Experiments In Modern Physics

A revision of the leading text on experimental physics. The feature of this book that has made it one of the most loved texts on the subject is that it goes far beyond a mere description of key experiments in physics. The author successfully provides the reader with an understanding and appreciation of the 'physics' behind the experiments. The second edition will be an extensive revision introducing many new devices, including the use of computers and software programs, that have come into use since the publication of the first edition. In addition the important areas of condensed matter physics and optical physics will be added, including two entirely new chapters on lasers and optics. Modern analysis and acquisition techniques Integration with matlab for data analysis and display New experiments include fundamentals of lasers

The present text is an outgrowth of such a laboratory course given by the author at the University of Rochester between 1959 and 1963. It consisted of a one-year course with two 3-hour meetings in the laboratory and two 1-hour lecture meetings weekly; the students had access to the laboratory at all

Starting with Galileo's experiments with motion, this study of 25 crucial discoveries includes Newton's laws of motion, Chadwick's study of the neutron, Hertz on electromagnetic waves, and more.

This book presents experiments which will teach physics relevant to astronomy. The astronomer, as instructor, frequently faces this need when his college or university has no astronomy department and any astronomy course is taught in the physics department. The physicist, as instructor, will find this intellectually appealing when faced with teaching an introductory astronomy course. From these experiments, the student will acquire important analytical tools, learn physics appropriate to astronomy, and experience instrument calibration and the direct gathering and analysis of data. Experiments that can be performed in one laboratory session as well as semester-long observation projects are included.

These original contributions by philosophers and historians of science discuss a range of issues pertaining to the testing of hypotheses in modern physics by observation and experiment. Chapters by Lawrence Sklar, Dudley Shapere, Richard Boyd, R. C. Jeffrey, Peter Achinstein, and Ronald Laymon explore general philosophical themes with applications to modern physics and astrophysics. The themes include the nature of the hypothetico-deductive method, the concept of observation and the validity of the theoretical-observation distinction, the probabilistic basis of confirmation, and the testing of idealizations and approximations. The remaining four chapters focus on the history of particular twentieth-century experiments, the instruments and techniques utilized, and the hypotheses they were designed to test. Peter Galison reviews the development of the bubble chamber; Roger Stuewer recounts a sharp dispute between physicists in Cambridge and Vienna over the interpretation of artificial disintegration experiments; John Rigden provides a history of the magnetic resonance method; and Geoffrey Joseph suggests a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics that can be used to interpret the Stern-Gerlach and double-slit experiments. This book inaugurates the series, Studies from the Johns Hopkins Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, directed by Peter Achinstein and Owen Hannaway. A Bradford Book.