Interesting/Fun Quotations from Labs

Speed of Sound

• This lab was basic, yet meaningful.
• It was a brownish powder, like dust except thicker and had a major impact on where the nodes occurred in the tube.
• 1. We set up our tube with a piston, which we slide almost completely down to the end where the pitch fork was.
  2. We struck the pitch fork and then slide the piston away from it until we heard resonance.
  3. ...
  4. We repeated these steps for 2 other pitch forks.
• In order to complete the objectives stated before, one must understand the information relevant to succeed.
• Repeat step 5 until you run out of hollow tube.
• Sorry for the pen, my computer crashed.
• Another example of this is when an army is marching through a field and cross into a swamp that is at an angle. If they continue at the same speed and in the same direction, they will turn towards the inside because the swap is thicker and slows them down.
• The idea is to create a high-pitched sound that you won't want to repeat (but must)...
• For Part II, the observed speed of sound in rod was pretty close to the accepted value (except I think I got a little tipsy from all the alcohol we had to use).
• I would consider our results to be acceptable, but there is definitely more room for error.

Wave Nature of the Electromagnetic Spectrum

• One power gauge was fixed at a rotating point...
• Lastly, we looked at a hologram and pondered about what makes it tick.
• This experiment was good, as we got data that makes sense, and we enjoyed ourselves too.
• As the slits increased during the laser part of the experiment, the slits decreased.
• Light is a constant source that is seen in everyday life. Theories about what it exactly is, have been tossed around for a long time. Light has been shown, however, to behave in an electromagnetic spectrum with particle-like and wave-like particles.
• Waves are the fashion by which energy is transmitted in the universe.
• A laser was aloud to pass through...
• Holograms can be made from white light because white light is the standard form of light. White light is what all other forms of light come from. And also, white light is the fastest moving form of light in the universe and also is the most seen.
• ...within the range of microwaves (which is between a few centimeters and 10^-34 microns).
• As a result of this lab, EM radiation did have wavelike properties...
• A screen with a piece of paper is attached to the other end of the laser.

Geometrical Optics

• Lenses are used in everyday life. They are the glasses that we wear, the telescope we view the stars and distant galaxies with, and the camera that captures precious moments.
• A light source was passed through a cross-arrow target and a converging lens...

Spectrum of Atomic Hydrogen

• The Rydberg constant is beyond me, but it looks something like this:...
• Atoms can be differentiated by their spectrum, much like fingerprints in people.
• I only regret not doing this lab before I took my test in Physics class.
• The resultant errors were due to outside light sources making it difficult to see the hydrogen spectrum, hence no k=2 purple lines, and the fact that the experimenter using the scope was colorblind :-).
• If the deuterium existed in sufficient quantity in our source to produce observable spectral lines, the ordinary hydrogen lines couldn't resolve the lines of the naturally occurring hydrogen because the equipment in the lab can't produce protons.

Franck-Hertz Experiment: The Excitation of Mercury

• This lab was one of boredom.
• The features of the observed counter current, as discussed in numerous references, do not depend at all on temperature, vapor pressure, acceleration voltage, or even space charge. Instead, and contrary to popular belief, it is actually a function of how much I had to eat that day. It is also a function of how many more physics labs I have to do, which in this case is none.
• The experiment itself went without incident and quality data was produced. Little else could be wanted.
• If the temperature or a person walked by then the current would change.
• The area between the anode and cathode is filled with flouting mercury atoms.

The Millikan Oil Drop Experiment

• Conclusion: I'm too confident about my results.