Physics instructional laboratories have a goal different from research laboratories. Here you are not expected to “discover” what you have already heard in lectures or read in textbooks. Instead, the instructional laboratory offers an opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience with practical aspects of doing  experimental physics. We hope to shed light on the following questions:

1. What is the process of doing experiments?
2. How should we interpret theoretical concepts in the real world?
3. What experimental techniques are available for producing and analyzing data?
4. With what degree of confidence can we trust our measurements?
5. How well does a theory represent physical reality?

These questions are of fundamental importance to experimental physics, yet are not generally answered by reading text books, attending lectures or doing homework problem sets. Thus, to provide a more complete understanding of physics, we offer these laboratory exercises as a supplement to the other modes of learning in this course.

TBD

• Laboratory Instructions (PHYS 154)
• Uncertainty Analysis and Significant Digits
• Fundamental Physical Constants
• Lab Report Cover Sheet

• Gamma Source Dose Rates
• Interactions of Photons with Matter
• NaI Detector Physics and Pulse Height Spectra
• Nuclear Decay Schemes
• Radioactive Material and Radiation Safety
• SpecTech Spectrometers and Software