Marco Di Mauro
University of Trento, Physics, Post-Doc
- Theoretical Physics, Quantum Field Theory, High Energy Physics, Theoretical Particle Physics, Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and 8 morePhysics, Mathematical Methods of Physics, History of Physics, History of Science, Econophysics, Physics teaching, Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy Of Mathematicsedit
- I'm a postdoc in physics working on history and teaching of physics, and on theoretical physics.edit
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We designed a teaching–learning sequence on relative motion in classical mechanics, based on the model of educational reconstruction and on the fundamental design principle of highlighting those conceptual elements which could be valuable... more
We designed a teaching–learning sequence on relative motion in classical mechanics, based on the model of educational reconstruction and on the fundamental design principle of highlighting those conceptual elements which could be valuable in the future learning of special and general relativity. Thus, we propose an educational reconstruction strongly focused on the principle of relativity and the principle of equivalence. To highlight selected key concepts and motivate students in their exploration, we used a series of experiments based on video analysis and interactive simulations, which can be modified on the fly by the students. These tools are useful to stimulate autonomous investigation and to support the modelling of different physical situations. The sequence of activities was designed for students in introductory physics courses and was tested with a group of 24 undergraduate students in an online lab course, in which some distance learning techniques were also studied.
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We demonstrate the construction and utilization of an affordable apparatus using readily available materials to accurately measure in a quantitative manner the wavelengths reflected by a compact disc (CD) under skimming light rays. In... more
We demonstrate the construction and utilization of an affordable apparatus using readily available materials to accurately measure in a quantitative manner the wavelengths reflected by a compact disc (CD) under skimming light rays. In fact, only a limited number of wavelengths can be revealed when light rays from a white lamp are directed at a CD (or a DVD) in a manner that specifically selects the rays that graze the surface of the horizontally held disc. We compare the results with the ones obtained with a commercial spectrometer, the results are in good agreement among them and with the theoretical predictions.
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During typical general relativity courses, the so-called frame-dragging effect is explained by emphasizing the presence of a gravitational Coriolis-like force term. The key difference is that, unlike the usual Coriolis force, this is not... more
During typical general relativity courses, the so-called frame-dragging effect is explained by emphasizing the presence of a gravitational Coriolis-like force term. The key difference is that, unlike the usual Coriolis force, this is not a fictitious force but agravitational force caused by the rotating body. In general, textbooks do not discuss also the possibility of a gravitational centrifugal-like force. In this paper, which has a didactic aim, we analyze this further gravitational term. The analysis we perform can be valuable in undergraduate courses of general relativity.
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In questo articolo sono state analizzate le proprietà ottiche di un Compact Disc (CD), quando questo dispositivo viene “sfiorato” da raggi luminosi. Se si illumina con una lampada un CD, e questo viene mantenuto in posizione orizzontale,... more
In questo articolo sono state analizzate le proprietà ottiche di un Compact Disc (CD), quando questo dispositivo viene “sfiorato” da raggi luminosi. Se si illumina con una lampada un CD, e questo viene mantenuto in posizione orizzontale, in modo che venga appena sfiorato dai raggi di luce, si può osservare una ben definita riga verde sulla superficie del dispositivo. Abbiamo fornito un’interpretazione fisica di questo fenomeno, utilizzando i principi basilari dell’ottica. Inoltre, abbiamo esteso queste osservazioni ai Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)
Research Interests: Physics and Compact Disc
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A teaching-learning sequence designed to introduce some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to high school teachers is proposed. Some parts of the proposal can be adapted to be taught to advanced high school students themselves. The... more
A teaching-learning sequence designed to introduce some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to high school teachers is proposed. Some parts of the proposal can be adapted to be taught to advanced high school students themselves. The inspiration came from the recognition of the fact that the roots of many pivotal concepts of quantum physics, namely light quanta, wave-particle duality, and probability, were introduced for the first time in some paper by Albert Einstein. Moreover, this was done in a characteristically deep and illuminating way. A critical study of Einstein’s papers should therefore be useful for teachers and students as well, in view of the fact that such concepts are often misconceived. The teaching-learning sequence can supplement usual historically oriented treatments of elementary quantum physics and can in turn be complemented by a discussion of some elementary tools of statistical physics, which may be not part of the learners’ background. Preliminary results obtained with both teachers and pupils in high schools in southern Italy, which are very promising, are presented.
