Lab Monograph

Introductory Experimental Physics

180
de
Helmholtz coil gr
ee Computer
ssca GM counter
lead container
n

beta particles
GM tube
PC
B-field

Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

Sohaib Shamim
Wasif Zia
and
Waqas Mahmood

1
Contents

1 Working in the lab and reading the lab manuals 1

1.1 Learning outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Mathematical computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.4 Error analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.5 Data acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.6 Our experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.7 Guidelines for practical work inside the Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.8 How to read the Lab manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.9 Grading and assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2 Error Analysis in the Experimental Physics Lab 11

2.1 How to report and use uncertainties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 Types of errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.3 Quantifying errors in measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.4 Checking Relationships with a Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.5 Propagation of Uncertainties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Questions for Error Analysis 22

i
ii CONTENTS

4 Solution key for error analysis problems 25

5 Introduction to Matlab for Experimental Physics 32

5.1 Vectors and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

5.2 Graphs and Plotting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

5.3 Curve Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

6 Simple Harmonic Motion is Observed through Webcam 64

6.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

6.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

6.3 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

6.4 Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

6.5 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

6.6 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

6.7 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

7 Rotational Dynamics, Moment of Inertia, Torque and Rotational

Friction 76
7.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

7.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

7.3 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

7.4 Introduction to the Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7.5 Experimental Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7.6 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

7.7 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

8 Heat Transfer and Newtons Law of Cooling 90

8.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CONTENTS iii

8.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

8.3 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

8.4 Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

8.5 Experimental Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

8.6 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8.7 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

9 Magnetic Phase Transitions of a Ferromagnetic Alloy 105

9.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

9.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

9.3 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

9.4 Apparatus and Experimental Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

9.5 Experimental Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

9.6 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

9.7 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

10 Optical Activity of the Chiral Solutions 121

10.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

10.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

10.3 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

10.4 Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

10.5 Experimental Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

10.6 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

10.7 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

11 Data Acquisition and Filter Design 136

11.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
iv CONTENTS

11.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

11.3 Introduction to the History of Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

11.4 Breadboard Layout and its Internal Connections . . . . . . . . . . 139

11.5 Data Acquisition System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

11.6 Understanding the Frequency Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

11.7 Verifying the Nyquist Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

11.8 Logic Gates Exempli ed by the XOR Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

11.9 Filter Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

11.10Filtering a Composite Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

11.11Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

12 Latent Heat of Vaporization of Liquid Nitrogen and Speci c Heats

of Metals 161
12.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

12.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

12.3 Equipartition of energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

12.4 Experimental preparation and safety measures . . . . . . . . . . . 167

12.5 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

13 Electromagnetic Induction and Read-Write Operations in Magnetic

Media 174
13.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

13.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

13.3 The Magnetic Field B and Flux  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

13.4 Electromagnetic Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

13.5 Solenoids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

13.6 The Hall e ect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

CONTENTS v

13.7 Data Storage on a hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

13.8 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

13.9 Hard disk operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

14 Vibrations on a String and Resonance 190

14.1 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

14.2 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

14.3 Waves and their di erent types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

14.4 Wave Interference and Resonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

14.5 Wave Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

14.6 Experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

15 Natural Radioactivity and Statistics 206

15.1 APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 1 WEEK . . . . . . . . 207

15.2 Conceptual Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

15.3 Experimental Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

15.4 Theoretical Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

15.5 The Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

15.6 Experimental Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

15.7 Experience Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

15.8 Idea Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

vi CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
In the name of Allah, the most Bene cent and Merciful.

We would like to thank our colleagues who contributed in di erent ways to these
experiments. Their names, alongwith the experiments or write-ups to which they
made signi cant contribution are given here.

Umer Hassan for experiments on data acquisition and lter design and magnetic
elds, electromagnetic induction and magnetic media. Muhammad Wasif for
the experiment on electromagnetic induction and magnetic media. Hafsa Hassan
for the experiment on natural radioactivity and statistics.

We also appreciate the indefatigable help of Rabiya Salman, Junaid Alam, Asma
Khalid, Amrozia Shaheen, Muhammad Wasif, Umer Hassan, Rameez Ahmad,
Imran Hanif and Ahmed Waqas Zubairy for the management, commissioning,
improvement and delivering the Experimental Physics 1 course for three consecu-
tive years to approximately 220 students. These students belonged to the LUMS
School of Science and Engineering. Ali and Yousaf are our Field Assistants who
incessantly support us in technical and managerial tasks. Our technician Abdul
Mannan contributed to the building of some of the setups. Some of the man-
ufacturing was performed by machinists engaged from Lahore's rich treasure of
skilled craftsmanship. Finally, we thank all the students who have performed these
experiments or are currently engaged in learning physics through experiments.
Chapter 1

Working in the lab and

reading the lab manuals

Sabieh Anwar

1.1 Learning outcomes

Experimental Physics 1 is a modern, lab-based physics course where all the SSE
students will be exposed to a variety of techniques, concepts and skills in the
experimental sciences. At the end of the course, the students will be able to do
the following.

Mathematical and physical

1. Demonstrate a keen appreciation of physical quantities, their dimensions

and units.

2. Perform simple statistical analysis of data including calculating means, mean

squares and correlations.

3. Mathematically understand physical processes and corroborating them with

linear, exponential, sinusoidal and polynomial models.

4. Accurately represent experimental data in the form of tables and graphs.

5. Understand errors, uncertainties and their propagation.

6. Demonstrate the ability to present an idea in the following equivalent forms:

1
2CHAPTER 1. WORKING IN THE LAB AND READING THE LAB MANUALS

 equations and formulas

 words

 graphs

 pictures

7. Develop an appreciation of energy, its myriad manifestations and inter-

conversion.

Engineering and practical

1. Design simple experiments to test physical ideas.

2. Understand the signi cance of various kinds of materials (ceramics, plastics,

metals, conductors, insulators) in the design of hardware.

3. Perform experiments safely.

4. Demonstrate the ability to work in teams.

5. Use locally available resources including materials and craftsmanship to build

new projects.

1.2 Website
The course website is

http://physlab.lums.edu.pk

You are responsible for visiting the website regularly, at least twice a week. An-
nouncements and course information will be uploaded here. The website contains
a list of experiments as well as the following supporting material.

1. Lab manuals

2. Matlab codes

3. Labview VI's (virtual instruments)

4. Further reading and references

5. Representative results and graphs

6. Supporting literature for the hardware

1.3. MATHEMATICAL COMPUTING 3

The website also displays the course time table, the lab allocation schedule, a
brief history and philosophy and contact details for the lab sta .

Time table for Experimental Physics 1

Week 2 Error analysis

Week 3-4 Mathematical computing
Weeks 6-15 Experiments

1.3 Mathematical computing

The laboratory course uses MATLAB as the computing environment. All students
are expected to gain a minimum level of pro ciency in MATLAB. For this purpose,
we have dedicated the second week to a lecture based demonstration of MATLAB
followed by practice labs. The practice labs will be conducted by the lab instructors
on 07-10 September, 14-17 September. The schedule is posted on the website.

1.4 Error analysis

Errors and uncertainties lie at the heart of experimental physics. The second
week is devoted to a lecture based exercise on predicting and analyzing errors.
Refer to the online time table for more details.

1.5 Data acquisition

Some of our experiments use data acquisition (DAQ) hardware and software. On
the overall, you will be expected to treat the DAQ systems as black boxes, al-
though the more energetic and forward-looking students will be attracted towards
a deeper understanding of DAQ. We are here to help you when and as you de-
sire. Furthermore, the experiment on Electronics, in fact, also serves as a veiled
introduction to DAQ.
4CHAPTER 1. WORKING IN THE LAB AND READING THE LAB MANUALS

1.6 Our experiments

For the pioneering LUMS SSE class, we have developed a set of eight experiments.
These cover the following subject areas.

1. General Physics

2. Mechanics

3. Heat and Thermodynamics

4. Optics

5. Electricity and Magnetism

6. Electronics

7. Cryogens and Cryostats

8. Electromagnetic Induction and Magnetic Media

General Mechanics

Electromagnetic
ag Induction Heat and
and Magnetic Media Thermodynamics
ermo

Optics Electronic

Cryogens and Electricity and

Cryostats Magnetism

Figure 1.1: Typical student run-through the experiments. The ordering will vary
from student to student. For your personal instance of allocation, visit the lab
website.

You are required to perform all eight experiments, one experiment per week.
Besides the general physics experiment, you will work in pairs. The lab sta has
already published an allocation schedule on the website. You are not allowed to
change the groupings and allocations. A typical navigational route for performing
the eight experiments is shown in Figure 1.1.
1.7. GUIDELINES FOR PRACTICAL WORK INSIDE THE LAB 5

1.7 Guidelines for practical work inside the Lab

The Experimental Physics 1 Lab is an intensive, high-enrollment and busy exper-
imental environment. So I have come up with a number of guidelines that are
aimed at enhancing the overall value of this course. Here are some guidelines you
must all follow.

1. Lab manual: You must actively read the lab manual before coming for
the experiment (See the next Section). You are also required to bring the
manual with you to the lab.

2. Logging into the PC's: The lab is equipped with personal computers tted
with DAQ hardware and MATLAB. Login with your individual username
and password but if you are working in pairs, then you must login with the
group username and password. These details are provided on the website
and also posted on the Lab noticeboard.

3. Lab notebooks: Each student must bring his/her notebook to the lab. This
is a hard-bound notebook that will serve as a valuable reference in your
future years. Note down the answers to all the queries (see next Section)
in your notebook. The demonstrators will mark and sign your solutions
only if they are presented in the proper notebook. Loose paper will not be
entertained. Sample notebooks are available with the laboratory sta .

4. Printing: Printers are available in the lab. You must plot your graphs and
paste them into your notebooks. These printers must not be used for
printing lab manuals, which are available online or can be purchased from
Gestetner Photocopier Centre inside LUMS.

5. Dialogue with the demonstrators: The experiments will be supervised by a

team of lab demonstrators and instructors. The lab manuals are written to
encourage dialogue. It is mandatory that you engage with the demonstra-
tors in a meaningful two-way rapport. Never be shy of talking to your col-
league or to the demonstrator. Intelligent conversations with the dialogists
will help them assess your contribution to the experiment and furthermore,
will contribute towards your overall grade.

6. Role of the demonstrator: The role of the demonstrator in the lab can be
summarized in pointwise fashion.

 Asking questions and injecting the experimenters with mental con icts
that will, hopefully, guide them towards a better understanding of the
6CHAPTER 1. WORKING IN THE LAB AND READING THE LAB MANUALS

experiment.
 Engaging the experimenters in a meaningful dialogue about the exper-
iment.
 Attesting and marking the experimental results as and when they be-
come available.
 Ensuring that experimenters follow all safety protocols.
 Organizing mini-tutorials before the experiment for the initiated stu-
dents.
 Describing key features of the apparatus.
 In general, holding everything together.

7. The success and failure of experiments: It is quite likely that during the
course of your lab work, some experiment might not work. Don't conceive
this as a failure of the experiment. In real life, experiments seldom work in
the rst attempt. So as long as you can document what went wrong, and
interpret the results, you will be ne. In fact, recognizing and interpreting
procedural mistakes or limitations in the hardware makes you deserving of
extra credit.

8. Lab safety: Lab safety is of paramount importance in this course. Our

experiments present ve kinds of hazards.

 Intense light sources called lasers.

 Hot surfaces approaching 400 C.
 Lifting and transporting hot and heavy objects.
 Large electric currents.
 Low temperatures 200 C.

Sucient engineering controls are in place that will protect you against
these hazards. Personal protective equipment (laser goggles, thermal gloves,
insulation gloves and footwear) are also provided as the next level of safety.
It is unacceptable not to follow the rules and in case of intentional careless-
ness, I reserve the right to bar your admission to the lab, to say the very
least.

1.8 How to read the Lab manual

Each experiment comes with a Lab manual. As a pre-lab exercise, the student
must read the entire lab manual (for the forthcoming experiment). These man-
1.8. HOW TO READ THE LAB MANUAL 7

uals are available from the website. They can either be downloaded and printed
(on personal printers or printers located in the IST) or the consolidated booklet
containing all lab manuals can be purchased from the Gestetner Photocopiers
inside LUMS.

The manuals must be read actively, diligently and carefully. I must digress to
explain what this means. You must have come across the phrase \to read between
the lines". As you read our lab manuals, you must also develop the habit of
\writing between the lines". I assure you that this is not an act of mutilation,
but of love. Mark your manuals, take notes, repeat the calculations and practice
all derivations. Ask yourself questions. Find answers. Take visuo-psychological
leaps of imagination and make pictures, many, many pictures. Even try sketching
the graphs. In this way, you may end up predicting the outcome even before the
experiment1 .

You are also required to bring a copy of the manual to the lab.

The lab manuals are divided into the following sections.

1. General introduction: This is a prelude to the experiment. It gets you

started.

2. Keywords: This is a listing of the main concepts and hardware used in the
experiment. The purpose of this vocabulary is to provide you with a distilled
extract of terms that you can quickly look up in a standard textbook, a
reference book or on Google.

3. Approximate performance time: This is self-explanatory. Our experiments

are long, but it is imperative that you do not rush through them. But do
not proceed at zero speed.

4. Conceptual objectives: The learning outcomes of the experiment are de-

scribed in the \conceptual objectives" section. These are the \take-home
lessons" from the experiment. A few years down the line, you may forget
the precise details of the practical exercise, but I expect you to fully assim-
ilate the conceptual objectives. These skills and concepts will become a
part of your academic personality, running in your bloodstreams.

5. Experimental objectives: This is a concise statement of the goal of the

experiment, such as \this experiment determines the optical activity of
1 If you want to know more about active, thoughtful and two-way reading habits, consult the
book \How to read a book?" (1940) by Mortimer Adler.
8CHAPTER 1. WORKING IN THE LAB AND READING THE LAB MANUALS

sucrose solution".

6. Theoretical introduction: The section titled \theoretical introduction" sum-

marizes the background theory required for a complete understanding of the
experiment. Whenever you are in a state of confusion or a yearning to know
for more, consult either the References at the end of the lab manual or your
favourite textbook such as Physics for Engineers and Scientists (H. C. Oha-
nian).
There are two kinds of activities, that we call queries, imbedded in the
manuals. These queries are colour coded.
inquiry, question or problem that you must solve at home, before coming
to the lab. You will not be assessed on these queries, but your complete
understanding of the experiment does depend on successfully tackling them.
for a query that is activity-based, and can only be addressed inside the
lab. These queries are based on the experiment, the apparatus or the
data acquired therefrom. Your overall assessment and grading will depend
on how you approach these queries. Since there will be black-and-white
printing and photocopying of our lab manuals, I have also identi ed these
queries by placing a F.
7. Apparatus: As the name implies, this section describes the hardware used
in the experiment. I have tried to put in photographs where possible. The
aim is to help you visualize and draw mental pictures of the experiment.
The sources of the equipment are also mentioned and helps give a avour
of what it takes to build teaching equipment.

8. Experimental method: This section forms the crux of the manual. It takes
you through the experiment, step by step and query by query. On the day
of the experiment, you will spend almost all of your time forging through
this part of the manual.

9. Experience questions: This is a list of nudge questions. Ponder over these

questions in your free time. The physics lab sta will be happy to discuss
these points with you.

10. Idea experiments: The poet William Blake once remarked,

I will not reason and compare,

My business is to create.

I strongly feel that creation is the best form of comprehension, more so as

it applies to physics. I feel that our best students should get involved in
1.9. GRADING AND ASSESSMENT 9

creating new experiments. The best of these will serve as model experiments
for the forthcoming years. So, if anyone of you has the fondness and the
passion for building new setups, please get in touch with me or my team.
In this very spirit, the present section includes a list of representative \idea
experiments".

