In this paper we analyze a simple experiment to study the effects of polarized light. A simple optical system composed of a polarizer, a retarder (cellotape) and an analyzer is used to study the effect on the polarization state of…

We report the orbital distribution of the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), whose discovery phase ran from early 2003 until early 2007. The follow-up observations started just after the first discoveries and extended until…

An afocal two-element holographic imaging system is presented. This system can be used to work in white light. The holographic optical elements (holographic lenses) are made as thick phase holograms on silver halide sensitized gelatin (SHSG) and they present a…

The asymptotic behaviours for small and large amplitudes, A, of the period for a nonlinear oscillator, where the square of the angular frequency depends quadratically on the velocity, are obtained. These asymptotic expressions are compared with the exact period, T(A),…

Two Lidstedt-Poincaré perturbation based methods are used to solve the nonlinear differential equation of a nonlinear oscillator having the square of the angular frequency depends quadratically on the velocity. Mickens published two interesting papers [1, 2] about this oscillator and…

The first-order harmonic balance method via the first Fourier coefficient is used to construct two approximate frequency–amplitude relations for a conservative nonlinear oscillatory system in which the restoring force has an irrational form. This system corresponds to the motion of…

The homotopy perturbation method is used to solve the nonlinear differential equation that governs the nonlinear oscillations of a simple pendulum, and an approximate expression for its period is obtained. Only one iteration leads to high accuracy of the solutions…

Despite its frequent use, there is little understanding of the concept of differential
among upper high school and undergraduate students of physics. As a first step to identify the origin of this situation and to revert it, we have done…

A closed-form approximate expression for the solution of a simple pendulum in terms of elementary functions is obtained. To do this, the exact expression for the maximum tension of the string of the pendulum is first considered and a trial…

In this paper, we analyze the relation between the surface curvature of an isolated charged conductor and resultant electrostatic potential. The study will be performed for a long conductor with uniform cross section. It will be demonstrated by geometric arguments…