PHYC 241: Section 5996 Modern Physics Laboratory Fall 2009

SC PHYC 241: Section 5996 Modern Physics Laboratory Fall 2009 Probability Density of an atomic electron

PHYC241L: Modern Physics Laboratory, Section 5996 Fall 2009.

Grossmont College, Department of Physics & Astronomy

Laboratory Thursdays 11:00am-1:50pm in Building 36 Room 333.

Instructor: Dr. Philip Blanco
Phone: (619) 644-7312.
Email: Philip Blanco's email address
Mailbox: located over the laser printer in the Physics Study Center, Room 333A. If this location is closed, the switchboard operators at the campus mail center (administration complex) will also accept mail.

Office hours: Mon/Wed 1:00-2:00pm, Tues/Thurs 2-3:30pm, in Building 38A Room 300B1 (or look for me in Room 333A, Physics Department). Please let me know when you are coming, to avoid conflicts with students in other classes. Also see below for other ways to get help.

Course webpage: http://www.grossmont.edu/philipblanco/phyc241/

Required Course Materials:

Laboratory notebook with duplicate (i.e. "carbon copy") numbered graph pages.
Non-programmable scientific calculator, i.e. one which can handle powers of 10 from -99 to +99, square and cube roots, and trigonometry functions (sin, cos, tan).
Small ruler and colored pens/pencils, for diagrams, and a protractor.
Small stapler, for laboratory reports.

Laboratories and related links:

Draft schedule of lab experiments

Lab notebook and report requirements

Physics laboratory safety policy

2009 Aug 27: Simple Harmonic Motion: Phase and Energy
2009 Sep 3: Mechanical Waves and Standing Waves: Standing Wave reflection; Pulse superposition; Wave superposition; Transverse waves - reflection and transmission applet; Wave addition applet. For this applet, it's better to set the angular frequency to about 2.0 rad/s for clarity. You can add or subtract phase angles in radians or multiples of "pi" in the wave equations given. Note: don't hit the Enter key after changing values in the wave equations, hit "Change" instead.
2009 Sep 10: Light sources: colors and spectra: Project LITE web page at Boston University. Includes the color addition applet used in lab.
2009 Sep 17: Light waves I: reflection and refraction: Transmission and Reflection of wave on a string; Reflection and refraction via Huygens Principle; Reflection and refraction via Huygens Principle- summary; Snell's Law; Principle of Least Time applied to refraction.
2009/9/24 Light waves II - Snell's Law, refraction, and total internal reflection: Where is the fish? refraction applet; Fish-eye view of the world applet. Compare with this photo taken underwater, looking up.
2009/10/8: Spherical lenses (DRAFT!): Optics workbench applet (for spherical mirrors and lenses); Lens optics Flash simulation
2009/10/15: Optical instruments: Hyperphysics optical instruments - including a link to the microscope formulae used in the lab.; Microscope ray diagram Flash simulation (in French)
2009/10/22: Diffraction & Interference and Resolving power of the human eye: Ripple tank diffraction/interference applet; Ripple tank applet with lots of options; 2-source wave interference; Young's slits (1 to N slits) diffraction; N-slit diffraction and interference; Java optics links; Fresnel vs. Fraunhofer diffraction. Enter a large distance to the screen (> 2m) to see the Fraunhofer (far-field) diffraction pattern.
2009/11/5: Special Relativity Exercises and Links
2009/11/12: Spectroscopy and the energy levels of the hydrogen atom