11. References: The lab manual concludes with the bibliography. All research
articles mentioned in this section can also be downloaded from the website.
The books listed in the bibliography are all available in the LUMS Library.

1.9 Grading and assessment

The lab demonstrators and myself are responsible for the overall grading. At
the end of the course, students will be ranked into the following categories.

A+ Exceptional
A Good
B Satisfactory
F Fail

We have prepared an individualized marking sheet for each experiment.

The marking premises are largely determined by the \conceptual objec-
tives" mentioned in the lab manual. However, these outcomes have also
been quanti ed, minimizing the possibilities of subjective assessment. For
example, if one of the learning outcomes is \understanding how errors prop-
agate", the corresponding quanti able marking premise would be, \was the
student able to nd the error in the spring constant, given the uncertainty
in the measurement of displacement?" Some sample marking premises for
one of our experiments, are reproduced below,

 Has the experimenter calculated the error in the spring constant k ?.

 Was the experimenter able to identify the coordinates in the picture

frames?

 What did the experimenter do to avoid the parallax error?

 Does the experimenter understand signi cance of the semi-log plot

and its relative (de)merits?
10CHAPTER 1. WORKING IN THE LAB AND READING THE LAB MANUALS

The overall grade will be assigned after compiling all the eight marking
sheets for the student. Note that in order to fail the course, you need to
be extremely non-serious or miss out on two or more lab sessions.
Chapter 2

Error Analysis in the

Experimental Physics Lab

Sohaib Shamim and Sabieh Anwar

In science, the word `error' does not mean a mistake. In fact, the term refers to
the fact that we cannot make measurements to in nite accuracy and precision
and we cannot eliminate them by being very careful. The best we can do is
to ensure that errors are as small as reasonably possible and to have a reliable
estimate of how large they are.

2.1 How to report and use uncertainties

The correct way to report a reading is to state the measurement and the as-
sociated uncertainty. For example, the metre rule in Figure 1 reads 128:9; the
associated uncertainty is 0:1 cm. Thus we write 128:9  0:1 cm. This speci es
the most plausible value and the range within which we are con dent the quantity
lies (between 128:8 and 129:0 cm). Here the error is reported to 0:1 cm because
a metre rule has a minimum division of 1 mm (0:1 cm) and we cannot make any
trustworthy measurement smaller than 1 mm.

measured value of x = xaverage  x

11
12CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

Signi cant Figures

Since x is only an estimate of the uncertainty, therefore we must not quote it

with too much precision. For example, writing the value of gravity, g as g =
9:82  0:02385ms 2 would be absurd. In very high precision work, uncertainties
are reported to, at the most, 2 signi cant gures but for our purposes we can
round o our error to 1 signi cant gure. Applying this principle, we can rewrite
the value of g as,

g = 9.820.02ms 2 .

Now let's look at another example. Suppose the speed of a rocket is measured as
6050:78 ms 1 . Presenting this result with the uncertainty of 30 as 6051:7830
is ridiculous. 30 implies that the velocity could be as low as 6020 and as high as
6080. This means that the last two numbers 7 and 8 have no signi cance because
we can only accurately measure to the tenth digit and not to any decimal values.
Rounding o the measured speed and writing it as 6050  30 ms 1 will make
much more sense. If, however, the uncertainty is 0.3, we can write the value as
6050:80:3. If the uncertainty is 3, we can write the result as 60513. The
following rule must always be followed.

The last signi cant gure in any stated answer should usually be of the same
order of magnitude (in the same position) as the uncertainty.
A useful practice to reduce inaccuracies is to retain at least 1 signi cant gure
more than what is nally justi ed, when carrying out calculations. A digital
calculator will happily store result to many signi cant gures and the answer can
be rounded o at the end.

2.2 Types of errors

Generally, there are two kinds of errors: systematic and random.

Figure 2.1: Measuring from a metre scale.

2.2. TYPES OF ERRORS 13

Systematic errors

These are the result of certain instrument o set or a repeatable measurement

error. This will cause a measurement to be always smaller than or greater than
the \true value". In some sense, large systematic errors must be eliminated in
any good experiment. However, small systematic errors will always be present.

Random errors

These errors are random uctuations in the measured values that we measure.
Random errors are easily identi able by repeating the experiment. If repeated
measurements show the value is changing every time we measure it, then this is
the signature of random errors. Figure 2 shows how we can interpret random and
systematic errors.

Generally speaking, systematic errors are much harder to detect than random
errors and their detection depends on the scientist's instincts and experience. You
will learn to detect systematic errors once you have gained a deeper understanding
of the experimental culture and mastered various experimental techniques. We
will therefore, focus only on random errors and the techniques by which they can
be minimized.

Now consider the following example. We want to measure the time it takes
for a ball to travel 10 cm. If we only make one measurement, the answer tells
us nothing about the errors involved. Therefore, we repeat the experiment a
few times to learn about the mean value. Figure 3(a) shows that repeating the
experiment 20 times gives a mean of 5 seconds. If we want to learn more about
the mean value and the errors involved, we will have to repeat the experiment a
large number of times. So we now increase the repetition number to 100. We

Figure 2.2: (a) small random errors; small systematic errors (b) small random
errors; large systematic errors (c) large random errors; small systematic errors
(d) large random errors; large systematic errors
14CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

Figure 2.3: (a) Histogram for repeating the experiment 20 times. (b) Repeating
the experiment 100 times gives the resulting histogram a close resemblance to a
Gaussian distribution.

see that with increasing repetition number, we obtain a bell shaped curve, known
as a Gaussian curve as shown in Figure 3(b). A Gaussian curve has the following
characteristic equation

(x )2
1
x; (x ) = p e 22 (2.1)
 2

where  is the mean and  is the standard deviation, a concept we will come
across in the next section. The spread of this Gaussian curve determines the
standard deviation () of our nal result. If there is a large spread, then we
have a large standard deviation and the results are not precise. If the spread is
small, then we have a small standard deviation which in turn means a precise
result. Applying Equation (2.1) to our example with a mean of 5 and standard
deviations of 1 (less precise) and 0:5 (more precise), we see that the spread in
Figure 4(a) is more than that of Figure 4(b).

3 4 5 6 7 8 3 4 5 6 7 8
time(s) time(s)
(a) (b)

Figure 2.4: (a) The spread is large; we have a large random error. (b) The spread
is small; small random error
2.3. QUANTIFYING ERRORS IN MEASUREMENTS 15

2.3 Quantifying errors in measurements

The statistical method for nding the best value for a measurement is to repeat
the measurement many times and then take the average value. Suppose we mea-
sure the time for the ball to travel 10 cm. This time, we repeat the measurements
5 times and calculate the average value. The readings are recorded in Table 1.

time(s) xi deviation from average(s) di square deviation(di2 )

5:1 0:2 0:04
5:3 0:0 0:00
5:5 0:2 0:04
5:1 0:1 0:04
5:5 0:2 0:04
average: 5:3s average deviation:0:0 average square deviation: 0:03

It turns out that the average deviation is zero! For random errors, we are as likely
to overestimate a value as underestimate it. A much more useful quantity is the
square of the deviation. The sum of the square of deviation is 0:16, a non zero
number! We can now take the average of this number and square root it to get
the uncertainty. This nal answer is known as standard deviation.

Let's make the following de nitions. X is the true value of some observable
quantity, for example the true time it takes for the ball to travel 10 cm; xi 's
are the individual measurements obtained in the multiple experiments. The error
ei = xi X is the di erence between a reading and the true value and the
deviation di = xi = x is the distance from the mean value. The standard errors
and standard deviations are de ned as follows.

Standard error in a single measurement

The square of the standard error is de ned as,

e 2 e 2 + e 2 + e 2 + : : : + en2
2 =  ni = 1 2 n3 ; (2.2)

where n is the total number of measurements; in the example we have discussed

above, n = 5. It is quite obvious that  cannot be directly determined because
the true value X and hence the true errors ei 's are unknown.

Standard error in the mean

16CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

2 
m2 = n ; or m = p (2.3)
n

is the square of the standard error in the mean. As n increases, one can hope to
reduce the uncertainty in the standard error in the mean. This is the most often
quoted value in measurements. Of course, we cannot calculate m without .
This seems like a paradoxical problem.

Standard deviation of the measurements

A straightforward method, however, is to calculate the standard deviation which
utilizes the mean of the readings x which is readily calculable. Writing out the
standard deviation in mathematical form,

d 2 d 2 + d 2 + d 2 + : : : + dn2
s 2 =  ni = 1 2 n3 : (2.4)

In our example cited above, s 2 = 0:03. Once we calculate s , we can use these
formulas for determining the standard errors.

√
n
 = n 1s (2.5)
√
m = pn = n 1 1 s: (2.6)

Hence, we have devised a method of calculating the standard errors and standard
errors in the means using a directly calculable quantity, the standard deviation s .
Note that if n is large, which is a statistically desirable situation, the calculations
based on the standard deviation and the standard error coincide, s  .
Here is a straightforward proof of Equation (2.5).
2.4. CHECKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH A GRAPH 17

s 2 = di2 =n
= (xi x )2 =n
= (xi X + X x )2 =n
1
= (ei
n E )2 where E is the error in the mean;
1[ 2 ]
= ei + E 2 2ei E
n
= 2 + E 2 2E (E ) identifying the de nitions of  and E = ei =n
= 2 E 2
= 2 m2
= 2 2 =n using the relationship (2.3);

and Equation (2.5) follows.

2.4 Checking Relationships with a Graph

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

mass(kg)

Figure 2.5: Repetition of measurements with a xed set of mass values. For each
mass the values of T2 form a distribution centered about the true value T2 .

Many physical laws imply that one quantity is proportional to another. Many
experiments in the teaching laboratories are designed to check this kind of pro-
portionality. To test whether a certain quantity, y is proportional to another
variable, x , we can plot a graph of y against x and see if the points lie on a
straight line. Because a straight line is so easily recognizable, this method is a
simple and e ective way to check for proportionality. For example, Hooke's Law
states that the extension in the suspended spring is directly proportional to the
load applied. A mass on the suspended spring will cause it to perform simple√har-
m
monic motion. The time period for one such oscillation is given by T = 2
k.
18CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

Figure 5 shows a plot of T 2 against m, giving us a straight line with a gradient

42
. As we expect, all the points do not lie on a straight line. This is because
k
of random nature of errors. By drawing a line of best t, we ensure that these
errors are minimized.

The Gaussian curves drawn about points A, B and C show the probability of
obtaining a particular value. If we repeat the readings a very large number of
times for a particular mass, we will obtain di erent values of T 2 . Plotting these
values as in Figure 3. we will see that these T 2 values follow the Gaussian
distribution. Point A and C lie very close to the tted line and hence have the
highest probability of occurance (i.e if we repeat the readings, most of the time we
will get values very close to A and C ). B is the furthest from the most probable
result and hence has the lowest probability.

2.5 Propagation of Uncertainties

Most physical quantities cannot be measured directly. First, we measure one
or more quantities that can be directly measured and then use these quantities
to calculate the quantity of interest. For example, the velocity v of a car is
measured by measuring the time it takes to travel a particular distance and then
d
calculating the speed by using v =
t . We must rst estimate the uncertainty in
the measured quantity and then gure out how these uncertainties "propagate"
through the calculations to produce an uncertainty in the nal deduced answer.

The mathematical treatment for the following results is outside the scope of this
course, but has been attached as an appendix for those interested.

Uncertainty in Sums and Di erences

If q = x + y or z = x y , the uncertainty in q is given by:

√
q = (x )2 + (y )2

If several quantities x; :::; w are measured with uncertainties x ,...,w , and the
measured values used to compute

q = x +


+ w or q = x


w ,
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 19

then the uncertainty in the computed value of q is the sum

√
q = (x )2 + ::: + (w )2

i.e the uncertainties always add, no matter whether we are adding or subtracting
the measured quantities.

Uncertainty in Products and Quotients

x
If the equation is q = xy or q = , then the uncertainty in q is:
y

√( )2 ( )2
x y
q = q x +
y

In general, if several quantities x; :::; w are measured with uncertainties x ,...,w ,

and the measured values are used to compute

x 


 y
q = u 


 w

the uncertainty in q is given by:

√( )2 ( )2 ( )2 ( )2
x y u w
q = q +


+ + +


+ .
x y u w

Uncertainty in a Power

If the equation is q = x m y n , the uncertainty is given by:

√( )2 ( )2
mx ny
q = q +


+ .
x y

If several quantities x; :::; w are measured with uncertainties x ,...,w , and the
measured values are used to compute,

xm 


 zn
q = ua 


 w b

the uncertainty is given by:

20CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

√( )2 ( )2 ( )2 ( )2
mx nz au bw
q = q +


+ + +


+ .
x z u w
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 21

APPENDIX
Suppose x , y are measured with independent and random uncertainties x and
y and the uncertainties are used to compute the uncertainty in q (x; y ). We
make large number of measurements, N , of x and y and calculate x, y, x and
y . Using the Taylor series,

@q @q
qi = q (xi ; yi )  q (x ; y) + @x (xi x) + @y (yi y) (A-1)

with partial derivatives being taken at point x =

x , y =y . The mean value q now
becomes

N N ( )
1∑ 1∑ @q @q
q = N qi = N q (x ; y) + @x (xi x) + @y (yi y) (A-2)
i =1 i =1
∑ @q ∑ @q
(xi x) and
It can be easily shown that
@x @y (yi y) equals zero be-
cause any over estimates in x are counter balanced by under estimates in the
measurements and the same is also true for y , and we are left with a very trivial
result

q = q (x ; y) (A-3)

Now the error in q is just the standard deviation of q , given by

1∑
q2 = N (qi q)2 : (A-4)

Substituting (A-2) in (A-4),

( 2)
2 1 ∑ @q @q
q = N (xi
@x x) + @y (yi y) : (A-5)

After a little bit of algebra, we come to the result,

∑ ( @q 2 )
q2 = 2 @q 2 @q @q
@x x + @y y + 2 @x @y xy ; (A-6)

where
1∑
xy = N (xi x) (yi y) : (A-7)

∑ ∑
We have already shown that (xi x) and (yi y) equals zero and hence xy
also equals zero. Hence, the error in q is given by:

( @q ) ( @q )
q2 = @x 2 x2 + @y 2 y2 .
Chapter 3

Questions for Error Analysis

Sabieh Anwar

Q.No.1
A group of students measure g , the acceleration due to gravity, with a compound
pendulum and obtain the following values in units of m s 2 .

9:81 9:79 9:84 9:81 9:75 9:79 9:83

Calculate the mean and the residuals (deviations). Hence estimate . Give the
best estimate of g , together with its error, for the group.

Q.No.2
In an undergraduate practical class in the Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge Uni-
versity, UK) there was an experiment, originally devised by Searle, to measure
the Young modulus E for steel by applying a known load to a rod and measuring
the de ection by an optical method based on Newton's rings. Although inge-
nious and capable of considerable precision in the hands of a skilled experimenter,
such as Searle himself, the results obtained by the students were found to have
a considerable scatter. The experiment was therefore replaced by one in which
a horizontal steel beam was supported near its ends, and the de ection when a
known load was applied at the centre was measured directly by a dial indicator.

The values obtained for E by the last 10 students who did the Newton's rings
experiment and by the rst 10 who did the dial indicator experiment are given

22
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 23

below.

The values are in units of 1011 N m 2 .