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Many topics in modern physics are currently included in the curricula of the last year of high school in many countries, as for example in Italy. A consistent part of the curriculum should be devoted to the special theory of relativity. A... more
Many topics in modern physics are currently included in the curricula of the last year of high school in many countries, as for example in Italy. A consistent part of the curriculum should be devoted to the special theory of relativity. A particularly interesting phenomenon in this framework is the so-called Terrell–Penrose effect (TPE), which the students may find especially intriguing in view of its association with the name of one of the 2020 Nobel Prize winners. Although it is not possible to rigorously analyse this optical effect at the high school level, we show that is possible to tackle the topic anyway, during some of the in-depth lectures on modern physics that can be organized for high school students in our area. In particular, we found that this physical context can be useful for stimulating young students to use goniometric relations. Since trigonometry is a very important topic in mathematics, being always present in the written test for the final graduation exam, it ...
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A simple experimental setup for quantitatively investigating single-slit diffraction is described, which uses only inexpensive materials and can be reproduced at home, making it suitable for distance learning. The theoretical basis... more
A simple experimental setup for quantitatively investigating single-slit diffraction is described, which uses only inexpensive materials and can be reproduced at home, making it suitable for distance learning. The theoretical basis exploits Babinet’s principle, according to which a thin wire—much easier to obtain than a slit—produces, with a very good approximation, a diffraction pattern which is the same as that produced by the slit. A copper wire is placed directly on the camera of a smartphone, and the resulting photos are quantitatively analyzed with Tracker. As light sources, LEDs of different colors are used.
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Research Interests: Physics and Gravitation
The coefficient of restitution of the bounces of a marble on a table is here studied and measured in terms of the total bouncing time. Interesting links arise with mathematics (geometric series) as well as philosophy (Zeno’s paradox),... more
The coefficient of restitution of the bounces of a marble on a table is here studied and measured in terms of the total bouncing time. Interesting links arise with mathematics (geometric series) as well as philosophy (Zeno’s paradox), which make our proposal appealing for an interdisciplinary teaching-learning sequence. The relevance of this work for high school and undergraduate students is discussed with emphasis on students’ misconceptions when dealing with infinite processes.
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A simple version due to Feynman of Fermats principle is analyzed. It deals with the path a lifeguard on a beach must follow to reach a drowning swimmer. The solution for the exact point, P(×, 0), at the beach-sea boundary, corresponding... more
A simple version due to Feynman of Fermats principle is analyzed. It deals with the path a lifeguard on a beach must follow to reach a drowning swimmer. The solution for the exact point, P(×, 0), at the beach-sea boundary, corresponding to the fastest path to the swimmer, is worked out in detail and the analogy with light traveling at the air-water boundary is described. The results agree with the known conclusion that the shortest path does not coincide with the fastest one. The relevance of the subject for a basic physics course, at an advanced high school level, is pointed out
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The equation of the motion of a point charge q repelled by a fixed point-like charge Q is derived and studied. In solving this problem useful concepts in classical and relativistic kinematics, in Newtonian mechanics and in non-linear... more
The equation of the motion of a point charge q repelled by a fixed point-like charge Q is derived and studied. In solving this problem useful concepts in classical and relativistic kinematics, in Newtonian mechanics and in non-linear ordinary differential equations are revised. The validity of the approximations is discussed from the physical point of view. In particular the classical electron radius emerges naturally from the requirement that the initial distance is large enough for the non-relativistic approximation to be valid. The relevance of this topic for undergraduate physics teaching is pointed out.
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We discuss a previously unpublished description of electromagnetism outlined by Richard P. Feynman in the 1960s in five handwritten pages, recently uncovered among his papers, and partly developed in later lectures. Though similar to the... more
We discuss a previously unpublished description of electromagnetism outlined by Richard P. Feynman in the 1960s in five handwritten pages, recently uncovered among his papers, and partly developed in later lectures. Though similar to the existing approaches deriving electromagnetism from special relativity, the present one extends a long way towards the derivation of Maxwell's equations with minimal physical assumptions. In particular, without postulating Coulomb's law, homogeneous Maxwell's equations are written down by following a route different from the standard one, i.e. first introducing electromagnetic potentials in order to write down a relativistic invariant action, which is just the inverse approach to the usual one. Also, Feynman's derivation of the Lorentz force exclusively follows from its linearity in the charge velocity and from relativistic invariance. Going further, i.e. adding the inhomogeneous Maxwell's equations, requires some more physical input, and can be done by just following conventional lines, hence this task was not pursued here. Despite its incompleteness, this way of proceeding is of great historical and epistemological significance. We also comment about its possible relevance to didactics, as an interesting supplement to usual treatments.
