining practice and insight to improve their own teaching. Additional research is needed to arrive at generalizable findings concerning teaching with web-supported counterintuitive science demonstrations in elementary classrooms.     

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy Recent advancement of Raman spectroscopy

In Raman spectroscopy, inelastic scattering of photons from an atomor molecule in chemical entities is utilized to analyze the composition of solids, liquids and gases. However, the low cross-section limits its applications. The introduction of surface-enhancedRamanspectroscopy in 1974has attracteda lot of attention fromresearchers due to the large enhancement of weak Raman signal,which facilitates identification in chemical and biological systems. Recently, single-molecule Raman scattering has enhanced the detection sensitivity limit of Raman Spectroscopy.     

Identification of strategy parameters for particle swarm optimizer through Taguchi method

INTRODUCTION The particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is a member of the broad category of swarm intelli- gence techniques for finding optimized solutions. The PSO algorithm is based on the social behavior of animals such as flocking of birds and schooling of fish, etc. PSO has its origin in simulation for visual- izing the synchronized choreography of bird flock by incorporating concepts such as nearest-neighbor ve- locity matching and acceleration by distance (Par- sopoulos and V…     

Heisenberg’s invention of matrices

Richard Feynman once said: “nobody understands quantum mechanics”. Still, those who devised it are perhaps the ones closest to understanding their creation. It suggests that whenever the weirdness of quantum mechanics haunts you, it is better to go back to its creators in terms of their original publications. In the present article, the author has tried to seek help from Heisenberg’s 1925 paper, in order to reduce the weirdness of going from classical observables to quantum operators.     

Computer Technology,Science Education,and Students with Learning Disabilities

The ways computer technology could be used to teach science to students with learning disabilities (LD) are explored. Science is for all students and that includes students with LD. Learning science has both cognitive and affective implications for students with LD. In this context, computer technology provides cognitively engaging and motivating instructional tools for individualizing the mode of delivery; developing expert tutors; anchoring instruction; integrating science with other subjects; reducing cognitive load on working memory; and motivating students to stay on task. These applications are discussed with implications for teaching science to students with LD.     

Theorema Aureum — 1

Are there perfect squares which on division by 7 leave remainder 3? Are there perfect squares which on division by 3 leave remainder 7? (A “remainder of 7” on division by 3 is the same as a remainder of 1.) The answers: ‘NO’ and ‘YES’, respectively. These facts are stated by number theorists as follows: 3 is a quadratic non-residue modulo 7; 7 is a quadratic residue modulo 3. The notion of quadratic residue is far reaching, and the key theorem here is the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity, first stated by Euler in 1783, but without proof, and first proved by Gauss, in 1796. The theorem is easy to state but is mysterious, as it reveals a connection between two questions that appear unconnected. Let p, q be distinct odd primes; then the questions are: “Is p a quadratic residue modulo q?” and “Is q a quadratic residue modulo p?” Gauss had a high regard for this result and called it Theorema Aureum, the Golden Theorem. Though it has been proved in many different ways, it retains its mystery. In this two part article we give three proofs of the theorem. The first one, described in this part, is based on group theory.