Newton's rings experiment

1:90 2:28 1:74 2:27 1:67 2:01 1:60 2:18 2:18 2:00

Dial indicator experiment

2:01 2:05 2:03 2:07 2:04 2:02 2:09 2:09 2:04 2:03

For each set of values, calculate the mean value of E , and estimate the standard
error in the mean. Do the results indicate any systematic di erence in the two
experimental methods?

Q.No.3
In the following examples, Z is a given function of the independently measured
quantities A; B; : : :. Calculate the value of Z and its standard error
Z from the
given values of A 
A; B 
B; : : :.

(a ) Z = A2 A = 25  1 (A-1)
(b ) Z = A 2B A = 100  3 and B = 45  2 (A-2)
(c ) Z = BA (C 2 + D3=2 ) A = 0:100  0:003
B = 1:00  0:05
C = 50:0  0:5
D = 100  8 (A-3)
(d ) Z = A ln B A = 10:00  0:06 and B = 100 (A-4)
2
(e ) Z=1 1
A A = 50  2: (A-5)

Q.No.4
A weight W is suspended from the centre of a steel bar which is supported at
its ends, and the de ection at the centre is measured by means of a dial height-
indicator whose readings are denoted by y . The following values are obtained:

Calculate the best value of the slope and the intercept by the method of least
squares.
24CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

W (kg) 0 1 1 1 21 2 2 12 3 3 21 4 4 12
2
y (m) 1642 1483 1300 1140 948 781 590 426 263 77

Q.No.5
The volume V of a rectangular block is determined by measuring the lengths
lx ; ly ; lz of its sides. From the scatter of the measurements, a standard deviation
of 0:01% is assigned to each dimension. What is the standard error in V , if,

1. the scatter is due to the errors in setting and reading the measuring instru-
ment, and

2. if it is due to temperature uctuations?

Chapter 4

Solution key for error analysis

problems

Amrozia Shaheen and Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

Q.No.1
The mean of the measured values of acceleration due to gravity is,
∑
x = i xi
n
9:81 + 9:79 + 9:84 + 9:81 + 9:75 + 9:79 + 9:83
=
7
= 9:80:

Deviation from the mean value is,

di = xi x;

so, for the measured data, the deviations are,

di (m s 2 ) di (cm s 2 ) (di (cm s 2 ))2

0:01 1 1
-0:01 -1 1
0:04 4 16
0:01 1 1
-0:05 -5 25
-0:01 -1 1
0:03 3 9

25
26CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

The square of standard deviation, s , is,

∑ 2
s2 = i di = 7:71 cm2 s 4 = 7:71  10 4 m2 s 4 ;
n
implying,

s = 0:03 ms 2 :
The standard error, , can be nd out using the following relationship,
√
n
 = n 1s
= 0:03 ms 2 :

As expected the standard error is approximately equal to the standard deviation,

  s.

The standard error in the mean is,


m = p
n
= 0:01 ms 2 :

Therefore, the best estimated value of g , along with its uncertainty is,

g = (9:80  0:01) ms 2 :
There is only one signi cant gure in the uncertainty and the least signi cant digit
of the mean value has the same position as the non-zero digit of the uncertainty.

Q.No.2
Newton's ring experiment
The mean value is,
∑
i xi
n = 1:98  10 Nm :
x = 11 2

The deviations are,

The square of standard deviation is,
∑ 2
s2 = i di
n
= 5:599  1020 N2 m 4 ;

implying,

s = 0:24  1011 Nm 2 :
The standard error is,
√
n
 = n 1s
= 0:25  1011 Nm 2 :
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 27

di (1011 Nm 2 ) di2 (1018 N2 m 4 )

-0:08 64
0:30 900
-0:24 576
0:29 841
-0:31 961
0:03 9
-0:38 1444
0:20 400
0:20 400
0:02 4

Furthermore, the standard error in the mean is,


m = p
n
= 0:08  1011 Nm 2 :

The best estimate of E , along with its uncertainty is,

E = (1:98  0:08)  1011 Nm 2 :

Dial indicator experiment

The mean value is,

x = 2:05  1011 Nm 2 :

Once again, the deviations are,

The square of standard deviation is,

s 2 = 7:1  1018 N2 m 4 ;

gives

s = 0:03  1011 Nm 2 :

The standard error is,

 = 0:03  1011 Nm 2 :
28CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

di (1011 Nm 2 ) di2 (1018 N2 m 4 )

-0:04 16
0 0
-0:02 4
0:02 4
-0:01 1
-0:03 9
0:04 16
0:04 16
-0:01 1
-0:02 4

And the standard error in the mean value is,


m = p = 0:01  1011 Nm 2 :
10
The best estimate of E , together with its error, is,

E = (2:05  0:01)  1011 Nm 2 :

The results of both the experiments are indistinguishable because the ranges
overlap, indicating that no systematic errors are present. The dial indicator
result is just more precise.

Q.No.3
(a) Given value of A= 25  1, so the value of Z is,

Z = A2 = 625:
The standard error in Z is,
( ) ( )

Z 2
A
=
Z A

Z = 50:

(b) Given A= 100  3, and B= 45  2.

Z = A 2B = 10:
And,
√

Z = (
A)2 + (2
B )2 = 5:

(c) Given A= 0:100  0:003, and B= 1:00  0:05, C= 50:0  0:5, D= 100  8.
( )
A
Z = B C 2 + D3=2 = 350:
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 29

Z
Z
√ Z
x
y (
x )2 + (
yy )2
√ x
xy (
xx )2 + (
yy )2
√
x y (
x )2 + (
y )2
√
x ny m ( n
x )2 + ( m
y )2
x y

We will evaluate
Z using the following relationships,

Using the above results, we can calculate,
√
C 2 + D3=2 A 2 2AC 3A 1=2

Z =
B )
A) + ( B2 (C + D )
B) + ( B
C ) + ( 2B D
D)
(( 2 3=2 2 2 2

= 24:2:

(d) Given A= 10:00  0:06, B= 100  2.

Z = A ln B = 46:1:
Hence,
√( )2 ( )2
dZ dZ

Z =
dA
A +
dB
B
√
A
= (ln B
A)2 + (
B )2
B

Z = 0:3:

(e) Given A= 50  2.
1
Z = 1 A = 0:98:
Hence,
( ) ( )

Z 2
A 2
Z =
A ;
implying,

Z = 0:04:

Q.No.4
The mean values of the measured data are,

x = 2:25 kg  2:3 kg
y = 865 m:
The best value of the slope can be deduced using the following relationship,
∑
(x x)yi
m = ∑i i
i i x)
x
( 2
= 349:2 m/kg:
30CHAPTER 2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS LAB

1800
data 1
1600 y = − 3.5e+002*x + 1.7e+003 linear

1400

1200
deflection (µm)

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

weight (kg)

Figure 4.1: Plot of de ection versus weight.

The intercept value is,

c = y mx
= 1:65  103  1:7  103 :

Also plot the results as shown in Figure (4.1).

Q.No.5
The standard deviation in each dimension is 0:01% ' 10 4 .

The volume of the rectangular block is,

V = l1 l2 l3 :

(a) For this part, the errors a ect the three sides independently. Hence, the
standard error in V will be,
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

V 2
l1 2
l2 2
l3 2
= + +
V l1 l2 l3
( )2

V
= 3  10 8
V

V
V = 1:7  10
4

= 1:7  10 2 %
 0:02 %:
2.5. PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES 31

(b) For temperature variations, all sides are a ected equally. Therefore, one can
use the formula for volume with equal lengths,

V = l 3:

The error in volume will be,

( ) ( )

V 2 3
l 2
=
V l
( ) ( )

V 3
l
=
V l
= 0:03 %:

This result shows that the overall uncertainty can increase, if the errors are not
independent nor random.
Chapter 5

Introduction to Matlab for

Experimental Physics

Waqas Mahmood and Sabieh Anwar

Data analysis and representation are vital steps in any experimental exercise.
They lend meaning to the experiment and provide insight leading to a more
fundamental understanding of the underlying concept. Intelligent data processing
and representation also help the experimenter in re-designing the experiment for
increased accuracy and precision. Clever thinking may even encourage her to
adapt and tailor the procedural steps to elicit some otherwise hidden facet.

In the experimental physics lab, we will use Matlab for,

 analyzing experimental data and computing errors,

 curve tting, and

 graphically representing experimental data.

The present write-up serves as a rst introduction to Matlab. Students who are
not familiar with Matlab, or even with the computer, need not to worry. We will
proceed slowly, allowing everyone to familiarize and acclimatize with the culture
of computing. Luckily, Matlab is a highly user-friendly and interactive package
that is very easy to learn. Furthermore, subsequent laboratory sessions will give
all of us ample opportunity to practice Matlab.

32
5.1. VECTORS AND MATRICES 33

It is important that every student independently works through all the examples
given in this hand-out and attempts all challenge questions. These challenge
questions are labelled with the box Q .

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 6-8 hours of independent work.

This tutorial has been split up into the following sections:

1. Vectors and matrices

2. Graphs and plotting

3. Curve tting

5.1 Vectors and Matrices

Starting Matlab

You can start Matlab by double-clicking on the Matlab icon located on the Desk-
top. The Matlab environment launches showing three windows. On the top left
is the directory window, showing the contents of the working directory. On the
bottom left is the history window, displaying your recently executed commands.
On the right is the larger-sized command window. This is where you will type in
your commands and where the output will be displayed.

Now let us get started with the exercise. The simplest calculation is to add two
numbers. In the command window, type

2+3
What do you see? Indeed, 5, displayed as the answer (ans) in the command
window. If we terminate the command with the semi-colon,

 2 + 3;
the output 5 will not be displayed.

Now take the square of a number, for example, by typing,

5^2
and verify if you get the correct answer.
34CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Creating Vectors and Matrices

Matlab is centred around the manipulation of matrices. In fact, the word Matlab
is acronym for MATrix LABoratory. Let us generate a simple list of numbers,
called a vector. This vector comprises all even numbers greater than or equal to
2 and less than 20. We call this vector evenlist.

 evenlist = [2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18]
The vector will be displayed, all entries ranging from 2 to 18 lined up in a row.
We have just created a row vector. A compact way of creating evenlist would be
to write,

 evenlist2 = 2:2:18
with the rst 2 representing the rst element, the second 2 representing the
step size and the 18 showing the last element of the vector. Indeed evenlist and
evenlist2 are equal. At some later stage, if we want to recall what the vector
evenlist2 is, we just retype the label.

 evenlist2
How do we make a column vector, where all the entries are arranged vertically
instead of horizontally? We can use the semicolon as a delimiter among rows.

 evenlist3 = [2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 12; 14; 16; 18]

Alternatively, we can avoid keying in the numerical entries by taking the transpose
of the row vector evenlist2.

 evenlist4 = evenlist3';

Matrix Arithmetic

Another simple example illustrates matrix multiplication in MATLAB.

 a = [2 4 6; 1 3 5; 7 9 11];
The above operation generates a matrix of order 3  3.
5.1. VECTORS AND MATRICES 35

 
2 4 6
 
 
1 3

5

: (A-1)
7 9 11

Type in the command,

 a ^ 2;
This performs the product of the matrices as a a and the resulting matrix is,
 
50 74 98
 
 
 40

58 76 

: (A-2)
100 154 208

Now perform the following operation on the same matrix,

 a. ^ 2
This operation just takes the square of each entry as shown,

 
4 19 36
 
 
1

9 25 

: (A-3)
49 81 121
By typing a' in the command window, we get the transpose of the generated
matrix a as,

 
2 1 7
 
 
4 3

9

: (A-4)
6 5 11

To understand how MATLAB interprets the forward slash / and the backward
slash n, we try some simple commands.

By typing,

 a=4/2
We obtain the answer 2, the result of a division operation. That is, the number
on the left hand side of the forward slash is being divided by the number on the
36CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

right hand side. On the other hand, if we type,

 b=4n2
The answer is 0.5, which clearly indicates that the number on the right hand side
is being divided by the number on the left hand side.

Introduction to `for' Loops

For loops are very powerful when we want to continuously update elements of
any vector. The typical structure of a for loop is

for (condition)
statements
end

Now de ne a row vector,

 a = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10]
A row vector stores information in the following way,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

a(1) a(2) a(3) a(4) a(5) a(6) a(7) a(8) a(9) a(10)

If we now want to add +1 to all the elements of a, we can write a for loop,

 for k = 1:10
 a(k) = a(k) + 1;
 end
Matlab now updates every element of a by +1. The new array will look like,

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

a(1) a(2) a(3) a(4) a(5) a(6) a(7) a(8) a(9) a(10)

Note that a for statement needs an accompanying end statement marking the
5.1. VECTORS AND MATRICES 37

end of the statements that are being executed.

Extracting Elements from Matrices

Now suppose, we wish to select some entries from a generated row or column
vector or from matrices. De ne the row vector,

 a = [2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20]
We want to extract the entries from column 3 to 7. We write,

 b = a(3:7);
The colon operator will extract the entries from column 3 to 7, thus giving us
the output,

 b = [6 8 10 12 14]
Similar procedure can be repeated with a column vector.

We de ne a matrix by,

 a = [5 8 9; 2 4 6; 1 3 5]

 
5 8 9
 
 
2

4 6

: (A-5)
1 3 5

The order of the matrix a is 3  3. Starting from the easiest concept of selecting
one single entry from a matrix, we will move on to select the whole row or column
of that matrix. Suppose we want to select the entry 4 in the above matrix. We
look at the position of that speci ed entry inside the matrix. The element is
located in the second row and second column of the matrix.

 b =a(2,2)
This command takes the value from second row and second column of a and
saves it in b. The displayed output is 4.

To select a complete row or column of any matrix we have to use the colon
operator, \:" which means that all entries of that speci ed row or column will
38CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

be selected. For example,

 a(2,:)
displays all the entries of the second row of the matrix, and

 a(:,2)
displays all the entries in the second column of the matrix a.

If we write d=a(:,:) in the command window, we get the complete matrix again,
i.e., we have selected all the rows and all the columns.

Higher Dimensional Matrices

Vectors are one-dimensional arrays, but it is also possible to create arrays or

matrices that are two, three or even higher dimensional. For example, let's
create a three-dimensional matrix of size 3  3  3. This means that there are
three layers of two dimensional data. Each layer comprises three rows and three
columns. Suppose the rst sheet contains the rst nine natural numbers arranged
in the form of a square.  
1 2 3
 
 
4 5 6 (A-6)
 
7 8 9
The second sheet contains the squares of these numbers,
 
1 4 9
 
 
16 25 36 (A-7)
 
49 64 81

whereas the third comprises the cubes,

 
1 8 27
 
 
 64

125 216

: (A-8)
343 512 729

Let's label our tri-layered object as F.

Let us rst generate the object F. We pre-allocate some space in the memory by
the command,

 F = zeros(3,3,3);
Now, in all the three layers we have to initiate the appropriate values. For example,
5.1. VECTORS AND MATRICES 39

 F(:,:,1)=[1 2 3;4 5 6; 7 8 9];

This command will save the rst layer of natural numbers in the form of the
matrix,  
1 2 3
 
 
4

5 6

: (A-9)
7 8 9

Then the command,

 F(:,:,2)= F(:,:,1) . ^ 2 ;
generates the squares of the rst layer into the second layer. We can view the
layer by writing,

 F(:,:,2)
and the displayed matrix is, indeed,

 
1 4 9
 
 
16 25

36

: (A-10)
49 64 81

To generate the cubes from the rst layer we type,

 F(:,:,3)=F(:,:,1) . ^ 3
To have a look at the generated data we type,

 F(:,:,3)
yielding,

 
1 8 27
 
 
 64

125 216

: (A-11)
343 512 729

If we wish to see the matrix element in the second row, third column and in the
second layer, we use the command,

 a= F(2,3,2)

An alternative approach to generate the three dimensional matrix F is with the

40CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Figure 5.1: An illustration of the three-dimensional object F.

help of a for loop. The programme written below illustrates the use of the for
loop.

