This new book aims to guide both the experimentalist and theoretician through their compulsory laboratory courses forming part of an undergraduate physics degree. The rationale behind this book is to show students and interested readers the value and beauty within a carefully planned and executed experiment, and to help them to develop the skills to carry out experiments themselves.
This textbook provides the knowledge and skills needed for thorough understanding of the most important methods and ways of thinking in experimental physics. The reader learns to design, assemble, and debug apparatus, to use it to take meaningful data, and to think carefully about the story told by the data. Key Features: Efficiently helps students grow into independent experimentalists through a combination of structured yet thought-provoking and challenging exercises, student-designed experiments, and guided but open-ended exploration. Provides solid coverage of fundamental background information, explained clearly for undergraduates, such as ground loops, optical alignment techniques, scientific communication, and data acquisition using LabVIEW, Python, or Arduino. Features carefully designed lab experiences to teach fundamentals, including analog electronics and low noise measurements, digital electronics, microcontrollers, FPGAs, computer interfacing, optics, vacuum techniques, and particle detection methods. Offers a broad range of advanced experiments for each major area of physics, from condensed matter to particle physics. Also provides clear guidance for student development of projects not included here. Provides a detailed Instructor’s Manual for every lab, so that the instructor can confidently teach labs outside their own research area.
Ideal for use with any introductory physics text, Loyd's PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL is suitable for either calculus- or algebra/trigonometry-based physics courses. Designed to help students develop their intuitive abilities in physics, the third edition has been updated to take advantage of modern equipment realities and to incorporate the latest in physics education research. In each lab, author David Loyd emphasizes conceptual understanding and includes a thorough discussion of physical theory to help students see the connection between the lab and the lecture. Each lab includes a set of pre-lab exercises, and many labs give students hands-on experience with statistical analysis. Equipment requirements are kept at a minimum to allow for maximum flexibility and to make the most of pre-existing lab equipment. For instructors interested in using some of Loyd's experiments, a customized lab manual is another option available through the Cengage Learning Custom Solutions program. Now, you can select specific experiments from Loyd's PHYSICS LABORATORY MANUAL, include your own original lab experiments, and create one affordable bound book. Contact your Cengage Learning representative for more information on our Custom Solutions program. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
This exhaustive survey is the result of a four year effort by many leading researchers in the field to produce both a readable introduction and a yardstick for the many upcoming experiments using heavy ion collisions to examine the properties of nuclear matter. The books falls naturally into five large parts, first examining the bulk properties of strongly interacting matter, including its equation of state and phase structure. Part II discusses elementary hadronic excitations of nuclear matter, Part III addresses the concepts and models regarding the space-time dynamics of nuclear collision experiments, Part IV collects the observables from past and current high-energy heavy-ion facilities in the context of the theoretical predictions specific to compressed baryonic matter. Part V finally gives a brief description of the experimental concepts. The book explicitly addresses everyone working or planning to enter the field of high-energy nuclear physics.
This book on the use of Arduino and Smartphones in physics experiments, with a focus on mechanics, introduces various techniques by way of examples. The main aim is to teach students how to take meaningful measurements and how to interpret them. Each topic is introduced by an experiment. Those at the beginning of the book are rather simple to build and analyze. As the lessons proceed, the experiments become more refined and new techniques are introduced. Rather than providing recipes to be adopted while taking measurements, the need for new concepts is raised by observing the results of an experiment. A formal justification is given only after a concept has been introduced experimentally. The discussion extends beyond the taking of measurements to their meaning in terms of physics, the importance of what is learned from the laws that are derived, and their limits. Stress is placed on the importance of careful design of experiments as to reduce systematic errors and on good practices to avoid common mistakes. Data are always analyzed using computer software. C-like structures are introduced in teaching how to program Arduino, while data collection and analysis is done using Python. Several methods of graphical representation of data are used.
A laboratory manual for high schools, colleges, and universities, this book contains more than 80 experiments and lecture demonstrations. The coverage includes the essentials of general physics: mechanics and molecular physics, electricity and magnetism, optics and atomic physics, and condensed matter physics. All the experiments are illustrated through the results of real measurements and include many novel experiments developed by the author.
This book explores in detail the role of laboratory work in physics teaching and learning. Compelling recent research work is presented on the value of experimentation in the learning process, with description of important research-based proposals on how to achieve improvements in both teaching and learning. The book comprises a rigorously chosen selection of papers from a conference organized by the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP), an organization that promotes enhancement of the quality of physics teaching and learning at all educational levels and in all contexts. The topics covered are wide ranging. Examples include the roles of open inquiry experiments and advanced lab experiments, the value of computer modeling in physics teaching, the use of web-based interactive video activities and smartphones in the lab, the effectiveness of low-cost experiments, and assessment for learning through experimentation. The presented research-based proposals will be of interest to all who seek to improve physics teaching and learning.
Explores such topics in physics as the properties of water, transmission of heat, evaporation, and air pressure as seen in home plumbing, refrigerators, and other common items.
Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences is the only book providing core information for researchers about the ways and means to conduct experiments. Its comprehensive regard for laboratory experiments encompasses "how-to explanations, investigations of philosophies and ethics, explorations of experiments in specific social science disciplines, and summaries of both the history and future of social science laboratories. No other book offers such a direct avenue to enlarging our knowledge in the social sciences.This collection of original chapters combines instructions and advice about the design of laboratory experiments in the social sciences with the array of other issues. While there are books on experimental design and chapters in more general methods books on design, theory, and ethical issues, no other book attempts to discuss the fundamental ideas of the philosophy of science or lays out the methods comprehensively or in such detail. Experimentation has recently prospered because of increasing interest in cross-disciplinary syntheses, and this book of advice, guidelines, and observations underline its potential and increasing importance.· Provides a comprehensive summary of issues in social science experimentation, from ethics to design, management, and financing· Offers "how-to" explanations of the problems and challenges faced by everyone involved in social science experiments· Pays attention to both practical problems and to theoretical and philosophical arguments· Defines commonalities and distinctions within and among experimental situations across the social sciences
The market leader for the first-year physics laboratory course, this manual offers a wide range of class-tested experiments designed explicitly for use in small to mid-size lab programs. The manual provides a series of integrated experiments that emphasize the use of computerized instrumentation. The Sixth Edition includes a set of "computer-assisted experiments" that allow students and instructors to use this modern equipment. This option also allows instructors to find the appropriate balance between traditional and computer-based experiments for their courses. By analyzing data through two different methods, students gain a greater understanding of the concepts behind the experiments. The manual includes 14 new integrated experiments—computerized and traditional—that can also be used independently of one another. Ten of these integrated experiments are included in the standard (bound) edition; four are available for customization. Instructors may elect to customize the manual to include only those experiments they want. The bound volume includes the 33 most commonly used experiments that have appeared in previous editions; an additional 16 experiments are available for examination online. Instructors may choose any of these experiments—49 in all—to produce a manual that explicitly matches their course needs. Each experiment includes six components that aid students in their analysis and interpretation: Advance Study Assignment, Introduction and Objectives, Equipment Needed, Theory, Experimental Procedures, and Laboratory Report and Questions.
