Physics 134

Physics Advanced Laboratory

Winter, 2009, UC Santa Cruz

Instructor: Gey-Hong Gweon, Sam, ISB 249, gweon at ucsc.edu, (Tel) 9-1806

Lab Schedule: 2-6 pm, WF

Office Hours:  1-2 pm, Tue and Thur (or just drop by or make an appointment)

Teaching Assistant: Daniel Damiani, NSII 308, ddamiani at ucsc.edu, (Tel) 804-839-0571

In this laboratory, students plan, perform, and write up three “classic experiments,” selected from the pool of about a dozen possible experiments.  Students re-enact immensely exciting discoveries, on their own terms, and accordingly learn first-hand what key physical concepts (“photons”, “quantization”, “particles”, “crystals”, etc.) really mean.  In the process, they acquire laboratory skills that will be useful in general research laboratories that they might work in in the near future.  Also, much like in real laboratories, students are guided, but are advised to act independently to develop and demonstrate their mastery and creativity.  By keeping a good laboratory journal of their work and by writing up clear and effective laboratory reports, students should demonstrate that (1) they understand the underlying physical principles, (2) they mastered the experimental technique, creatively when necessary, (3) they constantly characterized and minimized the error bars throughout the experiment, and (4) they correctly analyzed the data, with reasonable interpretations and discussions.

For all course materials (syllabus, lab manuals, and any other upload) click here.

Experimental Schedule

 

Experiment #1 (Week of Jan 12 -- Week of Jan 26)

Hobbs, Stevens

Cavendish

Ikeda, Knorr

Compton

Martchovsky, Silverman

NMR

Gerling, Linan       

X-ray fluorescence

Arabia                

Non-linear dynamics

Experiment #2 (Week of Feb 2 -- Week of Feb 16)

Hobbs, Ikeda

Millikan oil drop

Knorr, Stevens        

Gammay ray spectroscopy

Gerling, Martchovsky  

muon lifetime

Linan, Silverman      

X-ray diffraction

Arabia

Compton

Experiment #3 (Week of Feb 24 -- Week of Mar 9)

Hobbs, Stevens        

muon lifetime

Knorr, Linan

Second sound

Gerling, Ikeda        

X-ray diffraction

Martchovsky, Silverman

Non-linear dynamics

 

Books on Reserve

Experimental nucleonics, by Ernst Bleuler and George J. Goldsmith

Experiments in modern physics.  Melissinos, Adrian C.

Fundamentals of modern physics.  Eisberg, Robert Martin.

An introduction to error analysis : the study of uncertainties in physical measurements / John R. Taylor.

Introductory nuclear physics.  Halliday, David, 1916-

LATEX : a document preparation system : user's guide and reference manual / Leslie Lamport