 F = zeros(3,3,3);
 F(:,:,1)=[1 2 3;4 5 6; 7 8 9];
 for k = 1:2
 F(:,:,k+1) = F(:,:,1) . ^ (k+1);
 end
Yet another alternative approach of creating F, is outlined below. Understand
how these options of creating F work.

 F = zeros(3,3,3);
 p = 1:1:9;
 F(:,:,1) = reshape(p,3,3)';
 for k = 1:3
 for m = 1:3
5.2. GRAPHS AND PLOTTING 41

 F(k,m,2) = F(k,m,1). ^ 2;
 F(k,m,3) = F(k,m,1). ^ 3;
 end
 end

5.2 Graphs and Plotting

Graphs are extremely important in experimental physics. There are three impor-
tant uses of graphs [1].

 First, with the help of graphs we can easily determine slopes and intercepts.

 Second, they act as visual aids indicating how one quantity varies when the
other is changed, often revealing subtle relationships. These visual patterns
also tell us if there exist conditions under which simple (linear) relationships
break down or sudden transitions take place.

 Third, graphs help compare theoretical predictions with experimentally ob-

served data.

It is customary to plot the independent variable (the \cause") on the horizontal

axis and the dependent variable (the \e ect") on the vertical axis. In Matlab,
the data for the independent and dependent variables are typed in as vectors.

Plotting Basics

Let's consider the seminal experiment [4] performed by Millikan in 1917 for the
calculation of the value of Planck's constant h. This experiment, based on the
photoelectric e ect, also veri ed Einstein's earlier predictions that light is com-
posed of discrete particles called photons. Millikan's original apparatus as well as
our simpli ed schematic is shown in Figure 5.2.

The experiment works as follows. Monochromatic light (of a xed wavelength and
frequency) falls on a freshly cut surface of sodium metal attached to the electrode
P . As a result electrons are ejected from the metal surface and because of their
ejection momentum, they cruise their way to the electrode Q. These electrons
42CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Light

P Q

(a) (b)

Figure 5.2: (a) Millikan's experimental setup for the determination of h (repro-
duced from [4]) and (b) the simpli ed illustration of Millikan's experiment.

constitute a photocurrent that is measured by the ammeter. But this motion

is opposed by a voltage that makes Q more negative than P . As Q becomes
more and more negative, fewer electrons reach the electrode and the current
diminishes. At a certain potential di erence, called the stopping voltage Vs , the
current nally approaches zero. Millikan repeated the experiment for various light
sources. One such set of his readings is listed in Table 5.1.

Stopping voltage Vs (V) 2:100 1:524 1:367 0:9478 0:3718 +0:3720

Wavelength (
A) 5466 4339 4047 3650 3126 2535

Table 5.1: Millikan's readings for the stopping voltage as a function of the wave-
length of the incident length; results extracted from [4].

Now let's plot Vs as a function of the frequency f , keeping Vs on the vertical and
f on the horizontal axis. The rst step is to input the data in the form of vectors.

 wlength=[5466 4339 4047 3650 3126 2535]*1e-10;

 vs=[-2.1 -1.524 -1.367 -.9478 -.3718 .3720];
Next, we convert the wavelengths to frequencies.

 c=3e8;
 f=c./wlength;
Here c is the speed of light, c=3e8; is a compact way of writing 3  108 . Also
5.2. GRAPHS AND PLOTTING 43

note the pointwise division of the speed of light by the wavelength, using the
familiar \." operator. The graph is achieved using the command,

 gure; plot(f,vs);
and the horizontal and vertical axes are labelled using,

 xlabel(`frequency f (Hz)');
 ylabel(`stopping voltage Vs (V)');
The resulting graph is shown in Figure 5.3(a). The plot is a solid black line
joining the individual data points, even though the points themselves are not
distinguished. These points can in fact be highlighted using symbols such as \o",
\+" and \". The colours can also be adjusted. For example, to plot a solid
red-coloured line with circles for the data points, we use the command,

 gure; plot(f,vs,`r-o');

.5 .5

0 0
stopping voltage Vs (V)

stopping voltage Vs (V)

-.5 -.5

-1.0 -1.0

-1.5 -1.5

-2 -2
(a) (b)
-2.5 -2.5
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
14 14
frequency f (Hz) x 10 frequency f (Hz) x 10

.5

0
stopping voltage Vs (V)

-.5

-1.0

-1.5

-2
(c)
-2.5
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
14
frequency f (Hz) x 10

Figure 5.3: (a) Output from gure; plot(f,vs); a solid jagged line connects the
data points; (b) output from gure; plot(f,vs,`r-o'); a solid red line connects
the data points that are now highlighted; (b) output from gure; plot(f,vs,`ro');
showing just the data points.
44CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Furthermore, if it is required to display the data points only, suppressing the line
that connects between these points, we type,

 gure; plot(f,vs,'ro');
This latter plot, shown in Fig. 5.3(c) in fact, represents a more justi able picture
of the experimental data. This is because the lines drawn in (a) and (b) represent
more than what the data warrants: the lines show that the frequency and the
stopping voltage have some kind of jagged relationship, something that is highly
likely. A more reasonable prediction is that the relationship is a straight line. In
the next section, we will discuss how to draw one such line, using the procedure
of least squares curve tting.

Q 1. The de ection of a cantilever beam is the distance its end moves in

responce to a force applied at the end as shown in Figure 5.4. The following
table gives the de ection x that was produced in a particular beam by the given
applied force f. Find a functional relationship between x and f and plot the graph.

Force f (Pounds) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
De ection x (inches) 0 0:09 0:18 0:28 0:37 0:46 0:55 0:65 0:74

Table 5.2: An experiment to measure force and de ection in cantilever beam.

Q 2. Draw a graph of the function,

sin t
y= t (A-12)

for 0  t  10.
Q 3. For the values of x, 0  2, show by drawing a graph that,

sin2 x + cos2 x = 1: (A-13)

Q 4. Draw a graph of the function,

z = exp( 0:5t ) cos(20t 6) (A-14)

for 0  t  8.
Q 5. Draw a graph of the function,

y = x exp( x ) (A-15)

for 0  x  10.
5.2. GRAPHS AND PLOTTING 45

Weight f

Cantilever

x
Rigid Support

Figure 5.4: A cantilever beam de ection experiment.

Q 6. Biomedical engineers often design instrumentation to measure physio-

logical processes, such as blood pressure. To do this, they must develop mathe-
matical models of the process. The following equation is a speci c case of one
model used to describe the blood pressure in the aorta during systole (the period
following the closure of the heart's aortic valve). The variable t represents time in
seconds and the dimensionless variable y represents the pressure the aortic valve,
normalized by a constant reference pressure.

8t sin (9:7t + 
y (t ) = e 2
): (A-16)

Plot this function for,

t  0: (A-17)
46CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Overlaying Multiple Plots

It is also possible to plot multiple curves on the same gure. This is a highly useful
feature as you will soon realize. Consider for example, the load-line analysis
of electrical circuits. A voltage source V1 , having an internal resistance R1 is
connected to the load as shown in the Figure 5.5. This power supply produces
a xed voltage supplying current i1 to the load resulting in a potential drop V2
across the load.

Figure 5.5: A power supply with resistance R1 and the load are shown in a circuit.

An experimenter built the circuit shown in Figure 5.5. The current-voltage rela-
tionship approximated from the experiment was,

i1 = 0:16(e 0:12V2 1): (A-18)

Let's suppose that we have a supply voltage of V1 =15 V and the resistance of the
supply is 30 Ohms. In the rst step, we write the equation of the circuit using
Kircho 's Voltage Law.
V1 = i1 R1 + V2 ; (A-19)
which implies,
V1 i1 R1 V2 = 0: (A-20)

Load line tells us how the current across the load changes as the voltage across
the load is changed. So, we write Equation A-20 in terms of current as,
1 V
i1 = R V2 + R1 ; (A-21)
1 1
5.2. GRAPHS AND PLOTTING 47

which can be re-written after using the values as,

1
i1 = 30 V2 + 0:5: (A-22)

From equations A-18 and A-22, it is dicult to calculate the values of i1 and V2
because of the exponential factor present in equation A-18. But we can plot the
two curves individually and then overlap to nd the solution.

We will use Matlab to plot the load voltage V2 against the experimentally obtained
relation of current and the relation for current obtained from the rearrangement
of Kircho 's Voltage Law. The point at which these two curves intersect gives
us the solution.

 V2=0:0.01:20; (creating the voltage vector )

 expcurrent=0.16*(exp(0.12*V2)-1); (calculating the current from

the experimental relation)

For the calculation of the values of current from the Equation A-22, we write,

 thcurrent= -(1/30)*V2 +0.5; (calculating the current from Equation

A-22)

The load voltage can then be plotted against current by using the command,

 gure; plot(V2,expcurrent,`.');
where we have used "." for dots. The output is shown in the Figure 5.6 (a).

To plot the load voltage versus current using Equation A-22, write,

 gure; plot(V2,thcurrent,` ');

where we have used two hyphens for a dashed line. The output of the above
mentioned command is shown in Figure 5.6 (b).

To plot both the graphs simultaneously, one on top of another, write,

 gure; plot(V2,expcurrent,'.',V2,thcurrent,`- -');

The result is shown is Figure 5.7.To get the point of intersection press the Data
cursor button in the Figure window and then click at the point of intersection.
The value shown is the solution.
48CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

1.8 0.5

1.6
0.4
1.4
0.3

Current (A)
1.2
Current (A)

1 0.2

0.8
0.1
0.6
0
0.4

-0.1
0.2
(a) (b)
0 -0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 5 10 15 20

Voltage (V) Voltage (V)

Figure 5.6: (a) The load voltage V2 and the Experimental Current. (b) The load
voltage V2 and the Theoretical Current.

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2
Current (V)

0.8

0.6

0.4 X: 7.58
Y: 0.2473

0.2

-0.2
0 5 10 15 20

Voltage (V)

Figure 5.7: Overlaying of two plots and nding the point of intersection.

Q 7. Plot the two curves

y = cos x; and (A-23)

y = x (A-24)

over the range x 2 [0; 3] and use the curves to nd the solution of the equation
x = cos x .
5.2. GRAPHS AND PLOTTING 49

Q 8. Plot the two curves

y = 2 cos x; and (A-25)

y = 2 sin x (A-26)

over the range x 2 [0; 4].

Q 9. Suppose the relationship between the dependent variable y and the in-
dependent variable x is given by,

y = ae x + b (A-27)

where a and b are constants. Sketch a curve of y versus x using arbitrary values
of a and b. Is it possible to obtain a straight line that represents this functional
relationship?

Resolution of the Graph

Figure 5.8(a) shows the result of plotting a sine curve

sin (t ) (A-28)

sampled at intervals of 1 s for a duration of 10 s. As such there are eleven data

points contained within the sampled duration. We know from experience that a
plot of the sine function should be smooth, unlike the irregular curve shown. Why
is there this discrepancy? The reason is that we have not sampled enough points.
Decreasing the sampling interval to 0:1 s and hence, increasing the number of
samples to 101, we recover a smooth sine curve, shown in Figure 5.8(b). These
plots have been made using the following commands.

 t1=0:1:10;
 x1=sin(t1);
 gure; plot(t1,x1,`g-o'); (for the sub gure (a))

 t2=0:.1:10;
 x2=sin(t2);
 gure; plot(t2,x2,`b-v'); (for the sub gure (b))

However, these plots cannot be overlaid one on top of each other using the com-
mand gure; plot(t1,x1,`g-o',t2,x2,`b-v'); as t1 and t2 are essentially di erent
vectors. A way around this is to use the following set of commands.
50CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0

0. 2 0. 2

0. 4 0. 4

0. 6 0. 6

0. 8 0. 8
(a) (b)
1 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

time t (s) time t (s)

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0. 2

0. 4

0. 6

0. 8
(c)
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

time t (s)

Figure 5.8: (a) Output from gure; plot(t1,x1,`g-o'); lower resolution graph; (b)
output from gure; plot(t2,x2,`b-v'); higher resolution graph; (b) output from
gure; plot(t1,x1,`g-o'); hold on; plot(t2,x2,`b-v'); whereby the two graphs
have been drawn on top of each other.

 gure; plot(t1,x1,`g-o'); hold on; plot(t2,x2,`b-v');

We can also specify the color and size of lines which we use while making a plot.
Consider an equation,

y = tan(sin(x )) sin(tan(x )): (A-29)

We plot Equation A-29 for the range x 2 [ ; ] by writing,

 x=-pi:pi/10:pi;
 y=tan(sin(x))-sin(tan(x));
 gure; plot(x,y,`- -rs',`LineWidth',2,`MarkerEdgeColor',`k',`MarkerFaceColor',`g',`MarkerSize',10)
5.3. CURVE FITTING 51

y = tan(sin(x)) - sin(tan(x))

Figure 5.9: Illustration of Color and Size of the lines.

This working produces a graph as shown in Figure 5.9 with,

 a dashed line having red color and square markers,

 squares having black color at the edges,

 squares lled in with green color,

 marker size set to 10.

Lines with di erent styles like solid, dashed and dotted etc. can be drawn with
marker types x, *, + and o. The color options include cyan, magenta, yellow,
black, red, green, blue and white with symbols c, m, y, k, r, g, b, w. There are
plenty of equations in Matlab for you to explore.

5.3 Curve Fitting

Consider, once again, Millikan's famous experiment for determining the Planck
constant. Observe Figure 5.3(c). Can we draw a straight line through these
points, not necessarily touching them? What could be the signi cance of such a
line? In the present section, we will explore answers to this question.

Linear Relationships

Figure 5.10(a) is a reproduction of the data points shown in Figure 5.3(c). How-
ever, in this graph we have also drawn two straight lines. Why straight lines?
52CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

0.5 -0.6

-0.8
0
-1
-0.5
-1.2

Vs / V
Vs / V

-1 -1.4

-1.6
-1.5
-1.8
-2
-2

-2.5 -2.2
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 5 5..5 6 6..5 7 7..5 8 8..5 9
14 14
f / Hz x 10 f / Hz x 10

Figure 5.10: (a) Data points from Millikan's experiment [4] with two possible
lines de ning the functional relationship between f and Vs ; (b) magni ed region
from the graph (a), closely showing the data points and the straight lines.

Linear relationships occur naturally in numerous natural instances and that is

why they have become the scientist's favourite. Linear relationships 1 are direct
manifestations of direct proportionality. If the variables x and y are directly pro-
portional (x / y ), an equal increase in x always results in an equal increase in
y . Be it the extension of a spring when loaded with masses, the acceleration
of an object as it experiences a force or the magnetic eld that winds around a
current carrying conductor, linear relationships are ubiquitous. When these linear
functions are drawn on paper (or on the computer screen), they become straight
lines.

The straight lines we have drawn in Figure 5.10(a) represent a kind of interpola-
tion. In the real experiment, we measure the variables, (xi ; yi ). In our case these
are frequency and stopping voltage. In a set of measurements, we have six pairs
of data points (x1 ; y1 ); (x2 ; y2 ); : : : ; (x6 ; y6 ). What if we want to determine the
stopping voltage for a frequency that was not used by Millikan? We could either
repeat his experiment with a light source with the desired frequency or estimate
using available data. In the latter case, we draw a straight line around the avail-
able measurements (xi ; yi ). This line negotiates data points not available to the
1F = ma
(Newton's law)
F = kx
(Hooke's law)
B = 0 NI
(Ampere's law)
5.3. CURVE FITTING 53

experimenter.

