PHY 114 — General Physics II
Course Description
Second course in a two-semester sequence for students in the life sciences. Covers electricity and magnetism, optics, electromagnetic waves, and an introduction to modern physics including special relativity and quantum physics.
Location & Time
Labs are held in B&L 268.
- Afternoon: 2:00 PM – 4:40 PM
- Evening: 4:50 PM – 7:30 PM
- Night: 7:40 PM – 10:20 PM
Statistics & Error Analysis
Prior to the first lab, go through the statistics & error analysis tutorial. Print out the accompanying document, and go through the examples.
Labs
Lab 1 — Coulomb's Law
Verify Coulomb's Law by measuring the electrostatic force between two charged spheres as a function of their separation and charge. Use log-log analysis to confirm the inverse-square dependence and determine the proportionality constant.
Lab 2 — Electron Beams
Inject an electron beam into a uniform magnetic field produced by a pair of Helmholtz coils and observe the resulting circular trajectory due to the Lorentz force. Use the measured radius of curvature and the known field strength to determine e/mₑ, the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron.
Lab 3 — Superconductivity and Ohm's Law
Observe the Meissner Effect by levitating a magnet above a high-temperature superconductor cooled in liquid nitrogen, demonstrating the expulsion of magnetic flux below the critical temperature. In the second part, build and measure simple DC resistive circuits to verify Ohm's Law and explore series and parallel resistance combinations.
Lab 4 — Geometric Optics
Verify the thin lens equation by measuring image distances for converging and diverging lenses at various object positions, and characterize the difference between real and virtual images. Use combinations of lenses to construct simple optical systems such as a telescope and a compound microscope, measuring their magnifications.
Lab 5 — Wave Properties of the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Observe double-slit and single-slit interference and diffraction patterns using both a helium-neon laser and a microwave source. Measure the fringe spacings to calculate the wavelengths of each source and confirm that wave optics applies across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum.