Laboratory Experiments

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Physics

Laboratory Experiments

Contact Information

Dr. John Varriano
Chair
Physics Department
(901)321-3439
jvarrian@cbu.edu

Physics Laboratory Experiments

Object (left) and hologram of object (right) made by students in Optics Laboratory (PHYS 415L).

The labs emphasize hands-on working with the equipment to make the physics real to the student. The lab experiments that support the learning experience are all contained in lab manuals that the department prepares especially for the students.

We have three well-equipped lab rooms for the introductory physics labs and the natural science labs offered by our department. Each room has equipment for at least eight set-ups for all experiments (except those using the air tracks of which we have four). We usually have a maximum of sixteen students in one section with students working in teams of two at each station.

For upper-level experiments we have large multi-use lab room, well-equipped for experiments with lasers, optics, and advanced physics.

Lower-Level Physics Labs:


Calculus-based Sequence:	Algebra-based Sequence:
Physics 150 (Physics I)	Physics 201(Intro Physics I)
Physics 251 (Physics II)	Physics 202 (Intro Physics II)
Physics 252 (Physics III)

Natural Science Labs Offered by the Department:


Natural Science 111 (Introduction to Astronomy)
Natural Science 115 (Survey of Science)

Upper-Level Physics Labs:


Physics 415L (Optics)
Physics 452 (Advanced Lab)

PHYS 150L : Physics I Laboratory Experiments
1. Composition of Concurrent Forces Part 1: Analytical method Part 2: Graphical method Part 3: Experiment with the Force Table Part 4: Experimental Uncertainty (using the computer)
2. Acceleration Due to Gravity [Download tutorial.] Graph 1: v vs t Graph 2: s vs t Graph 3: s vs t²
3. Acceleration Along a Ramp
4. Newton's Second Law (without friction)
5. Newton's Second Law (with friction)
6. Centripetal Force Part 1: Testing Newton's Second Law Part 2: Questions about circular motion (using the computer)
7. Moments of Parallel Forces (Torque) Part 1: Weight and the Center of Gravity Part 2: Statics and Torque Part 3: Determining the Balance Point: calculation and experiment
8. The Atwood Machine Part 1: Newton's Second Law Part 2: Conservation of Energy
9. Hooke's Law Part 1: Hooke's Law and Springs Part 2: Energy Stored in a Spring (Potential Energy)
10. Moment of Inertia Part 1: Apparatus Part 2: Ring Part 3: Disk Part 4: Ring and Disk Combination
11. Oscillations Part 1: Finding an experimental relationship Part 2: Numerical analysis (using the computer) Part 3: Further considerations

Physics Labs

PHYS 251L : Physics II Laboratory Experiments
1. Electric Fields Simulation Part 1: Plotting Electric Fields by Hand Part 2: Getting Started with the Microcomputer Part 3: Plotting Fields
2. The Operation of a Cathode Ray Tube Part 1: Electric Fields and Voltages Part 2: Magnetic Fields
3. Ohm's Law Part 1: Ohm's Law: V = IR Part 2: Resistance vs Length Part 3: Resistance & Resistivity Part 4: Resistance in Series and Parallel Part 5: Voltage, Current, and Power
4. RC Circuit Part 1: Capacitance of a Capacitor Part 2: Parallel and Series Combinations of Capacitors Part 3: Body Resistance
5. Magnetic Deflection Part 1: Magnetic Deflection Due to Magnets and Electromagnets Part 2: The Earth's Magnetic Field
6. Charge to Mass Ratio for the Electron
7. Electromagnetic Induction Part 1: Bar magnet at rest inside a coil Part 2: Bar magnet moved Part 3: Electromagnet moved Part 4: Electromagnet switched off and on Part 5: Effect of an iron core on the induced EMF Part 6: Effect of increasing current
8. The Oscilloscope Part 1: Set up Part 2: Measurement of a DC voltage Part 3: Measurement of an AC voltage Part 4: Square wave voltage applied to an RC circuit
9. AC Circuits Part 1: Inductance of a Coil Part 2: Series Resonance Part 3: Filtering

