Physics 359E Web Page
Instructors:
John Landstreet, Room 213D,
Physics & Astronomy Building
- Office: 661- 2111 ext 86707
- E-mail me here
- Office Hours: Drop in. If I'm not busy, we can talk then;
otherwise, we'll make an appointment - or ask for a time by e-mail.
- My personal Web
page
Jim Cole, Room 309,
Physics & Astronomy Building
- E-mail Mr Cole here
- Office: 661- 2111 ext 86453
Calendar Description:
-
Physics 359E: A comprehensive laboratory designed to familiarize
the student with the basic concepts of modern physics, with emphasis
on the development of experimental skills and including an
introduction to computer programming and its use in experimental
analysis.
-
Pre-requisite: Physics 259E (2nd year lab) or equivalent
-
6 laboratory hours
What the course will cover
A complete outline of the course, including brief descriptions of
individual experiments, is available as a pdf file here.
Some of the important goals of the course are the following:
- learning how to use the basic experimental
equipment found in modern research laboratories
- using this
equipment in experiments to probe matter at the atomic and nuclear level
- learning to analyze data from
experiments to determine properties of
molecules, atoms, and nuclei
- measuring the values of a few fundamental constants,
- reinforcing the idea that any useful result has an uncertainty
(an error estimate) attached to it
- and describing the results of an experiment in a clear report.
Classes:
- P&AB Room 223, Monday and Wednesday, 2 - 5 p.m.
Textbook:
- The text for the course is "Experiments in Modern Physics", by
A. C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano (Academic Press, 2003). All
students are expected to
either own or have access to a copy of this book. (Note that a number
of sections have been extensively revised from the previous - 1966 -
edition.)
- In addition to the textbook, write-ups of the
individual labs are available in pdf format from this Web page.
Assignments and Marks:
-
Average of first term lab marks: 32%
-
Lab test at the end of first semester: 10%
-
Average of second term lab marks: 33%
-
Assesment of the quality of your lab work by the instructors: 25%
-
Final Exam: there isn't any!
Laboratory Write-ups: Fall
Semester
(Bold face type indicates a required lab)
Laboratory Write-ups: Winter Semester
Useful supplementary material:
Interesting Links
Canada's own Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
(SNO)
Very useful table of nuclide, with links showing decay modes and energies, from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
Follow the link to "Nuclide search" for a very complete table of gamma and (atomic) X-ray emissions from nuclear decays, from Lund University, Sweden
Last modified: 2004 Sep 9