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2010 Summer Meeting

2011 AAPT Summer Meeting
July 30-August 3, 2011
Omaha, Nebraska


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Sessions and Events w/Abstracts

Date: Tuesday, August 02

 

Total Number of Records Found: 6

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EE:   

Upper Division Laboratories: Ideas, Equipment and Techniques
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 1:15PM - 2:45PM
  Presider: Eric Ayars,
  Co-Presiders(s): None
  Equipment: N/A
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EE01:   

Teaching Scientific Writing -- What I Learned from a New Approach
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 1:15PM - 1:45PM
  Author: Brian Houser, Eastern Washington University
509-359-7005, bhouser@mail.ewu.edu
  Co-Author(s): None
  Abstract: In my most recent running of our Advanced Laboratory, I set the writing of scientific reports as a principal objective. My new approach included a class discussion of two actual papers (one published and one rejected), student comments on each others' work, and a requirement that the third and final report be subject to the refereeing process before resubmission for a grade. Though the writing abilities of the students varied widely, all showed improvement. This talk will give an overview of the course and present how students progressed in writing abstracts, procedures, and analysis sections of their papers. I will also include problems I encountered and improvements that can be made for the next offering.
  Footnotes: None
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EE02:   

ALPhA's Laboratory Immersions Program -- Plunging into New Experiments
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 1:45PM - 2:15PM
  Author: Lowell McCann, University of Wisconsin - River Falls
715-425-3196, lowell.mccann@uwrf.edu
  Co-Author(s): None
  Abstract: In this talk, I will report on the first two years of the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association's (ALPhA) Laboratory Immersion program. ALPhA initiated this program to help faculty and teaching staff learn new instructional-physics experiments. Each Laboratory Immersion is two to three days in length, with the entire time devoted to learning one experiment well enough to teach it confidently. I will discuss the first round of Immersions, which took place during summer 2010, and the impact these offerings have had on the participants based on the results of our preliminary evaluation. The slate of upcoming Immersions for summer 2011 will also be presented.
  Footnotes: None
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EE03:   

Electron Mobility in Silicon: Surprising Facts and Temperature Dependence Determination
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 2:15PM - 2:25PM
  Author: A. James Mallmann, Milwaukee School of Engineering
414-277-7317, mallmann@msoe.edu
  Co-Author(s): None
  Abstract: The mobilities of the current-carrying free charges in transistors influence switching speeds, the operating temperatures, and the rate of battery drain for laptop computers and other portable electronic devices. After a brief discussion of the scattering of electrons by lattice vibrations, I will describe a simple, inexpensive experiment to determine how the mobility of free electrons in lightly doped n-type silicon depends on temperature.
  Footnotes: None
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EE04:   

The Radio Astronomy Laboratory: Another Way to Learn Physics and Astronomy
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 2:25PM - 2:35PM
  Author: Victor Migenes, Brigham Young University
(801) 422-2233, vmigenes@byu.edu
  Co-Author(s): Daniel Blakley
  Abstract: The field of Radio Astronomy was founded essentially by unemployed military radar engineers after World War II. Radar research had left unanswered questions and unsolved problems. The 1950-60s saw a big growth in the design and construction of radio antennas by universities and private laboratories. In the 1970-80s new developments in the area of interferometric radio astronomy and synthesis arrays created instruments that increased the spatial resolution and sensitivity of the observations. National Laboratories was born. The 1990s radio interferometry added baselines to a radio antenna in Earth orbit. New exciting instruments and opportunities will be available in 2015-2020 such as ALMA and SKA. National observatories in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Japan (among other countries) offer wonderful opportunities to conduct research, in basically all the research fields known, with the latest technology available. Radio Astronomy is an interesting and exciting way to teach physics and astronomy concepts to intermediate and upper-level undergraduate students and even graduate students. It also offers the opportunity for "hands-on" experience in research. Setting up a small Radio Astronomy laboratory is an easy and cheap way to expose K-12 students to physics and astronomy, and research work. We present our efforts, so far, in establishing a Radio Astronomy Laboratory at Brigham Young University and involving undergraduate and graduate students in class and research work.
  Footnotes: None
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EE05:   

Relativistic Electron Experiment for the Advanced Laboratory
  Location: SS 105
  Date: Tuesday, Aug.02
  Time: 2:35PM - 2:45PM
  Author: Michael F. Vineyard, Union College
518-388-8353, vineyarm@union.edu
  Co-Author(s): None
  Abstract: We have developed an advanced laboratory experiment at Union College to make independent measurements of the momentum and kinetic energy of relativistic electrons from a beta source. The momentum measurements are made with a magnetic spectrometer and a silicon surface-barrier detector is used to measure the kinetic energy. A plot of the kinetic energy as a function of momentum compared to the classical and relativistic predictions clearly shows the relativistic nature of the electrons. Accurate values for the rest mass of the electron and the speed of light are also extracted from the data. I will describe the experimental apparatus, discuss the analysis, and present some results.
  Footnotes: None
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