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We describe a simple experimental apparatus which allows the quantitative study of the classical analog of a quantum eraser. The apparatus consists of a laser diode, a thin wire, two polarizers providing the which-way information, and a... more
We describe a simple experimental apparatus which allows the quantitative study of the classical analog of a quantum eraser. The apparatus consists of a laser diode, a thin wire, two polarizers providing the which-way information, and a third polarizer which erases that information. The experimental results are analyzed with the aid of a digital camera and the Tracker application, and are compared with a novel classical computation of the interference patterns, which is presented as well.
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We discuss a previously unpublished description of electromagnetism developed by Richard P. Feynman in the 1960s. Though similar to the existing approaches deriving electromagnetism from special relativity, the present one extends a long... more
We discuss a previously unpublished description of electromagnetism developed by Richard P. Feynman in the 1960s. Though similar to the existing approaches deriving electromagnetism from special relativity, the present one extends a long way towards the derivation of Maxwell's equations with minimal physical assumptions (in particular, without postulating Coulomb's law). Homogeneous Maxwell's equations are, indeed, derived by following a route different to the standard one, i.e. first introducing electromagnetic potentials in order to write down a relativistic invariant action, which is just the inverse approach to the usual one. Also, Feynman's derivation of the Lorentz force exclusively follows from its linearity in the charge velocity and from relativistic invariance. The obvious historical significance of such approach is then complemented by its possible relevance for didactics, providing a novel way to develop the foundations of electromagnetism, which can frui...
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The object of the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment is to calculate the charges on a series of oil drops, and use these to determine the charge of an electron. Our group found e = 1.80∗10^−19 C with an uncertainty of 2.86∗10^−20 C. The... more
The object of the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment is to calculate the charges on a series of oil drops, and use these to determine the charge of an electron. Our group found e = 1.80∗10^−19 C with an uncertainty of 2.86∗10^−20 C. The accepted value of e = 1.60∗10^−19 is within this range. We measured e to an accuracy of 12.5%.
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In this paper, we put forward a proposal for the design and the evaluation of teaching–learning sequences (TLSs) on the greenhouse effect (GHE), relying on the educational reconstruction model (MER). The first design, which starts from a... more
In this paper, we put forward a proposal for the design and the evaluation of teaching–learning sequences (TLSs) on the greenhouse effect (GHE), relying on the educational reconstruction model (MER). The first design, which starts from a critical analysis of textbook treatments of the GHE, is followed by a cyclic, recursive process, which consists of theoretical reflection, conceptual analysis, design, and test of a sequence. At each iteration, the analysis of the students’ learning progression provided relevant information for addressing the persistent hurdles and misunderstandings that affect it. Our findings show how design choices can support the learning of the GHE, leading to the formulation of design principles that help foster understanding. The iterative approach strongly improved the design and evaluation and allowed for a significant refinement of the TLSs. The implementation and evaluation process, which went on from 2017 to 2021, involved undergraduate students attendin...
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A simple version due to Feynman of Fermats principle is analyzed. It deals with the path a lifeguard on a beach must follow to reach a drowning swimmer. The solution for the exact point, P(×, 0), at the beach-sea boundary, corresponding... more
A simple version due to Feynman of Fermats principle is analyzed. It deals with the path a lifeguard on a beach must follow to reach a drowning swimmer. The solution for the exact point, P(×, 0), at the beach-sea boundary, corresponding to the fastest path to the swimmer, is worked out in detail and the analogy with light traveling at the air-water boundary is described. The results agree with the known conclusion that the shortest path does not coincide with the fastest one. The relevance of the subject for a basic physics course, at an advanced high school level, is pointed out
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Introducing some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to high school students, and to their teachers, is a timely challenge. In this paper we describe ongoing research, in which a teaching–learning sequence for teaching quantum... more
Introducing some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to high school students, and to their teachers, is a timely challenge. In this paper we describe ongoing research, in which a teaching–learning sequence for teaching quantum physics, whose inspiration comes from some of the fundamental papers about the quantum theory of radiation by Albert Einstein, is being developed. The reason for this choice goes back essentially to the fact that the roots of many subtle physical concepts, namely quanta, wave–particle duality and probability, were introduced for the first time in one of these papers, hence their study may represent a useful intermediate step towards tackling the final incarnation of these concepts in the full theory of quantum mechanics. An extended discussion of some elementary tools of statistical physics, mainly Boltzmann’s formula for entropy and statistical distributions, which are necessary but may be unfamiliar to the students, is included. This discussion can also ...