Physics Labs

PHYS 252L : Physics III Laboratory Experiments
1. Reflection and Refraction Part 1: Reflection and image formation by a plane mirror Part 2: Refraction from a plane surface Part 3: Reflection and refraction
2. Thin Lenses: Basics Part 1: Convex lens Part 2: Concave lens
3. Thin Lenses: Applications Part 1: The Eye and Visual Acuity Part 2: The Telescope Part 3: The Microscope
4. The Vibrating String Part 1: Waves on a slinky Part 2: Reflection of waves Part 3: Interference and standing waves on a string
5. Diffraction Grating Part 1: Calibration: determining D with a Sodium light Part 2: Determining Wavelengths for H, He and Hg Part 3: White light and range for visible wavelengths
6. Diffraction: Puzzles to Solve Part 1: Find the wavelength of a semiconductor laser Part 2: Find the diameter of a circular aperture Part 3: Find the width of a single slit and the width of a strand of your hair.
7. Polarized Light Part 1: Beam polarization Part 2: Malus' Law for intensity Part 3: Rotating the polarization Part 4: Polarization by reflection
8. The Geiger-Mueller Counter Part 1: Set-up Part 2: Threshold Part 3: Condition of tube Part 4: Operating point Part 5: Dead time
9. Statistical Handling of Radioactive Measurements
10. Half-Life
11. Beta Decay Energy Part 1: Beta rays from Tl-204 Part 2: Beta rays from Co-60 Part 3: Comparisons
12. Beta Particle and Gamma Ray Absorption (A Two-Part Mystery!) Part 1: Determining thickness of aluminum foil Part 2: Determining positions of air holes and lead plugs in iron

Physics Labs

PHYS 201L : Introductory Physics I Laboratory Experiments
1. Composition of Concurrent Forces Part 1: Analytical method Part 2: Graphical method Part 3: Experiment with the Force Table Part 4: Experimental Uncertainty (using the computer)
2. Acceleration Due to Gravity [Download tutorial.] Graph 1: v vs t Graph 2: s vs t Graph 3: s vs t²
3. Acceleration Along a Ramp
4. Newton's Second Law
5. Centripetal Force Part 1: Testing Newton's Second Law Part 2: Questions about circular motion (using the computer)
6. Moments of Parallel Forces (Torque) Part 1: Weight and the Center of Gravity Part 2: Statics and Torque Part 3: Determining the Balance Point: calculation and experiment
7. The Atwood Machine Part 1: Newton's Second Law Part 2: Conservation of Energy
8. Hooke's Law Part 1: Hooke's Law and Springs Part 2: Energy Stored in a Spring (Potential Energy)
9. Fluids Part 1: Density Part 2: Buoyant Force and Archimede's Principle Part 3: Applications
10. Oscillations Part 1: Finding an experimental relationship Part 2: Numerical analysis (using the computer)
11. The Vibrating String Part 1: Waves on a slinky Part 2: Reflection of waves Part 3: Interference and standing waves on a string

Physics Labs

PHYS 202L : Introductory Physics II Laboratory Experiments
1. Electric Fields Simulation Part 1: Plotting Electric Fields by Hand Part 2: Getting Started with the Microcomputer Part 3: Plotting Fields
2. Ohm's Law Part 1: Ohm's Law: V = IR Part 2: Resistance vs Length Part 3: Resistance & Resistivity Part 4: Resistance in Series and Parallel Part 5: Voltage, Current, and Power
3. Magnetic Deflection Part 1: Magnetic Deflection by a Magnet Part 2: Magnetic Deflection and Currents Part 3: The Earth's Magnetic Field
4. Charge to Mass Ratio for the Electron
5. Electromagnetic Induction Part 1: Bar magnet at rest inside a coil Part 2: Bar magnet moved Part 3: Electromagnet moved Part 4: Current switched off and on Part 5: Effect of an iron core Part 6: Effect of increasing current Part 7: Sending signals
6. The Oscilloscope Part 1: Set up Part 2: Measurement of a DC voltage Part 3: Measurement of an AC voltage Part 4: Square wave voltage applied to an RC circuit
7. Reflection and Refraction Part 1: Reflection and image formation by a plane mirror Part 2: Refraction from a plane surface Part 3: Reflection and refraction
8. Thin Lenses: Basics Part 1: Convex lens Part 2: Concave lens
9. Thin Lenses: The Microscope
10. Diffraction Grating and the Spectrum of Light Part 1: Calibration: determining D with a Sodium light Part 2: Determining Wavelengths for H, He and Hg Part 3: White light and range for visible wavelengths
11. Investigating Radioactivity Part 1: The Geiger Counter Part 2: Radioactivity as a process involving probability Part 3: Absorption of Radiation Appendix: Nuclear Data Tables