But what straight line do we actually draw? This is a matter of choice. For
example, we have drawn two lines in the Figure. The light colored line takes the
rst and the last data points as reference and connects these points; whereas
the dark colored line connects the mean (or the centre of gravity of the data) to
the end point. Both lines are di erent and at the outset, are equally suitable for
de ning the linear relationship between the variables of interest.

Let's brie y digress to see how we plotted, say, the red line. To plot a line, we
need an equation for the line. Given two points (x1 ; y1 ) and (x6 ; y6 ), a straight
line through these will be given by,
y y1 x x1
y6 y1 = x6 x1 ; (A-30)

and in our case (x1 ; y1 ) = (0:5488  1015 ; 2:1) and (x6 ; y6 ) = (1:1834 
1015 ; 0:3720). (These numbers have been taken from the row vectors f and
vs.) After some basic arithmetic (also done in Matlab) we arrive at the following
equation for the red line,

y = 3:895  10 15 x 4:2375; (A-31)

where in our particular case y is the stopping voltage vs and x is the frequency
f . Similarly, the equation for the blue line was computed by rst calculating the
means of the x and y values. The resulting equation is,

y = 3:895  10 15 x 4:2018; (A-32)

yielding a line parallel to the rst, but displaced upwards. Figure 5.10(b) shows a
close-up of (a), revealing that these lines do not actually touch a majority of the
data points, they just graze within that region.

The graph has been plotted by using the following set of commands.

 line1=3.895e-15*f-4.2375;
 line2=3.895e-15*f-4.2018;
 gure; plot(f,vs,`ro',f,line1,`g-',f,line2,`b-');

Least Squares Curve Fitting of Linear Data

Consider Figure 5.11 where a straight line has been drawn around a set of exper-
imentally measured data points (xi ; yi ). In this example we have N = 7 pairs of
54CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

y = mx + c di

mxi + c
yi

xi

origin

Figure 5.11: Setting for the least squares best t.

measurements. The line is represented by the equation,

y = mx + c (A-33)

where m is the slope and c is the intercept. Of the many lines that can be
drawn, this particular line has a special property that we now investigate. If the
reading along the abscissa (x axis) is xi , the corresponding measurement along
the ordinate (y axis) is yi , but the line we have just drawn takes up the value,
mxi + c instead, which in general, is di erent from yi . This di erence

di = yi mxi c (A-34)

is called the residual or deviation. The special line we have drawn has the property
that it minimizes the sum of the squares of the deviations,

S = Ni=1 di2 = Ni=1 (yi mxi c )2 ; (A-35)

and hence the name least squares curve t. If the di 's are considered to be the
errors, the least squares curve t is the best t in the sense that it minimizes the
squares of the errors.

Q 10. Why do we minimize the sum squares of the residuals Ni=1 di2 instead
of the sum of the residuals Ni=1 di ?

There is an algorithmic procedure for deriving the equation for the least squares
t. The goal is to nd the parameters m and c that minimize the quantity S . The
minimum of S can be determined from elementary calculus. Take the derivative
of S , rst with respect to m and then with respect to c and put the derivatives
equal to zero,
5.3. CURVE FITTING 55

N
@S ∑
@m = 2 xi (yi mxi c ) = 0 (A-36)
i =1
N
@S ∑
(yi mxi c ) = 0:
@c = 2
i =1
(A-37)

Rearranging Equation A-37, we obtain,

N
∑
(yi mxi c ) = 0
i =1
N
∑ N
∑
yi m xi cN = 0
i =1 i =1
∑N ∑N
yi m xi
=) c = i i ; (A-38)
N
N
∑ N
∑
where  : (A-39)
i i =1

The expression for c is inserted into Equation A-36 and after some algebraic
manipulation,

N
∑
xi (yi mxi c ) = 0
i
N
∑ N
∑ N
∑
(xi yi ) m x2
i c xi = 0
i i i
N N ∑N ∑N N
∑ ∑ [ yi m xi ]∑
(xi yi ) m xi2 i
N
i xi = 0
i i i
N N N N N
∑ ∑ 1 (∑ )(∑ ) m (∑ )
(xi yi ) m xi2 N xi yi + N xi 2 = 0;
i i i i i
(A-40)

the following expression for m pops out,

∑N 1 (∑N x )(∑N y )
(xi yi )
i i i i i
m= ( ∑N ) 2 : N (A-41)
(∑N 2 ) x
x i
i i
i N
This cumbersome looking expression can be simpli ed by noticing that,
∑N
xi
i =x (A-42)
N
is the mean of xi and ∑N
yi
i =y (A-43)
N
is the mean of yi , yielding,
∑N
(xi yi ) Nx y
m= i
∑ : (A-44)
N 2
x i i Nx 2
56CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

Furthermore, we can also make use of the following simpli cations for the nu-
merator and denominator of the above expression,
N
∑ N
∑ N
∑
(xi yi ) Nx y = (xi yi ) ( yi )x
i i i
N
∑
= yi (xi x ); and (A-45)
i
N
∑ N
∑
xi2 Nx 2 = xi2 + Nx 2 2Nx 2
i i
N
∑ N
∑
= xi2 + Nx 2 2x xi
i i
N
∑ N
∑ N
∑
= xi2 + x 2 2x xi
i i i
N
∑
= (xi2 + x 2 2xxi )
i
N
∑
= (xi x )2 : (A-46)
i

This tedious but fruitful exercise yields the following compact expression for the
slope of the least squares curve t,
∑N
yi (xi x )
m= ∑i N : (A-47)
i (xi x )
2

Substituting the expression for m back into (A-39) we can determine the inter-
cept,
c = y mx: (A-48)

Q 11. Prove that the least squares curve t passes through the centre of
gravity (x; y ) of the measured data.

Now we use Matlab to nd the least squares curve for Millikan's experimental
data. The commands that generate the best t line are given below.

 numerator=sum(vs.*(f-mean(f)));
 denominator=sum((f-mean(f)).^ 2);
 m=numerator/denominator;
 c=mean(vs)-m*mean(f);
The values are m = 3:9588  10 15 V/Hz and c = 4:2535 V. We can now
easily plot the least squares t, shown in Figure 5.12.

 line3=m*f+c;
5.3. CURVE FITTING 57

 gure; plot(f,vs,`ro',f,line3,`g-')
0.5

- 0.5
Vs / V

-1

-1.5

-2

-2.5
5 -6 7 8 9 10 11 12
14
f / Hz x 10

Figure 5.12: Data points for Millikan's experiment and the least squares curve
t.

The straight line, in fact, has real physical value as well. For example, according
to Einstein's interpretation of the photoelectric e ect, light is carried in the form
of small packets called photons. Corresponding to the frequency f , the photon
carries an energy hf , where h is Planck's constant. As light is shone on the
metal surface, a fraction of the energy called the work function W < hf is
absorbed by the metal surface. The ejected electron carries the energy di erence
hf W appearing as its kinetic energy. As the voltage Vs is made more and more
negative, the number of electrons reaching electrode Q diminishes with only the
more energetic electrons being able to overcome the opposing voltage. At the
stopping voltage, the maximum kinetic energy equals the voltage barrier. Given
a potential of Vs , the corresponding potential energy is eVs , e being the charge
of the electron. This description allows us to write the following equation,

eVs = hf W
(h) (W )
Vs = e f e : (A-49)

Comparing this with the least squares tted equation A-33, we immediately rec-
ognize that the slope m is in fact an estimate of h=e and the intercept c is an
estimate of W=e . Using the slope and intercept from the best- t and a value of
58CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

e = 1:6022  10 19 C, the Planck constant calculates to h = 6:342  10 34 J s

and the work function to W = 6:814  10 19 J or 4:2535 eV.

Least Squares Curve Fitting of Nonlinear Data

The concept of curve tting can also be applied to the nonlinear data. Suppose
we route a sinusoidal ac voltage through a data acquisition system bringing it
into the computer. The hardware samples the voltage, acquiring one sample
every 50 ms and saves the rst 21 points. The time sampling information is
stored in the form of the row vector t where 0:5 s shows the separation between
two sample points..

 t=0:0.05:1;
The voltage measurements made by the acquisition software are given by another
row vector v.

 v=[ 5.4792 7.4488 7.5311 5.7060 2.4202 -1.5217 -5.1546

-7.5890 -8.2290 -6.9178 -3.9765 -0.1252 3.6932 6.5438 7.7287
6.9577 4.4196 0.7359 -3.1915 -6.4012 -8.1072];
Note that size(t)=size(v). We are asked to t this data to a least squares curve,
a sinusoidal function. Our best t will be of the form,

A sin (!t + ); (A-50)

where A is the amplitude, ! is the angular frequency and  is the phase. The
curve tting procedure determines approximations to these parameters, A, ! and
; however, the simple algorithm outlined above for linear ts does not work here.
Instead we use the inbuilt Matlab command lsqcurve t. We rst make a new
function le named sinusoid.m that contains the tting function. Follow the
following steps to make a new function le, also called an \m- le".

1. From the File menu item, click New and M- le. A blank text editor opens.
2. Type in the following text in the editor window.

function Fout=sinusoid(p,Fin)
Fout=p(1)*(sin(p(2)*Fin+p(3)));
end

and save the le in the working directory as sinusoid.m.

5.3. CURVE FITTING 59

Let's parse this le, line by line. The rst line starts with the label function
indicating that this m- le is a function le, or in other words, this le contains
the declaration of a function named sinusoid that can be called from inside the
command window. The function sinusoid takes in two vector arguments, p and
Fin. The former is a vector containing the unknown parameters. In our case p
has three elements p(1), p(2) and p(3) which are respectively A, ! and . The
latter Fin is the input vector, in our case this is the vector containing the time
values. The second line de nes the tting function; this is the Matlab way of
writing Equation (A-50). Finally, the m- le ends with the statement end.

Once the tting function has been de ned, we can nd the least squares curve 2
using the command,

 lsqcurve t(@sinusoid,[8 10 0],t,v)

The rst argument references the function we have just created. The second
argument is a vector containing initial guesses of the unknown parameters. It will
be easier for Matlab if we could make intelligent guesses of these parameters.
The last two arguments, t and v are the abscissa and ordinate variables. Matlab
returns the values of the parameters, A = 7:9551; ! = 10:0256;  = 0:7971.
The initial data points and the higher resolution curve t are then plotted using
the set of commands given below.

 t2=0:0.005:1; (high sampling rate for plotting the tted curve )

 c t=7.9551*sin(10.0256*t2+0.7971);
 gure; plot(t,v,`ro'); hold on;
 plot(t2,c t,`g-');
The results are shown in Figure 5.13.

The command,

 [x,resnorm]=lsqcurve t(@sinusoid,[8 10 0],t,v)

also returns the sum of the squares of the residuals,

N
∑
di2 (A-51)
i

which is a measure of the goodness of the t. Note that lsqcurve t will also work
2 lsqcurve t requires the optimization toolbox
60CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

2
v1 / V

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

t/s

Figure 5.13: Acquired voltage samples. The measurements are plotted as circles
whereas the least squares curve t is drawn as a solid line.

for linear curve tting.

Q 12. Suppose a rocket is red into the space from rest. The distance covered
(in miles) by the rocket and the height gained (in miles) is given in the table below,

Distance (miles) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Height (miles) 0 0:53 0:75 0:92 1:07 1:20 1:31 1:41 1:51 1:60 1:69 1:77 1:85

Table 5.3: Height of a rocket versus Distance.

Plot the graph of distance against height and perform curve tting using an
equation,
p
y = a bx (A-52)

Q 13. An object covers a distance d in time t . A measurement of d with

respect to t produces the set of values given in Table 5.4 [5].

t (s) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
d (m) 0:20 0:43 0:81 1:57 2:43 3:81 4:80 6:39

Table 5.4: Measurements of distance as a function of time.

Plot the distance with respect to t . Then plot with respect to t 2 . If the object
was initially at rest, calculate the acceleration. Use curve tting.
5.3. CURVE FITTING 61

Q 14. Biomedical instruments are used to measure many quantities such as

body temperature, blood oxygen level, heart rate and so on. Engineers developing
these devices often need a response curve that describes how fast the instrument
can make measurements. The response voltage v can be described by one of
these equations,

v (t ) = a1 + a2 e 3t=T

v (t ) = a1 + a2 e 3t=T + a te 3t=T
3
(A-53)

where t is the time and T is an unknown constant. The data given in Table 5.5
gives the voltage v of a certain device as a function of time. Which of the above
functions is a better description of the data [7]?

t (s) 0 0:3 0:8 1:1 1:6 2:3 3

v (V) 0 0:6 1:28 1:5 1:7 1:75 1:8

Table 5.5: Response of a biomedical instrument switched on at time t = 0.

Q 15. In an RC series circuit, a parallel plate capacitor having capacitance C

charges through a resistor R. During the charging of capacitor, charge Q starts
to accumulate on the plates of the capacitor. The expression for growth of charge
V is given by,
V = Vo (1 exp ( t= )) (A-54)

where the time constant  = RC . Fit the given data in Table 5.7 to the equation
for the voltage increase and nd the value of  .

t (s) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
V (V) 0 6:55 10 13 14:5 15 16 16:2 16:3 16:5 16:55

Table 5.6: Charging pattern for a capacitor in an RC circuit.

Q 16. When a constant voltage was applied to a certain motor initially at rest,
its rotational speed S (t ) versus time was measured. The table given below shows
the values of speed against time.

Time (s) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10
Speed (rpm) 1210 1866 2301 2564 2724 2881 2879 2915 3010

Table 5.7: Motor speed when it is given a push.

Try to t the given data with the function given below. Calculate the constants
62CHAPTER 5. INTRODUCTION TO MATLAB FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

b and c.
S (t ) = b(1 e ct ) (A-55)

Q 17. A hot wire anemometer is a device for measuring ow velocity, by

measuring the cooling e ect of the ow on the resistance of a hot wire. The
following data points are obtained in a calibration test.

Figure 5.14: Hot wire anemometer.

u (ft/s) 66:77 59:16 54:45 47:21 42:75 32:71 25:43 8:18

V (volts) 7:58 7:56 7:55 7:53 7:51 7:47 7:44 7:28

Table 5.8: Measurement of ow velocity.

Fit the given data using the relation given below and calculate the unknown
coecients.
u = A(e BV ) (A-56)

Q 18. The yield stress of many metals, y , varies with the size of the grains.
Often, the relationship between the grain size, d, and the yield stress is modelled
with the Hall-Petch equation,

y = 0 + kd 1=2 (A-57)

d (mm) 0:006 0:011 0:017 0:025 0:039 0:060 0:081 0:105

y (MPa) 334 276 249 235 216 197 194 182

Table 5.9: Measurement of ow velocity.

Determine the constants and best t the data points.

Bibliography

[1] G.L. Squires, Practical Physics, (Cambridge University Press, 1999).

[2] http://nsbri.tamu.edu/HumanPhysSpace/focus6/student2.html.

[3] http://zirka.dp.ua/Instructions.htm.

[4] R. Millikan, "A direct photoelectric determination of Planck's \h"",

Phys. Rev. 7 355 (1917).

[5] D. W. Preston, "The Art of Experimental Physics", (Cambridge University

Press, 1991).

[6] www.maths.dundee.ac.uk/ ftp/na-reports/MatlabNotes.pdf.

