The higher derivatives of motion are rarely discussed in the teaching of classical mechanics of rigid bodies; nevertheless, we experience the effect not only of acceleration, but also of jerk and snap. In this paper we will discuss the third and higher order derivatives of displacement with respect to time, using the trampolines and theme park roller coasters to illustrate this concept. We will also discuss the effects on the human body of different types of acceleration, jerk, snap and higher derivatives, and how they can be used in physics education to further enhance the learning and thus the understanding of classical mechanics concepts.

We present a case study of a conversation between ourselves and an artificial intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT. We asked the chatbot to respond to a basic physics question that will be familiar to most physics teachers: ‘A teddy bear is thrown into the air. What is its acceleration in the highest point?’ The chatbot’s responses, while linguistically quite advanced, were unreliable in their correctness and often full of contradictions. We then attempted to engage in Socratic dialogue with the chatbot to resolve the errors and contradictions, but with little success. We found that ChatGPT is not yet good enough to be used as a cheating tool for physics students or as a physics tutor. However, we found it quite reliable in generating incorrect responses on which physics teachers could train assessment of student responses.

The hyperfine splitting of the $1s$ ground state of hydrogenlike Tl has been measured for the two stable isotopes using emission spectroscopy in the SuperEBIT electron-beam ion trap, giving $3858.22\pm 0.30\hspace{0.5em}\AA$ for ${}^{203}{\mathrm{Tl}}^{80+}$ and $3821.84\pm 0.34\hspace{0.5em}\AA$ for ${}^{205}{\mathrm{Tl}}^{80+}$ with a wavelength difference $\Delta \lambda =36.38\mathrm{}\pm 0.35\hspace{0.5em}\AA .$ This difference is consistent with estimates based on hyperfine anomaly data for neutral Tl only if finite size effects are included in the calculation. By using previously determined nuclear magnetic moments, and applying appropriate corrections for the nuclear charge distribution and radiative effects, the experimental splittings can be interpreted in terms of nuclear magnetization radii $〈r_m^2{〉}^{1/2}=5.83\mathrm{}\left(14\right)\mathrm{}\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{fm}$ for ${}^{203}\mathrm{Tl}$ and $〈r_m^2{〉}^{1/2}=5.89\mathrm{}\left(14\right)\mathrm{}\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{fm}$ for ${}^{205}\mathrm{Tl}.$ These values are 10% larger than derived from single-particle nuclear magnetization models, and are slightly larger than the corresponding charge distributions.

Isotope shifts and hyperfine structure in the 369.4-nm 6s-6${\mathit{p}}_{1/2}$ resonance line of the single-valence-electron system ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}$ have been determined with an accuracy of about 1 MHz by Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy in a sputtered vapor. Ab initio many-body perturbation theory calculations in the coupled-cluster approach were then used to evaluate the electronic field shift factor, F=-14.9(2) GHz ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\mathrm{-}2}$, and to estimate the specific mass shift (SMS) factor, ${\mathit{K}}^{\mathrm{SMS}}$=(1±1)${\mathit{K}}^{\mathrm{NMS}}$, where NMS is the normal mass shift. The uncertainty in the calculated F factor is based on the level of agreement between the hyperfine structure constants calculated for 6s and 6${\mathit{p}}_{1/2}$ states using the same wave functions as for the F-factor calculation and the experimentally determined hyperfine-structure constants. The calculated F and ${\mathit{K}}^{\mathrm{SMS}}$ factors have been used to extract values for the difference in mean-square charge radius, δ〈${\mathit{r}}^2$ ${\mathrm{〉}}_1^{\mathit{A}}$,${\mathit{A}}_2$, between isotope pairs ${\mathit{A}}_1$,${\mathit{A}}_2$, and the related nuclear charge distribution parameter ${\lambda }_1^{\mathit{A}}$,${\mathit{A}}_2$, which are just within the uncertainties of the tabulated values of Aufmuth et al. [At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 37, 455 (1987)] based on semiempirical estimates of F and assumed values of ${\mathit{K}}^{\mathrm{SMS}}$.

The electronic part of a possible $P$- and $T$-nonconserving neutral-weak-current-induced electric dipole moment in atomic Xe and Hg was calculated with many-body perturbation theory. After the effects of this $P$- and $T$-nonconserving interaction on all core orbitals were treated self-consistently, thereby including all single-particle effects to all orders but no correlation effects, the results ${\mu }_e=(5.2\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-23\mathrm{}}e \mathrm{m})C_T{\sigma }_N$ and ${\mu }_e=-(6.0\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-22\mathrm{}}e \mathrm{m})C_T{\sigma }_N$, respectively, were obtained for Xe and Hg. The value for Xe can be combined with the recent experimental result, $\left|{\mu }_e\right({}_{}{}^{129}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Xe}\left)\right|<\mathrm{}{10}^{-28\mathrm{}}e \mathrm{m}$, to give the upper limit $\left|C_T\right|<\mathrm{}2\mathrm{}\times {10}^{-6\mathrm{}}$.