Physics Labs

NSCI 111L : Introduction to Astronomy Laboratory Experiments
1. Using Your Star Chart
2. Reflection and Refraction Part 1: Reflection and image formation by a plane mirror Part 2: Refraction from a plane surface
3. The Telescope Part 1: The eye and visual acuity Part 2: A lens: focal length and image formation Part 3: Two Lenses: the refracting telescope
4. The Spectrograph: Colors of Light and Emission of Light by Atoms
5. Polarized Light Part 1: Light and polarizers Part 2: Reflected light, glare, and polarized sunglasses
6. Circular Motion and Planetary Orbits - a laboratory analogy
7. Retrograde Motion and Planetary Orbits - computer simulations Part 1: Siderial and synodic periods Part 2: Retrograde motion Part 3: Circular and elliptical orbits
8. Parallax and Distance Measurement Part 1: Near objects Part 2: Far objects
9. Determining Distance from Light Measurements Part 1: Calibration using small distances Part 2: Determining large distances by extrapolation
10. Investigating Radioactivity Part 1: The Geiger counter Part 2: Radioactivity as a process involving probability Part 3: Absorption of radioactivity
11. Electromagnetism Part 1: Voltage, Current, and Resistance Part 2: Generating Electricity

Physics Labs

NSCI 115L : Survey of Science Laboratory Experiments
1. Density and Archimedes' Principle Part 1: Density Part 2: "Apparent mass" and buoyant force
2. The Decomposition of Water by Electrolysis
3. Acceleration Due to Gravity Graph #1: Position versus time Graph #2: Velocity versus time
4. Waves and the Vibrating String Part 1: Waves on a slinky Part 2: Reflection of waves Part 3: Interference and standing waves on a string
5. Electricity: Voltage, Current and Ohm's Law Part 1: Part 1: Ohm's Law Part 2: Part 2: Resistance vs length Part 3: Resistance Part 4: Resistance in series and parallel
6. Magnetism: Magnetic Forces and Magnetic Fields Part 1: Getting an electron beam Part 2: Playing with magnetic fields Part 3: Getting preliminary data Part 4: Determining charge to mass ratio for the electron
7. Properties of Light Part 1: Reflection Part 2: Refraction from a plane surface Part 3: Thin lenses Part 4: The telescope
8. The Spectrograph
9. Investigating Radioactivity Part 1: The Geiger counter Part 2: Radioactivity as a process involving probability Part 3: Absorption of radioactivity

Physics Labs

PHYS 415L : Optics Laboratory Experiments

This list is a sample of recent experiments that were performed. Experiments change periodically.

Spencer Spectrometer
Semiconductor Detectors
Photomultiplier Tube
Michelson Interferometer (Measurement of Wavelength)
Michelson Interferometer (Measurement of Sodium Doublet)
Michelson Interferometer (Measurement of Air's Refractive Index)
Fabry-Perot Interferometer (Measurement of Wavelength)
Michelson Interferometer (Measurement of Glass Dispersion)
Production of Transmission Hologram
Production & Analysis of Polarized Light
Dichroic Sheet Polarizers
Fresnel Equations
Fraunhofer Diffraction
Fresnel Diffraction
Spectrum Analyzer: Laser Longitudinal Modes
Diode Lasers: Emission Characteristics

Physics Labs

PHYS 452 : Advanced Laboratory Experiments

The student chooses and performs typically four experiments from those listed below.

Area	Experiment
Mechanics	Gyroscope Normal Modes of Oscillation
Electricity & Magnetism	Charge to Mass Ratio for the Electron (Advanced) Analyzing Magnetic Fields with a Hall Effect Probe
High Energy	Analysis of Bubble Chamber Interactions Using Relativistic Mechanics
Condensed Matter	Bragg Diffraction with Microwaves
Quantum	Planck's Constant via Photoelectric Effect and LED Operation
Any Area	Student Designed Experiment (based on student interest, available equipment and permission of instructor)

Physics Labs