[7] W. J. Palm, "Introduction to Matlab 6 for Engineers", (McGraw-Hill Com-

panies, 2000).

[8] The Math Works, "The Language of Technical Computing", (The Math
Works, 2000).

[9] Amos Gilat and Vish Subramaniam, "Numerical Methods for Engineers and
Scientists", (Wiley Companies, 2007).

63
Chapter 6

Simple Harmonic Motion is

Observed through Webcam

Waqas Mahmood, Sohaib Shamim, Sabieh Anwar and Wasif

Zia

Look at things around you. From galaxies and stars in the skies to the inner
workings of an atom, we observe never-ending motion. In this experiment we are
going to study the simplest form of periodic motion|namely simple harmonic
motion (SHM) using a readily available webcam and Matlab.

KEYWORDS Simple Harmonic Motion
Amplitude
Acceleration
Angular

Frequency
Damping

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours.

6.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. understand simple harmonic motion and its damping under various condi-
tions;

2. start making simple measurements of lengths and understand the parallax

error;

64
6.2. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES 65

3. understand how errors propagate from an observed to an inferred quantity;

4. identify dimensions and units for simple physical quantities and transform
between physical and logical coordinates;

5. t experimentally observed curves with mathematically modelled solutions;

6. perform simple image processing and computational tasks on the personal

computer; and last,

7. understand the formation and display of colour on TV and computer screens.

6.2 Experimental Objectives

The aim of the present experiment is to examine the amplitude of a freely oscil-
lating as well as an underdamped harmonic oscillator. The experiment requires
measuring the damping constant and then making a quantitative comparison of
theory with experimental results. We will also keep a keen eye on errors as we go
along.

6.3 Theoretical Introduction

Stand against a light source. Tie a tennis ball to a string and whirl it over your
head in a horizontal circle. Observe the shadow on the wall that is opposite to
the light source. You will see linear motion of the shadow which is slowest on the
edges (where it turns around) and fastest in the center. This behavior, slowing
down when moving away from the center and speeding up when approaching the
center, is the signature of simple harmonic motion (SHM).

Characteristic Equation of SHM

Now let's analyze the above example in somewhat mathematical detail. The
motion of the shadow of the ball cast on the wall can be described by,

x (t ) = x0 cos(!t + ); (A-1)

where x (t ) is the position of the shadow on the wall, x0 , called the amplitude, is
the maximum distance of the shadow from the center, !, the rate at which you
66CHAPTER 6. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION IS OBSERVED THROUGH WEBCAM

x v a

t t t

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6.1: Position, velocity and acceleration in SHM. (a) The position x of the
shadow, (b) the slope of x gives the velocity v and (c) the slope of v gives the
acceleration a.

are rotating the ball, t is the time and , the phase, is the deviation of the wave
from a reference. (Also see Fig. 6.1.)

The gradient (slope) of Equation (A-1) gives the velocity of the shadow and the
sign shows the direction of the velocity. The negative means that as x increases, v
decreases. So the shadow has maximum velocity at x = 0 and minimum velocity
(in fact momentarily zero) at x = x0 .

dx (t )
v (t ) = dt = !x0 sin(!t + ); (A-2)

This notion of changing velocity can also be expressed in terms of the acceleration,
given by the gradient (slope) of Equation (A-2).

d 2 x (t ) d v (t )
a(t ) = dt 2 = dt = !2 x0 cos(!t + ); (A-3)

We can replace x0 cos(!t + ) in the above Equation with Equation (A-1) and
as a result obtain,
d 2 x (t )
a(t ) = dt 2 = !2 x (t ): (A-4)

This is the characteristic di erential Equation describing SHM.

Q 1. Write down the Equation for the motion of the particle which is released
from rest at 2 meters from origin, O in the positive direction and rst returns to
this position after 4 seconds. Also sketch the motion [1].

Q 2. A balloon performs SHM in a vertical line with a period of 40 seconds. Its

height varies between 800 and 850 meters. Find the speed of the balloon when
it is at 820 meters [1].
6.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 67

Q 3. A particle is moving with SHM. At what distance from the center will
the velocity be half that of the maximum velocity?

Mass-Spring System

Combining Newton's law,

F = ma (A-5)

and Hooke's law, 1

F = kx (A-6)

where k is the spring constant, we get

k
a = m x: (A-7)

This can also be written as,

d 2x 2
dt 2 + !0 x = 0; (A-8)

with the de nition,

k
!02 = m : (A-9)

Now let's analyze the energy of this system. The total mechanical energy (ET )
of the mass-spring system is the sum of kinetic and potential energies, EK and
EP ,

1 1
ET = 2 mv 2 + 2 kx 2 ; (A-10)

that can be re-written in light of Equation (A-2) as,

1 ( dx ) 1
ET = 2 m dt 2 + 2 kx 2 : (A-11)

The conservation of energy ensures that the total energy is unchanging. As

a result, kinetic and potential energies inter-convert keeping the sum constant.
At the point of maximum displacement, the energy is wholly potential (EK =
0; ET = EP ) and at the centre, all the energy is kinetic (EP = 0; ET = EK ).

Q 4. What are the units of !, k and m?

1 \It is very evident that the Rule or Law of Nature in every springing body is, that the force
or power thereof to restore it self to its natural position is always proportionate to the distance
or space it is removed therefrom, whether it be by rarefaction, or separation of its parts the
one from the other, or by a Condensation, or crowding of those parts nearer together." Robert
Hooke (1678)
68CHAPTER 6. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION IS OBSERVED THROUGH WEBCAM

Q 5. Sketch a graph between ET and time. Now on the same graph sketch
curves for Ek and EP .

Q 6. A spring of natural length 0:6 meters is attached to a xed point A on

a smooth horizontal table in the presence of air. A force of 10 x N is needed to
keep the spring extended by x meters. A block of mass 0:1 kg is attached to the
other end. The block is pulled away from A until it is 0:75 meters from A, and
then let go. Describe the subsequent motion [1].

The Decay of Vibrations

Equation (A-4) represents the ideal situation where there is no damping. A mass
set in motion once will continue displaying its oscillations for all times to come.
However, as we all very well know, this is never the case. The amplitude of the
oscillating mass keeps on decreasing, till it eventually comes to rest. We now
investigate this behaviour, called the damping e ect.

Every medium (such as air, water) exerts a frictional forces on any moving object.
This resistive force slows down the object, eventually bringing it to rest. In our
case, the medium is air, slowing down the oscillating mass-spring system. One
form of Newton's second law that models this frictional e ect is,

F = bv; (A-12)

where v is the velocity of the particle and b is the drag coecient.

Combining the two forces (-kx and -bv), we get,

F = bv kx = ma; (A-13)

b k
=) a + m v + m x = 0: (A-14)

This can be re-written as,

d 2 x (t ) b dx (t ) k
dt 2 + m dt + m x (t ) = 0; (A-15)

b k
Replacing and !02 respectively, the di erential Equation now
m and m with
becomes
d 2x dx 2
dt 2 +
dt + !0 x = 0: (A-16)

Q 7. What is the di erence between Equations (A-8) and (A-16)?

6.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 69

1
Underdamping
Overdamping
Critical Damping
0.5
x/x0

0.5

1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
t (s)

Figure 6.2: Decaying oscillations for underdamped, overdamped and critically

damped harmonic oscillations. Our experiment is performed in the underdamped
regime.

In this particular case, the damping is characterized by and !0 represents the

natural angular frequency of the system if damping were absent.

In the current experiment, we will consider only one kind of damping: under-
damped SHM. As the term underdamped suggests, the oscillations die away,
albeit slowly. We will not go into the details of the various kinds of damping.
However Figure 6.2 gives a good intuitive feel of how these damped motions look
like.

The solution to Equation (A-16), for the underdamped oscillations, is given by

( = 0),

x (t ) = A exp ( 2 t )cos (!1 t ); (A-17)

where A is the maximum amplitude at t = 0 and,

√
2
!1 = !0 2 4
: (A-18)

The solution, Equation (A-17) is the mathematical representation of the under-

damped oscillation of the mass-spring system, it shows how the position x (t )
varies as time t . This solution can be divided into two parts, A exp(t ) repre-
2
sents the damping of the amplitude (also called the envelope) whereas cos(!1 t )
represents the oscillations of the mass, with a frequency !1 . Note that !1 6= !0 .
70CHAPTER 6. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION IS OBSERVED THROUGH WEBCAM

6.4 Apparatus
Our damped harmonic oscillator apparatus consists of a set of masses (locally
fabricated) attached to the end of a helical spring (PASCO part no. SE-8749).
The mass is displaced slightly and the resulting motion is recorded using a web
camera (A4Tech) that is attached to a computer. The data processing is per-
formed in Matlab that is equipped with the Image Processing toolbox. Fig. 6.3
shows the schematic setup of the experiment.

Spring

Mass
WebCam

USB
Cable
Beaker

PC

Figure 6.3: Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

6.5 The Experiment

Determining the Spring Constant

F Q 8. Note the mass m of the mass hanger. What are its units?

F Q 9. Set up the apparatus as shown in the schematic. Attach the mass

hanger and note the extension, using the attached meter rule. What are the
units of the extension?

F Q 10. Add weights of equal mass and measure the extension each time a
6.5. THE EXPERIMENT 71

weight is added. You must not exceed the elastic limit.

F Q 11. Plot a graph using the table developed above and draw the least
squares curve t.

F Q 12. Find the spring constant k . What are the units of k ?

F Q 13. What is the error in k ?

F Q 14. Calculate an expected value of !0 using Equation (A-16). Also predict

the period of free oscillations. What is the uncertainty in the time period?

Free Oscillations

Remove the meter rule and start Matlab. (In the script, Matlab commands are
preceded with the symbol .)

Pull the mass down by about 5 cm and release it.

 webcam
The command above activates a live video preview window and you can see the
mass oscillating on your computer screen. Readjust the apparatus to obtain a
vertically oscillating mass appearing on the computer screen.

In order to acquire frames, you need to type

 start(vid);
This will acquire 300 frames. Observe the parameters updating themselves in
the bottom of the video preview window. In order to store these frames in the
memory, you need to type

 savedata
This will create two arrays named frames and time and store the acquired frames
and their time stamped values.

 size(frames)
F Q 15. You see 4 numbers. Write down these values and explain what they
represent.

The rst frame can be viewed by typing in the following commands.

72CHAPTER 6. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION IS OBSERVED THROUGH WEBCAM

 rstframe = frames( : , : , : , 1);

 imview( rstframe);
F Q 16. What is the size of the rst frame?

Try viewing the second, third and the fourth frame.

Next you need to crop the acquired frames so that all the irrelevant information
is ltered out. Matlab has a built-in command known as imcrop which crops an
image to a speci ed rectangle. You can crop the rst frame by typing

 rect= [xmin ymin (|xmax {z xmin}) (|ymax {z ymin})]

width height

HINT: Use the data cursor to scan the x and y coordinates for their maximum
and minimum values.

 cropregion = imcrop( rstframe,rect);

F Q 17. How will you view the cropregion?

F Q 18. Now write a Matlab code that crops all the 300 frames in one go and
saves the cropped array with the name regions. HINT: Make a for loop.

F Q 19. What is the size of the array regions?

 imageprocess
will process all the cropped images in regions and will calculate the centre of
mass of the oscillating mass. In order to calculate the displacement coordinates
for the centre of mass, use the command

 masscentre
The x and y coordinates of the centre of mass through the 300 frames can be
viewed by typing

 x = centre(:,1), and

 y = centre(:,2).
F Q 20. Plot a graph of the x coordinates against time. What does this graph
physically represent?

F Q 21. What happens to the x coordinates and explain why?

6.5. THE EXPERIMENT 73

F Q 22. Now plot a graph of the y coordinates with time. Record the approx-
imate time period of the oscillation in seconds.

F Q 23. Compare this result with the time period from Question 14.

Q 24. When the undamped spring is stretched and released, show that the
total energy ET at any given time is,

1 1
ET = 2 mx02 !02 = 2 kx02 : (A-19)

HINT: Use v = x0 !sin(!t ) and Equation (A-10).

Damped Oscillations

Q 25. We now move on to see how the energy changes with time in an un-
derdamped system with !0  . Show that the energy at any subsequent time
is given by,

E (t )  E0 exp( t) (A-20)

where,
1 1
E0 = 2 mA2 !02 = 2 kA2 : (A-21)

F Q 26. Place the beaker containing water under the mass-spring system. Pull
the mass down so that it is completely immersed in water. Repeat the experiment
as in Section 6.5.

F Q 27. Plot the graph of amplitude against time. What do you observe?

F Q 28. From the graph, record the value of amplitude of each cycle and the
corresponding time at which this happens.
E (t )
F Q 29. Plot a graph of ln [
E0 ] versus time, where E0 represents the energy
of the rst oscillation that you took into consideration and E(t) represents the
energy at any given time t thereafter.
E (t )
F Q 30. Why do you think plotting a graph of ln[
E0 ] against time is more
appropriate than a graph of ln[E(t)] against time?

F Q 31. Using the available data, calculate the estimated values for , !1 and
hence for b.
74CHAPTER 6. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION IS OBSERVED THROUGH WEBCAM

F Q 32. Suggest ways in which the experiment can be improved.

6.6 Experience Questions

1. Is jumping on a spring mattress SHM? Explain your answer.

2. Are there any springs in nature?

3. Would a mass-spring system also work in space?

4. Can we make a spring using strong magnet bars?

5. Why do we need shock absorbers with springs in cars?

6.7 Idea Experiments

1. Use glycerine instead of water for damping. Can you determine the viscosity
of glycerine? HINT: Use Stokes Law.

2. Solve the di erential Equation (A-15) using the quadratic formula and an-
alyze the discriminant for less than, equal to and greater than zero.

3. Try horizontal mass-spring system instead of gravity driven. Discuss friction.

4. Try to nd out if friction is surface area dependent or not. HINT:Slide

blocks down a plank and observe using a webcam.

5. Study the di usion of ink in water using webcam [2].

6. Demonstrate the damping of a pendulum [3].

Bibliography

[1] D. A. Qadling, Elementary Mechanics Vol. 3-4, (Cambridge, 1999).

[2] S. Nedev, and V. C. Ivanova, "Webcam as a measuring tool in the under-

graduate physics laboratory", Eur. J. Phys. 27 1213 (2006).

[3] L.F.C. Zonnetti, A.S.S. Camargo, J. Sartori, D. F. de Sousa, and

L. A. O. Nunes, "Demonstration of dry and viscous damping of an oscil-
lating pendulum", Eur. J. Phys. 20 85 (1999).

[4] A. P. French, Vibrations and Waves Vol. 3-4, (M.I.T. Introductory Physics
Series, USA and CBS Publishers, India, 2003).

75
Chapter 7

Rotational Dynamics,
Moment of Inertia, Torque
and Rotational Friction

Waqas Mahmood, Sohaib Shamim, Wasif Zia and Sabieh

Anwar

Ask a friend to help you rotate on a computer chair with your arms and legs
stretched outwards. Keeping your body sti , pull your legs up and wrap your
arms around while you are still rotating. What do you notice? What was the
feeling? How does it change when you pulled back your limbs?

Considering that there is negligible resistance by the chair pivot and air, push
gently. There is some resistance that your partner's mass poses when you try to
rotate him/her. This feeling of opposition is the property of mass called inertia
which resists change of state; rest or uniform motion.

Well developed Newtonian Mechanics is all that was applied by National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration (NASA) to reach the Moon. From our car
engines and heavy industrial equipment to celestial bodies, all follow Newtonian
Mechanics. Nevertheless we cannot regard Newton's laws as universal because
Relativistic Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics are more general and better at
explaining nature in their own rights.

