Experiments Physical Concept Reference Materials
1. Millikan Oil Drop Charge of the electron Melissinos (1.2), Instruction Sheet
2. Spectroscopy Identifying elements from spectral lines

Melissinos (1.4), Experiment Description,
Young and Freedman (36.4-36.5)  Krane (6.4)
Homework 1

3. Charge-to-mass ratio Charge-to-mass ratio of the electron Web Page
4. Planck's Constant Measuring the "quantum of action" photoelectric effect Instruction Manual, Krane (3.2)
Basic Procedure (WH)
Spectral response of the LEDs
csv files:     F472, F505, F525, F588, F611

5. Radioactive Half-Life Lifetime of Barium-137 Melissinos (8.6), Krane (12.6,9,10)
1. Nuclear Spectroscopy,
2. Student's Manual
3. Energy calibration of the PMT
4. Utube video of NaI doped with Thallium & PMT
 
6. Geiger-Muller Tube

Absorption ceoefficient for radiation in matter

Poisson statistics

Melissinos (8.3.4)
1. Geiger counter,
2. Characteristics of GM tube,
3. Energy loss of alpha particles in air,
4. Poisson Distribution,
5. Attenuation and Range experiments
6. Cobalt-60 decay diagram
7. Absorption Plot for gamma rays in aluminum
 
7. Zeeman Effect Two valence electrons in transition
Magnetic moment of the electron
Melissinos (6.5), Web Page, Krane (7.8)
8. Franck-Hertz Experiment Discrete energy transfer through atomic excitation

Melissinos (1.3), Web Page, Krane (6.6)     Experiment Description

 
9. Electron Diffraction Interatomic spacing of carbon atoms


MP-2, KK (4.2)
TEL2555 instruction sheet and reference material
3B Scientific Tube
Instructions

10. Cavendish Balance Calculate the universal gravitational constant, G

Classical Physics writeup
and supplemental material.

Fitting program using Mathematica

11. Bragg Diffraction Calculate the interplaner spacing in a salt crystal

Instruction sheet

Lectures Description Reference Materials
1. The Bohr Atom The velocity, radius, and energy of the hydrogen atom  
2. Mathematica Examples using Mathematica Homework Assignment
3. Fitting a Straight Line

Fitting Data with Error Bars    DetFit7.m
Fitting with Mathematica  DetFit 7   (Tutorial)
Fitting a Straight Line (Technical Note)

Taylor--chapter 8
Melissinos (10.1, 10.2, & 10.3)

 

4. Non-linear Fits

Introduction to Chi-Square and Error Analysis
(Fits to exponential functions)

Fitting data with error bars (chi-square) program
         (determinants) program
          (summary) pdf

Newton Cooling
radio.nb
radio.csv
Lifetime Using Mathematica Tools

 

5. Error Analysis Error Propagation Taylor--Chapter 3.11
6. Chi-Square Distribution Calculating Errors and Confidence Levels
Properties of the reduced chi-square
chisquare.nb  Taylor--Chapter 12
ReducedChiSquareFunction.nb
Spring Calendar 2023    

Other relevant material:

1. Probability Distribution Functions--Monte Carlo
2. Things I should know about writing my formal report.
3. Solutions to Mathematica homework.
4. LaTeX material and
      a sample paper, but also copy the following two graphics graphic 1 and the following graphic 2 into the same folder so your latex program can find it. And copy the bibtex file as well.
5. Mathematica Stuff -- examples of Mathematica programs applied to physics problems.
6. Website describing Helmholtz coils.
7. Sample formal writeup.
8.   Weekly Checklist and Grading Rubric for the 2-day labs.
9.   Weekly Checklist and Grading Rubric for the 3-day labs.

 

 

Class picture  

PS315

Modern Physics Lab


Spring 2024

     

 

Schedule