everything.study
8.13-14

Experimental Physics I & II "Junior Lab"

Undergraduate · Historical course

Fall 2016

Junior Lab consists of two undergraduate courses in experimental physics. The course sequence is usually taken by Juniors (hence the name). Officially, the courses are called Experimental Physics I and II and are numbered 8.13 for the first half, given in the fall semester, and 8.14 for the second half, given in the spring. Each term, students do experiments on phenomena whose discoveries led to major advances in physics. In the process, they deepen their understanding of the relations between experiment and theory, mostly in atomic and nuclear physics.

Readings

  • Bevington, Philip R., and D. Keith Robinson. Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences . Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN: 9780072472271.
    Required
  • Experimental Lab Manuals by the Junior Lab staff (available inside every Experiment page)
    Required
  • Ethics in Science and Education by the Junior Lab staff ↗
    Required
  • Laboratory Safety and Regulations in Junior Lab by the Junior Lab staff ↗
    Required
  • Melissinos, Adrian Constantin. Experiments in Modern Physics . New York: Academic Press, 1966. (Out of print. May be available in academic libraries.)
    Recommended
  • Melissinos, Adrian Constantin, and Jim Napolitano. Experiments in Modern Physics . San Diego: Academic Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780124898516.
    Recommended
  • Preston, Daryl, and Eric Dietz. The Art of Experimental Physics . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1991. ISBN: 9780471847489.
    Listed reading
  • Taylor, John Robert. An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurements . Sausalito, CA: University Science Books, 1997. ISBN: 9780935702750. (This book covers much of the same material as Bevington and Robinson and is easier to read.)
    Listed reading
  • Gregory, Philip Christopher. Bayesian Logical Data Analysis for the Physical Sciences: A Comparative Approach with Mathematica ® Support . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780521841504.
    Listed reading
  • At this stage of your training as an experimentalist, you should realize that there is no ‘comprehensive’ or perfect textbook. Much of the material you will need to dig into are the early journal papers which originally detailed many of these important discoveries.
    Listed reading
  • For more information on Technical Writing, please refer to The Mayfield Handbook for Technical and Scientific Writing . ↗
    Listed reading
Sources