76
7.1. CONCEPTUAL OBJECTIVES 77

KEYWORDS
Rigid Body
Angular Momentum
Angular Velocity
Angular Acceleration

Moment of Inertia
Torque

7.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. appreciate the similarities and di erences between rotational and transla-

tional motion;

2. investigate energy loss through friction;

3. process and analyze data to extract required information;

4. appreciate that there exist di erent ways of measuring a physical quantity

with di erent accuracy and precision;

5. t experimentally observed curves with mathematically modeled solutions;

and

6. see how errors propagate from measured to inferred quantities.

7.2 Experimental Objectives

The experiment is divided into four sections. The early sections require making
measurements of angular velocity and moment of inertia of the available disks,
which are subject to frictional losses. Later sections require the use of a computer
to help you monitor and record these measurements more quickly.

7.3 Theoretical Introduction

This experiment introduces you to the concepts of rotational motion. We shall
touch upon a number of topics and discuss how a large complex object can be
considered to be composed of a large assemblage of ideal particles. We will
elaborate that a full description of a body's motion must include linear as well
as rotational motion. Furthermore, we will discuss torque as it applies to our
experiment.
78CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

Angular Momentum

We can consider the provided circular disks (rigid bodies) to be made up of small
in nitesimal particles of masses m1 ; m2 ; m3 ; : : : mi ; : : :. Their placement may
be de ned with the position vectors r1 ; r2 ; r3 ; : : : ri ; : : : and when rotating, their
instantaneous velocities may be de ned as v1 ; v2 ; v3 ; : : : vi ; : : :. The index i shows
one of the many particles.

Figure 7.1 illustrates the i th particle rotating about the z axis.

ri mi vi

J = mi vi ri

Figure 7.1: A representative particle rotating about the z-axis; mi vi is the linear
momentum and J is the angular momentum.

The angular momentum of the particle about z axis is given by,

Ji = mi vi  ri ; (A-1)

where  denotes the vector or cross product.

For a particle rotating with an angular velocity ! about z axis, we can say that,

vi = ri !: (A-2)

Consider a circular disk rotating about the z axis. The disk itself can be considered
to be composed of with all its in nitesimal elements in the xy plane. Using
Equation (A-1) and Equation (A-2) we can write for the i th particle,

Ji = mi ri2 !: (A-3)

The total angular momentum of a disk about an axis is simply the sum of all the
angular momentums for the in nitesimal particles,
7.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 79

J2= m2v2 r2
R
J1= m1v1 r1

J3= m3v3 r3

Figure 7.2: Disk can be considered to comprise particles. The individual angu-
lar momentums of these particles will all add up resulting in the total angular
momentum.

N
∑
J= mi vi  ri : (A-4)
i =1

Moment of Inertia

The cross product for a disk rotating about the z axis with its components in the
xy plane can be expanded as,
N
∑
Jz = (mi ri 2 )!: (A-5)
i =1

∑
Here I = mi ri 2 is a constant (irrespective of the angular velocity of the disk)
and is known as the moment of inertia of the disk. Therefore Equation (A-5)
becomes,

Jz = I!: (A-6)

In the present experiment, we will investigate the rotational kinematics of a disk.

It will also be helpful to know the moment of inertia for a circular disk, which is,

1
I = 2 MR2 (A-7)

where M is the mass and R is the radius of the disk.

Q 1. Show that the kinetic energy of a rotating disk is given by,

1
KE = 2 I!2 : (A-8)
80CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

1 2
(HINT: Kinetic energy for a particle is given by, K = mv . Sum for all the
∑ 2
particles and use the fact, I = mi ri 2 .)

Moment of inertia is analogous to inertia in linear kinematics. However, since

in rotational motion, we always nd ourselves dealing with moments, we call the
inertia in circular motion as moment of inertia. Moment of inertia of a particular
body is de ned with respect to a particular rotation axis and is di erent for a body
when it is rotating about x , y or z axes. Table 1 provides a brief comparison of
linear and rotational motions and their characteristics.

Table 7.1: Comparison between Linear and Rotational Motion.

Concepts and quantities Linear Motion Rotational Motion
Position x 
Velocity v !
v !
Acceleration a =t =
t
Motion Equations x = vt  = !t
Newton's 2nd Law F = ma  =I
Momentum p = mv J = I!
Work Fx 
1 2 1 2
Kinetic Energy
2
mv 2
I!

Q 2. A circular disk of mass 0:2 kg and radius 0:1 m is rotating at 10 revolu-

tions per second. Calculate the angular frequency, moment of inertia and kinetic
energy of this disk.

Turning E ect

Q 3. De ne torque.

Mathematically, torque ( ) is,

= r  F; (A-9)
where r is the displacement between the line of action of force and the particle
and F is the force applied.

Expanding the cross-product we get,

= rF sin(): (A-10)

where  is the angle between F and r.

7.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 81

In a gravity driven system, we may replace F using Newton's second law and
express the equation as,

= mgr sin(); (A-11)

where m is the mass used to drive the mechanism and g is the acceleration due
to gravity.

Angular Acceleration

Q 4. De ne angular acceleration.

Mathematically, angular acceleration is given by

d!
=
dt : (A-12)

You may want to refer to Table 7.1 to become more comfortable with this seem-
ingly new term which is just an equivalent of linear acceleration adapted for
rotational motion. In other words it is the gradient of angular velocity versus
time graph.

Newton's second law for rotational motion states that,

=I (A-13)

where is the applied torque, is the angular acceleration and I is the moment
of inertia|the rotational equivalent of mass. Note its similarity to Newton's law
for linear motion F = ma, establishing the moment of inertia as the analogue of
mass and torque as the analogue of force.

If we substitute Equation (A-11) and Equation (A-12) in Equation (A-13) we

get,

d!
mgr sin() = I dt : (A-14)
82CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

7.4 Introduction to the Apparatus

In addition to the PC, the apparatus consists of the following components

1. Rotational Motion Apparatus This apparatus, ME-9341 was procured

from PASCO Scienti c. The contents of the apparatus are in Figure 7.3.

Bas e Spindle Screw Rod

Bus hing of Bearing
Assembly

Leveling
Support

Bubble Level

Main Platter Auxiliary

Platter

Super
Pulley (SP)

Step Pulley

LabPro (LP)
Smart with USB
Timer (ST)
Photogate P2
Photogate P1

Shutt er

Figure 7.3: The components of the rotational motion apparatus. Note the arrows
showing the particulars of the components.

2. Hand{Held Interface and Photogate An interface from Vernier LabPro

has been used to transfer our data to LabVIEW as the apparatus was
not originally designed to run on a PC. An additional photogate which is
calibrated for the interface is also used in the later section.

The photogate sends a narrow beam of infrared radiation from one arm
which is detected by a detector in the opposite arm. When the beam is
7.4. INTRODUCTION TO THE APPARATUS 83

rst blocked, a signal is sent to the smart timer (ST ). The Gate mode
records the time between the two successive blocking of infrared light and
helps in measuring the speed and average velocities of an object passing
through the photogate as shown in Figure 7.4.

We use Fence mode to record the time between ten successive interruptions
of the photogate. The timing begins when the beam is rst blocked and
stops when it has been blocked ten times. Using the Select Measurement
key, user can recall the 10 di erent times when the beam was blocked.

t1

Gate Mode

t
10

Fence Mode

Figure 7.4: Illustration of the modes for the Smart Timer.

84CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

Figure 7.5: Illustration of the experimental set up.

7.5 Experimental Method

Preparation

F Q 5. Place the bubble level on the base. See if the bubble is in the inner
ring. If not, screw or unscrew the three adjustable supports underneath, to bring
the bubble in the inner most ring.

F Q 6. Find the diameters of all the pulleys on the main platter.

F Q 7. Find the mass of the main platter. Note the uncertainty in your reading.

F Q 8. Slide the spindle into the bushing of the bearing assembly. Then slide
the main platter atop with the pulleys facing up. Then attach a cardboard or
chart paper strip to it as shown in the Figure 7.6.

Figure 7.6: Cardboard attached to the disk.

F Q 9. Clamp the super pulley (SP ) to the base such that the thread from
the step pulley is in line with the edge of the SP .

F Q 10. Attach the screw rod to the photogate (P1 ) and slide it into one of
the holes on the sides of the base.

F Q 11. Check the connections of the photogate (P1 ) with the smart timer
(ST ).
7.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 85

F Q 12. Check if ST beeps when you switch it ON using the power switch on
the side. Press 1 and then 2 . You will now be in the GATE timing mode.

F Q 13. Give a push to the main platter and press 3 from ST.

F Q 14. Explain the value that has been returned by ST .

F Q 15. What is the uncertainty in your measurement?

Determination of Moment of Inertia I

F Q 16. Take a thread of suitable length e.g. 150 cm approximately, the mass
hanger weighing 5 g and a 100 g mass. Tie one end of the thread to the hanger
and wrap the other end around the medium or middle pulley. Now pass this thread
over the SP .

F Q 17. Change the measurement mode of the ST to FENCE. This can be

achieved by pressing 1 once and then 2 twice from ST . In the FENCE mode,
the ST is capable of taking ten readings in one go.

F Q 18. Perform the following experimental procedures.

1. With help of the provided meter rule, note the height from which you want
to release the mass.

2. Set the system in motion.

3. Wait for the hanger to hit the ground.

4. Immediately after this, press START from ST which measures the time
period for ten rotations.

F Q 19. Switch o the ST .

F Q 20. Repeat the procedure with the stop watch and record the time period
for rst, sixth and tenth rotation.

F Q 21. Tabulate your results and calculate the angular speed of the disk
using the ST and stopwatch data. Explicitly write down the uncertainties in your
results.

The rotational kinetic energy gained by the disk equals the gravitational potential
energy lost by the masses.
86CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

F Q 22. Express the above statement in mathematical form, i.e. in the form
of an equation.

F Q 23. Determine the moment of inertia of the main platter.

F Q 24. What is the uncertainty in the value of I ?

F Q 25. What is the main source of error in your measurement?

Show your results to the demonstrator once you have reached this point.

Frictional Losses

F Q 26. Take a thread of suitable length e.g. 100 cm, a mass hanger and a
one or two 150 g masses. Tie one end of the thread to the screw protruding from
the smallest pulley on the main platter. Then pass the thread from the holes right
beside the screw. Wind the rest of the thread on the medium or middle pulley
and tie the other end to the hanger.

F Q 27. Perform the following procedural steps.

1. Measure the diameter of the main platter.

2. Attach the cardbaord with 32 equal spacings onto the main platter as shown
in the Figure 7.7.
4mm Thick Strip
Main Platter

Photogate
Smart Pulley

Smart
Timer

Cardboard Paper

Mass + Hanger (150 g)

Figure 7.7: Calculating frictional losses using the cardboard method.

3. Set the photo gate P1 in counts (Manual)1 mode. This ensures that ev-
1 In manual mode, counter tickles on every count and user can stop it manually at any time.
7.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 87

ery time the photogate beam is blocked by the cardboard arm, a count
is recorded. You can then use the separation between the strips and the
number of counts to work out the vertical distance moved by the mass.

4. Allow the mass to fall down and note the number of counts at maxima and
minima until the oscillations die out.

5. Use the number of counts to work out the height lost during each oscillation.

6. Repeat the experiment atleast three times and determine the average en-
ergy lost in one revolution.

11
maxima
10.8

10.6

10.4

10.2
height(cm)

10

9.8

9.6

9.4

9.2
minima
9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
time(s)

Figure 7.8: Maximum and minimum heights.

F Q 28. Now refer to your results in the previous section and determine a new
value for the moment inertia of the disk.
88CHAPTER 7. ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS, MOMENT OF INERTIA, TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL FRICTION

Decay of Angular Velocity

For the remainder of this experiment, we will use a PC to record data. Ask the
demonstrator to set-up the photogate P2 for you.

F Q 29. Load the data acquisition program by double clicking on the LabVIEW
le rotationaldynamics.

F Q 30. You need to enter a le path where your data will be stored. Enter
the path Z:nYour Prefered Folder. You can start the program by clicking the
RUN button.
F Q 31. LabVIEW will ask you for a le name where it will save data. Enter
velocitydecay as the le name.

F Q 32. Attach the provided card to the main platter. Now using the provided
thread, rotate the platter with the maximum possible angular velocity. (You will
need to pull the thread quickly and forcefully!).

F Q 33. Press the Acquire button. You can stop the acquisition at any time
by pressing the Stop button.

F Q 34. You can see the time elapsed since the start of the acquisition under
the heading Indicators. The green light ashes every time LabVIEW acquires
data. If you want to see the acquired data on the LabVIEW screen, press the
Plot Graph button.
F Q 35. Stop the acquisition when the platter has almost come to a halt.

F Q 36. Open Matlab. Import all your data into Matlab by typing

>> rotationalmechanics

in the Matlab command prompt. You can see two columns, one showing the
number of times the strip on the main platter has crossed the photogate and the
other showing the corresponding time.

F Q 37. Analyze your data to obtain angular velocities at di erent times and
plot a graph of angular velocity against time. Think carefully if you should use all
of the data when plotting a graph.

The decay in angular velocity may be modeled by the exponential function;

! = !0 exp ( ct ) (A-15)
7.6. EXPERIENCE QUESTIONS 89

where c is a positive constant.

F Q 38. Plot least squares curve t to the date points following the Equation
(A-15).

F Q 39. Plot the natural log of ! with respect to time and through curve
tting and estimate the value of c .

7.6 Experience Questions

1. Why do we feel vertigo after a spin on a merry-go-round?

2. Does the inertia of our body increase in a swimming pool?

3. If mass m is right on top of center of gravity, does that mean there is no

value of I for that mass?

4. In an accident, the body may be stopped by the seat belt and air bags.
Where does all the momentum go? Can this cause bodily injury?

5. Why do cats always fall feet rst on the ground?

7.7 Idea Experiments

1. Find your body's moment of inertia.

2. Use di erent masses to check if the relationship between the frictional losses
and energy delivered is linear.

3. Drop the auxiliary platter on the main platter when rotating to verify the
conservation of momentum.
Chapter 8

Heat Transfer and Newtons

Law of Cooling

Sabieh Anwar, Sohaib Shamim and Wasif Zia

If you put one end of a spoon on the stove and wait for a while, your nger tips
start feeling the burn. So how do you explain this simple observation in terms of
physics?

We all know that owing matter (such as air) in contact with a heated object
can help `carry the heat away'. The motion of the uid, its turbulence, the ow
pattern and the shape, size and surface of the object can have a pronounced e ect
on how heat is transferred. These heat ow mechanisms are also an essential
part of our ventilation and air conditioning mechanisms, adding comfort to our
lives. Importantly, without heat exchange in power plants it is impossible to think
of any power generation, without heat transfer the internal combustion engine
could not drive our automobiles and without it, we would not be able to use
our computers for long time and do lengthy experiments (e.g Heat Transfer),
without overheating and frying our electronics. Heat transfer is also an integral
component of the global climatic cycle, a ecting how the human civilization has
demographically placed itself on the globe and what lifestyles and customs have
evolved around geographical habitats. Finally, global warming is a slow poison
that will, in part, determine our future destinies.

KEYWORDS
90
8.1. CONCEPTUAL OBJECTIVES 91

Internal Energy
Temperature
Convection
Radiation
Black Body Radiation

Newton's Law of Cooling
Stefan-Boltzmann Law
Thermocouple
Data Ac-
quisition

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours

8.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. Learn about Newton's law of cooling, and simultaneous radiative and con-
vective loses;

2. identify the role of thermally conducting and insulating materials;

3. learn about temperature measurements using thermocouples;

4. corroborate experimental results with theoretical predictions;

5. mathematically model natural processes;

6. appreciate the role of approximations in experimental science; and

7. calculate the propagation of errors from observed to inferred quantities.

