PH340 (Experimental Physics) Fall 2005
Scott Heinekamp (scotth@wells.edu) Zabriskie 203 ext 3361
(http://aurora.wells.edu/~swh/)
Course Description
This course, in the experimental foundations
of physics, is for
advanced students. The experiments you'll do are more difficult to perform,
analyze, and explain, than those of the Fundamentals ... sequence -- and they are
more interesting and relevant to current physics practice (and a lot of fun to play with!). In
this course
-- always strive to be hands-on in attitude - to create questions,
and then to set up the equipment to answer them. Take nothing for
granted about any aspect of the equipment. Play with knobs; read
the manuals carefully and critically, drawing from them; get the
answers to equipment questions!
-- learn more about the history and context of the labs, by
reading background articles, along with textbook
material.
-- strengthen "lab habits" - writing down what you're doing
as it happens, dealing with frustration and triumph, presenting results
to colleagues, and researching background information.
Text ResourcesMelissinos and Napolitano Experiments
in Modern Physics (2nd ed.). A venerable book; its first edition is in some ways
superior to the current edition (so don't make any marks in your copy). A copy of the first edition
will be available in the lab. Of much more value to us will be pulling together other descriptions of
these famous experiments e.g Tipler & Llewellyn's Modern Physics; and to get to
know the particular apparatus you'll use, there's nothing like "reading the manual, stupid".
And other authors have written nice summaries for these kinds of labs, which are availiable in
journals and web-based resources.
Labs
The labs vary in size and scope, dependent too on your interest in trying out
optional projects, but you must do at least six (6) of these labs at a sufficiently
insightful level to complete the course.
Here is an (evolving) table of labs you may choose from:
Lab List
LABS THAT ARE MORE OR LESS
READY TO GO: Fun with Op-Amps; Millikan Oil
Drop; Franck-Hertz Experiment; Rutherford Scattering; Electron Beam
Physics; Cavendish Gravitation; Photoelectric Effect;
Nuclear Physics; Microwave Diffraction; Atomic
Spectroscopy; Stochastic Resonance; Analog Computers/Moog Synthesizer; Cloud Chamber
Course Requirements and Grading
Regular submission of lab notebook (30%) - to be evaluated based on
thoroughness, coherence and its value as a potential historical
artifact. Every lab you do needs to be contained in this notebook.
Effort and quality of independent work in the lab (30%) - regular and enthusiastic
investigation of the equipment and physical phenomena.
Formal write-up + 2 Oral presentations (25%) - 8-10 pp, including figures and
equations; 10-15 minutes, on labs you did that perhaps others did not do.
Final report (15%) 10-12 pp, on an experiment you did, or one that is famous, or both. Writeup should
convey the importance to physics (and beyond) of the experiment you've selected; it should contain
sufficient physics explanation (with equations/figures) for an intelligent adult to understand
what's going on; it should discuss the technology of the experiment itself. Make sure
each part of the writeup directly relates to the
other parts: make it well-integrated as a document. No citations required in the writeup, since all
is "common knowledge".