Unrivalled in its coverage and unique in its hands-on approach, this guide to the design and construction of scientific apparatus is essential reading for every scientist and student of engineering, and physical, chemical, and biological sciences. Covering the physical principles governing the operation of the mechanical, optical and electronic parts of an instrument, new sections on detectors, low-temperature measurements, high-pressure apparatus, and updated engineering specifications, as well as 400 figures and tables, have been added to this edition. Data on the properties of materials and components used by manufacturers are included. Mechanical, optical, and electronic construction techniques carried out in the lab, as well as those let out to specialized shops, are also described. Step-by-step instruction supported by many detailed figures, is given for laboratory skills such as soldering electrical components, glassblowing, brazing, and polishing.
Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Scientific Research Costs details the development of the free and open-source hardware revolution. The combination of open-source 3D printing and microcontrollers running on free software enables scientists, engineers, and lab personnel in every discipline to develop powerful research tools at unprecedented low costs.After reading Open-Source Lab, you will be able to: - Lower equipment costs by making your own hardware - Build open-source hardware for scientific research - Actively participate in a community in which scientific results are more easily replicated and cited - Numerous examples of technologies and the open-source user and developer communities that support them - Instructions on how to take advantage of digital design sharing - Explanations of Arduinos and RepRaps for scientific use - A detailed guide to open-source hardware licenses and basic principles of intellectual property
Praise for the First Edition "Now a new laboratory bible for optics researchers has joined the list: it is Phil Hobbs's Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work." —Tony Siegman, Optics & Photonics News Building a modern electro-optical instrument may be the most interdisciplinary job in all of engineering. Be it a DVD player or a laboratory one-off, it involves physics, electrical engineering, optical engineering, and computer science interacting in complex ways. This book will help all kinds of technical people sort through the complexity and build electro-optical systems that just work, with maximum insight and minimum trial and error. Written in an engaging and conversational style, this Second Edition has been updated and expanded over the previous edition to reflect technical advances and a great many conversations with working designers. Key features of this new edition include: Expanded coverage of detectors, lasers, photon budgets, signal processing scheme planning, and front ends Coverage of everything from basic theory and measurement principles to design debugging and integration of optical and electronic systems Supplementary material is available on an ftp site, including an additional chapter on thermal Control and Chapter problems highly relevant to real-world design Extensive coverage of high performance optical detection and laser noise cancellation Each chapter is full of useful lore from the author's years of experience building advanced instruments. For more background, an appendix lists 100 good books in all relevant areas, introductory as well as advanced. Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work, Second Edition is essential reading for researchers, students, and professionals who have systems to build.
This highly original work presents laboratory science in a deliberately skeptical way: as an anthropological approach to the culture of the scientist. Drawing on recent work in literary criticism, the authors study how the social world of the laboratory produces papers and other "texts,"' and how the scientific vision of reality becomes that set of statements considered, for the time being, too expensive to change. The book is based on field work done by Bruno Latour in Roger Guillemin's laboratory at the Salk Institute and provides an important link between the sociology of modern sciences and laboratory studies in the history of science.
Engages with the impact of modern technology on experimental physicists. This study reveals how the increasing scale and complexity of apparatus has distanced physicists from the very science which drew them into experimenting, and has fragmented microphysics into different technical traditions.
For students, DIY hobbyists, and science buffs, who can no longer get real chemistry sets, this one-of-a-kind guide explains how to set up and use a home chemistry lab, with step-by-step instructions for conducting experiments in basic chemistry -- not just to make pretty colors and stinky smells, but to learn how to do real lab work: Purify alcohol by distillation Produce hydrogen and oxygen gas by electrolysis Smelt metallic copper from copper ore you make yourself Analyze the makeup of seawater, bone, and other common substances Synthesize oil of wintergreen from aspirin and rayon fiber from paper Perform forensics tests for fingerprints, blood, drugs, and poisons and much more From the 1930s through the 1970s, chemistry sets were among the most popular Christmas gifts, selling in the millions. But two decades ago, real chemistry sets began to disappear as manufacturers and retailers became concerned about liability. ,em>The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments steps up to the plate with lessons on how to equip your home chemistry lab, master laboratory skills, and work safely in your lab. The bulk of this book consists of 17 hands-on chapters that include multiple laboratory sessions on the following topics: Separating Mixtures Solubility and Solutions Colligative Properties of Solutions Introduction to Chemical Reactions & Stoichiometry Reduction-Oxidation (Redox) Reactions Acid-Base Chemistry Chemical Kinetics Chemical Equilibrium and Le Chatelier's Principle Gas Chemistry Thermochemistry and Calorimetry Electrochemistry Photochemistry Colloids and Suspensions Qualitative Analysis Quantitative Analysis Synthesis of Useful Compounds Forensic Chemistry With plenty of full-color illustrations and photos, Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments offers introductory level sessions suitable for a middle school or first-year high school chemistry laboratory course, and more advanced sessions suitable for students who intend to take the College Board Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry exam. A student who completes all of the laboratories in this book will have done the equivalent of two full years of high school chemistry lab work or a first-year college general chemistry laboratory course. This hands-on introduction to real chemistry -- using real equipment, real chemicals, and real quantitative experiments -- is ideal for the many thousands of young people and adults who want to experience the magic of chemistry.
Covers the basic principles and theories of engineering physics and offers a balance between theoretical concepts and their applications. It is designed as a textbook for an introductory course in engineering physics. Beginning with a comprehensive discussion on oscillations and waves with applications in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering, it goes on to explain the basic concepts such as Huygen's principle, Fresnel's biprism, Fraunhofer diffraction and polarization. Emphasis has been given to an understanding of the basic concepts and their applications to a number of engineering problems. Each topic has been discussed in detail, both conceptually and mathematically. Pedagogical features including solved problems, unsolved exercised and multiple choice questions are interspersed throughout the book. This will help undergraduate students of engineering acquire skills for solving difficult problems in quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, nanoscience, energy systems and other engineering disciplines.
