| GradLab Experiments  |  GradLab Equipment |  Department of Physics |

PHYS 457 & 559 Experiment Equipment List

To meet copyright issues, equipment manuals are located in a secure folder accessible to registered students and instructors.  Login in using the account used with the gradlab computers.  If you do not have an account or are having login issues please notify your instructor.

 

experiment & equipment list  

description  

p457  

p559  

short  # 1  

Speed of Light  

The velocity of light is one of the most important and intriguing constants of nature. Whether the light comes from a laser on a desk top or from a distant star, the speed of light is constant. The speed of light is also important for other reasons. It es  
Fundamental Constants  
 
short  # 2  

Current Balance  

The current balance is used to measure the force of repulsion between identical oppositely directed currents in parallel conductors. The magnitude of this force can be shown using classical electrodynamic theory to be , where I is the current in either co  
Fundamental Constants  
 
short  # 3  

Gamma Ray Absorption/ Compton Scattering  

In 1923 Compton discovered that when a beam of x-rays of well-defined wavelength is scattered through an angle by sending the radiation through a metallic foil, the scattered radiation contains a component of a well-defined wavelength which is longer than  
 
current  
short  # 4  

Standing Waves on a String  

This experiment is designed to study a simple mechanical system: a string fixed at both ends. This system has a set of natural frequencies, at which standing waves are formed. If the string is driven by an external source with some frequency, the string w  
Resonance and Interference  
 
short  # 5  

Driven (Damped) Harmonic Oscillators  

Harmonic oscillators play a very important role in physics, and so it is necessary that you understand them well. In this experiment, you will be able to explore damped and driven harmonic motion with the Driven Harmonic Motion Analyzer (DHMA). The analyz  
Resonance and Interference  
 
short  # 6  

Microwave Diffraction  

Microwaves have wavelengths of the order of centimeters, which allows them to be used to do "macroscopic diffraction" experiments. This is instructive because one can readily see the crystal structure which is diffracting. The diffraction theory is, of co  
Resonance and Interference  
 
short  # 7  

X-ray Diffraction  

When electromagnetic radiation is incident upon a periodic array of scattering centers, there are certain discrete directions for the incident ray that result in strong reflections. This is because of constructive interference of the radiation scattered f  
Others  
 
short  # 8  

Franck-Hertz Experiment  

The Franck-Hertz experiment verifies that the atomic electron energy states are quantized by observing maxima and minima in transmission of electrons through mercury vapor. The variation in electron current is caused by inelastic electron scattering that  
Others  
 
short  # 9  

High TC Superconductors  

High-temperature superconductors exhibit superconducting behavior, e.g., the Meissner effect, zero resistance, etc., at temperatures which can be attained using liquid nitrogen. Below the critical temperature, the superconducting state may be destroyed by  
Others  
 
short  # 10  

Cavendish Experiment  

In 1665, Isaac Newton proposed that all bodies attract each other, according to his famous law: F = G m1m2 / r2 , where G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two bodies and r is the distance that separates their centers of mass.  
Fundamental Constants  
 
short  # 11  

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)  

A free electron has spin ½, which means the stationary states in an applied magnetic field have components of spin angular momentum parallel to the field of ± ?/2 . There is a corresponding magnetic moment µ= ± ½ gµB, …  
Resonance and Interference  
 
short  # 12  

Millikan Oil Drop Experiment  

The electric charge carried by any object such as an elementary particle cannot take arbitrary values, but in fact is quantized: it can take on only an integer multiple of a fundamental value e = 1.602 “ 10-19 C . This fact was first discovered experiment  
Fundamental Constants  
 
short  # 13  

Granular Matter  

In the past decade or so granular materials have become a fast growing field of research in physics. Granular materials capture the attention of physicists because they pose novel questions of fundamental interest, and are of interest for certain practica  
Others  
 
long  # 21  

Compton Scattering  

In 1923 Compton discovered that when a beam of x-rays of well-defined wavelength is scattered through an angle by sending the radiation through a metallic foil, the scattered radiation contains a component of a well-defined wavelength which is longer than  
Long Experiment  
 
long  # 22  

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM)  

observe atomic images of surfaces and charge density waves. See R. Serway, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, with Modern Physics, 3rd ed. (Sanders, Philadelphia, 1990).   
Long Experiment  
current  
long  # 23  

Mössbauer Effect  

measuring changes in the nuclear spectrum of 57Fe in different materials to determine the local magnetic and electronic environment. See G. Wertheim, Mössbauer Effect: Principles and Applications (Academic Press, New York, 1964) or D. P. E  
Long Experiment  
current  
long  # 24  

Muon Lifetime  

measure speed of cosmic-ray muons and infer relativistic effects; measure the lifetime of muons decaying at rest. See MIT Speed and Mean Life of Cosmic Ray Muons lab manual, available at: http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/course/8/8.13/JLExperiments/J  
Long Experiment  
current  
long  # 24  

Raman Effect  

measure excitation spectra of molecules by using inelastic light scattering. See S. Walker & H. Straw, Spectroscopy, vol. 2 (Chapman & Hall, London, 1962) or P. J. Hendra & T.R. Gilson, Laser Raman Spectroscopy (Wiley, London, 1970).   
Long Experiment  
current  
long  # 27  

Hall Effect  

determine the properties of charge carriers and the band gap in semiconductors. See Preston & Dietz, Chapter 17.   
Long Experiment  
current  
special  # 41  

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)  

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a phenomenon which involves the magnetic moment of nuclei processing about a static magnetic field. If this nuclear spin system is exposed to a second oscillating magnetic field at the processing frequency, we can obser  
Long Experiment  
current  
special  # 42  

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)  

Instead of probing the spin resonance phenomenon with nuclear spins in an external field, electron spin resonance (ESR) involves the resonance of the unpaired electron spin states. Because the electron spin moment is much larger than the nuclear magnetic  
Long Experiment  
current  
special  # 43  

Special Project with Research Group  

Schedule appointment with Lecturing Professor  
 
current  
reference  # 51  

Reference: Error.html  

 
 
reference  
reference  # 52  

Reference: Stylisticnotes.html  

 
 
reference  
short  # 53  

Coulomb Balance  

In 1785, Charles Augustin de Coulomb discovered that the electrical force between two point charges varies inversely with the square of the distance between them, which is known as the Coulomb's Law. The constant of proportionality, k, is the Coulomb cons  
Fundamental Constants  
 

 
Records 1 to 25 of 25