8.2 Experimental Objectives

In the present experiment, we heat an object and observe how it cools with time
and what factors a ect the cooling rate. We adapt the experimental setup to
interchange between two di erent environments. In one section, we allow the
object to be cooled with the help of forced air currents and in the other, the
system is made to act like a black body cavity. We will also learn how to use
the thermocouple, an important component of numerous commercially important
processes.

8.3 Theoretical Introduction

Thermal Convection

Suppose you are driving your car in a hot June afternoon. You bend over a bit to
see the air above your car's hood. Why does the background seem so hazy? The
92 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

observation is a result of a process called convection and it occurs when a moving

uid comes in contact with an object whose temperature is higher than that of
the uid itself. When the less energetic molecules of the air come in contact
with the fast vibrating molecules of the hood, they undergo collisions, picking up
energy from the hot surface of the hood. At the intimate interface of the hood
and the air, the process is exactly similar to conduction. But the temperature of
the air soon rises at the surface, the density decreases and the molecules have
become more buoyant, causing the hot air to rise. These molecules then transfer
the thermal energy to neighboring molecules through collisions (conduction) as
well as through the bulk ow of air (convection). In practice, both of these modes
of heat transfer go on, hands in hand [1]. Which process dominates is determined
by the shape of the heated object and the ow velocity and pro le of the uid.

Convection is also seen at the global scale when it rains. In fact in Lahore, we all
eagerly await the Monsoon season. It is the process of convection that transports
the thermal energy from the hot land surfaces to the atmosphere. The rising hot
air on the land creates a low pressure region that sucks air laden with condensed
water vapour from above the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. By the time
clouds reach the land mass, they gradually rise to higher and higher altitudes,
the moisture is condensed and the clouds nally lay their watery burden onto the
thirsty land.

Newton's Law of Cooling

Newton's law of cooling states that the rate of change of temperature of an

object is directly proportional to the temperature di erence of the object with its
surroundings. Mathematically,

Qconv = hA (T2 T1 ); (A-1)

and in terms of power density,

qconv = h (T2 T1 ): (A-2)

Here T2 is the temperature of the hot object and T1 is the temperature of the
uid far away from the object. The units of Qconv are watts and h is called the
coecient of convective heat transfer. Equation (A-1) is sometimes referred to
as Newton's law of cooling.

Q 1. What are the units of h?

8.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 93

fluid far away from

the heated object
T1
Q A=πdL

T2
d

Figure 8.1: Setting for Newton's law of cooling. The power transmitted from a
rod of surface area A is Q. The surface is at a steady temperature of T2 and T1
is the temperature of a mass of air far away.

Amongst several other tasks, this experiment will help us determine (a) how T2
varies with time, and (b) the value of h. The value of h depends on the properties
and ow of the uid, the temperature of the hot surface, the surface geometry
as well as the bulk uid velocity [1]. It is an empirical quantity.

Q 2. Hot air at 80 C is blown over a 2  4 m2 at surface at 30 . If the

average coecient of convective heat transfer is 55 W m 2 , determine the rate
of heat transfer from the air to the plate [1].

Forced Convection

Many electronic devices these days, computers included, come with cooling units.
These are small fans that direct a stream of air onto the printed circuit board
that is likely to get heated or the microprocessor. The increased air currents
help the convection process, supplementing the density-assisted buoyant forces.
Mathematically, forced convection, as it is called, changes the value of h. For
example, for convection in still air, the value of h could be 2 25 W m 2 K 1

whereas this could go as high up to 250 if the air is in motion.

Figure 8.2: Forced convection.

94 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

Interestingly, human bodies also produce heat. Ventilation systems in buildings are
designed keeping in account the heat loads of human bodies. An average adult,
even in a state of resting, has a certain basal metabolic rate (BMR). The process
generates heat. The typical heat load is 90 W per person and this heat must
be dissipated. For an average human surface area of 2 m2 , the ux of heat that
must be transferred to the atmosphere is 45 W m 2 . We all know very well, that
in summers, when it is very hot, it becomes increasingly dicult to dissipate this
heat and hence most of us resort to the luxuries of forced convection. We must
also remember that the human body has, in fact, developed a very sophisticated
regulatory mechanism for this purpose.

Q 3. Air impinges onto a power transistor with a certain velocity, always main-
taining a convective heat transfer coecient h of 100 W m 2 K 1 . The tempera-
ture of the air is 25 C and the maximum temperature the transistor can withstand
is 60 . The diameter and length are 10 mm each. Calculate the maximum power
dissipation of the transistor? (Adapted from [2].)

Figure 8.3: Power transistor.

Q 4. You extend your hand outside a car moving at a speed of 60 km h 1 . The

outside air temperature is 5 C and the air velocity results in a value of h  50 W
m 2 K 1 . The skin temperature is 34 C, slightly lower than the normal internal
body temperature. What is the maximum heat transfer rate this kind of forced
convection can support? (Adapted from [2].)

Radiation (Stefan-Boltzmann Law and Cavity Radiation)

There is yet another mode of heat transfer. This mode does not require the
presence of any medium or molecular interactions and is called radiation.

Every object in nature radiates and absorbs electromagnetic waves, be it day or

night. How does light and heat, from the Sun, reach us? Even when there is no
(real) matter in the space in between. Why is it that even with a cool breeze on
the Clifton sea-front, the warmth of a bon re keeps us cosy? The answer lies in
radiation.
8.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 95

Radiation is a result of temperature. If a body is hotter than its surroundings it

emits more radiation than it absorbs, and tends to cool; if a body is cooler than
its surroundings it absorbs more radiation than it emits, and tends to warm. It
will eventually come to thermal equilibrium with its surroundings, a condition in
which its rates of absorbtion and emission of radiation become equal.

Suppose a solid object has a surface temperature T2 . The heat radiated per unit
time is now denoted by Qrad and is given by,

Qrad = AT24 ; (A-3)

or in terms of the heat radiated per unit area per unit time,

qrad = T24 ; (A-4)

where  is a constant with a value of 5:67  10 8 W m 2 K 1 , analogous to

the h we have discussed in the context of convection. This equation is generally

referred to as the Stefan-Boltzmann law and an object respecting this condition is
called a blackbody. A blackbody is a perfect emitter. Given a xed temperature,
no other object can emit more energy than a blackbody.

However, in practice, no real object is a perfect blackbody and the radiative power
density qrad is decreased by a factor ", called the emissivity. Equation (A-6) is
modi ed to,
qrad = "T24 : (A-5)

An ideal value of " = 1 refers to an object that emits all of the available radiative
energy.

Now suppose, we place another very large surface (call it Q) that completely
encloses the object of interest (call it P ), as shown in Figure 8.4. The surface Q
emits at a lower temperature T1 , the output power density being,

qrad = "T14 : (A-6)

The net power density being transferred from P to Q becomes,

qrad = "T24 "T14 = "(T24 T14 ); (A-7)

and the radiative power transmitted is,

Qrad = "A(T24 T14 ): (A-8)

Note that this power does not depend on the surface area of Q.
96 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

Q
εσT24

PP
εσT14

Figure 8.4: A blackbody P is placed inside another blackbody Q. The long arrows
emanating outwards from P represent the thermal power emitted by P and the
short arrows pointing inwards represent the thermal power absorbed by P .

Q 5. Is every black surface a blackbody?

Q 6. What assumptions go into writing Equation (A-7)?

Q 7. Do you expect a silvered mirror to have a high or low value of emissivity?

Now suppose an object P with emissivity " and surface area A is heated to T2
and placed inside the cavity. The temperature of the walls of the cavity and the
cavity radiation is T1 and T2> T1 . Both convection and radiation mechanisms
are operative. The total heat energy lost by P in unit time is given by the sum
of the convective and radiative losses,

Q = Ah (T2 T1 ) + "A(T24 T14 ): (A-9)

As the object P cools inside the cavity, its temperature T2 reduces. If c is the
speci c heat capacity and m is the mass, the total heat lost by P will be,

mc (T2;initial T2;f inal ) (A-10)

and the rate at which the heat lost can be written as,
dT
Q = mc dt2 ; (A-11)

where the minus sign shows heat being lost as temperature decreases. Comparing
this with Equation (A-9), we obtain,
dT
mc dt2 = Ah (T2 T1 ) + "A(T24 T14 ); (A-12)
8.4. APPARATUS 97

and solving for the coecient of convective heat loss,

( mc dT2
A ) dt "(T24 T14 )
h= T2 T1 : (A-13)

This is a very important equation. Make sure you fully understand it and have
re-worked the derivation. AsP cools, the temperatures T1 and T2 both change
with time. Therefore, we can also write these temperatures as T1 (t ) and T2 (t ).

8.4 Apparatus
Our apparatus is an enhancement over the experimental setup described in [2].

1. Heating mechanism We have adopted two heating methods for the exper-
iment. The rst is a locally fabricated furnace (Adeel Electronics, Beden
Road, Lahore ) which is set at 220 C. It is tted with a heating element and
a probe-type thermocouple that automatically cuts o the electric supply
when the temperature goes above the speci ed value.
You should be very careful and check for any current leakage using a tester
before you touch it. Use thermal insulation gloves and the large tongs to
transfer the cylinder into or out of the furnace.
The second method is the hot plate. The object to be heated is placed
inside a bath of graphite powder on a hot plate. The hot plate reaches
a maximum temperature of 400 C. Both heating options are depicted in
Figure 8.5.

Figure 8.5: Heating mechanisms for the experiment: (a) furnace and (b) hot
plate.

2. Cavity, Fan and Cylinder The cavity for our experiment has been fabricated
locally (Noor Trading and Contracting Co., Rawalpindi) and adapted in-
98 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

house. Both the walls of the cavity and the heated object (referred to
hereafter as the cylinder) are made of mild steel oxidized at 800 C. The
cavity has two inlets and is coated with a dull black paint inside for good
"  0:8-0:9). Beneath the
radiative exchange (high value of emissivity
cavity, we have tted an exhaust fan 12 V DC, 0:93 A (Pak Fans ).

The cylinder (5 in. in diamter) can be placed in a mount with a cush-

ion of alumina silicate, a good thermal insulator to minimize heat loss by
conduction.

3. Lids: Perforated and Non-perforated We have used two kinds of lids in

the experiment. The perforated lid is used in the rst half of the experiment
where our primary mode of heat loss is forced convection, with the fan
switched on. The non-perforated lid is used in the second half of the
experiment; it reduces the convective currents so that our primary source
of heat loss becomes radiation.

4. Thermocouples The experiment employs two thermocouples (Farnell ).

One thermocouple is attached to a clamp that can tightly grip the heated
cylinder. The second thermocouple is suspended in air, near the walls of
the cavity.

Figure 8.6: Thermocouples used in the experiment.

5. Data Acquisition System The experiment uses standard data acquisition

hardware. The data acquisition (DAQ) card (National Instruments PCI-
6221 ) acquires, digitizes and ampli es the thermocouple voltage signal.
These signals are routed through the signal conditioning unit (National
Instruments SCC-68 ). The unit also houses a thermistor for hardware-
based cold junction compensation.
8.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 99

Cavity

Computer

PC
Thermocouples SCC-68

Fan

Figure 8.7: Schematic sketch of the experimental setup for demonstrating forced
convection. Note the placement of the perforated lid.

8.5 Experimental Method

Newton's Law of Cooling

The schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 15.2.

F Q 8. In the presence of forced convention, it is generally believed that the

radiative losses are negligibly small as compared to convective losses. With this
assumption, the radiative terms can be dropped out from (A-13) and we recover
Newton's Law of cooling,

( mc ) dT2
h = T A Tdt : (A-14)
2 1

Furthermore, if we assume that T1 =constant (as done conventionally), we can

make the substitution,
T2 T1 = x; (A-15)

and after some algebraic manipulation, the equation becomes,

dx hA
x =
mc dt: (A-16)

The solution is,

x (t ) = x0 exp ( hA t=mc ); (A-17)

where x0 is the initial value of T2 T1 .

100 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

Assume T1 is constant at its average value, hT1 i.

Familiarization with the software

F Q 9. Open the Labview VI thermal.vi by double clicking the shortcut located
on the Desktop. A front panel window with a grey background will open.

F Q 10. Enter folder names where your data will be stored, for example

C:\Documents and Settings\wasif.zia\Desktop\thermal1

F Q 11. Enter the lenames for your data. You will make two les, one for
the the cylinder e.m.f E2 and one for the cavity e.m.f E1 . Your les should be
named cylinder1 and cavity1. In this script, these les are also called the \data
les".

F Q 12. Run the Labview le and use the data acquisition system to read the
e.m.f values from the two thermocouples placed at room temperature. Observe
the table of e.m.f readings as it is being populated. Ask your demonstrator for
help if something is not clear.

Experimental Procedure
F Q 13. Measure the mass and surface area of the provided, black-coated and
roughened mild steel cylinder. Note down your uncertainties.

F Q 14. With the demonstrator's help, place the cylinder in the furnace (or
on the hot plate) and heat it to about 350 C.

F Q 15. Now use the provided tongs and thermal gloves to carefully transfer
Never touch the surface of the cylinder,
the heated cylinder into the cavity.
or the hot plate with your bare hands. These are extremely hot surfaces.
F Q 16. Now quickly follow the following steps, in the same order.

1. Clamp the thermocouple marked (E2 ) onto the cylinder.

2. Switch on the fan.

3. Run the VI by clicking the START button or by pressing CTRL+R.

F Q 17. Carefully observe the readings being picked by the programme.

F Q 18. Monitor the e.m.f generated till you get asymptotic values called Eeq ,
on both the thermocouples.
8.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 101

Calibrating the thermocouples

The Labview programme returns e.m.f.'s generated by the thermocouples. These

voltages determine the temperature. We need a conversion between the e.m.f.
and the temperature. This is called calibration.

We can perform the calibration while the cylinder is cooling down. Heat about
1500 ml of water in a beaker to 80 C and then allow it to cool. Place a ther-
mocouple connected to the GWInstek Digital Multimeter, and labeled, G, inside
the beaker. Switch the knob on the multimeter so as to display the temperature
in  C. Place a di erent thermocouple, labeled E3 in the beaker. Care should be
taken so that E3 and G are as close to each other as possible. Record the e.m.f
generated by E3 (the software also shows readings for E3 ) and the temperature
shown by G and establish a relationship between temperature and the generated
e.m.f. You may want to use Matlab to process this data.

Use this calibration for the remainder of the experimment.

F Q 19. Continue recording the data until the e.m.f shown by E2 and E1 are
same. What does this condition represent? Has the transfer of heat ceased
altogether? You can now stop the Labview programme, switch o the fan and
focus on your data.

Data Anlysis for Forced Convection

F Q 20. Run MATLAB and change the path to the folder that contains your
data les acquired from Labview.

F Q 21. In the command window, type the command1 ,

>> forcedconvection

The m- le processes and lters your thermocouple measurements and generates

the following vectors.

E2
E.m.f generated by T2
E.m.f generated by T1 , E1
The time values for the temperature data, t time

1 The le thermal.m should be in the same folder as the acquired data les.
102 CHAPTER 8. HEAT TRANSFER AND NEWTONS LAW OF COOLING

F Q 22. Convert the e.m.f values to temperature by using the calibration

performed in Q 18. F Q 23. From the data acquired, plot T2 hT1 i versus
time, where T2 is the temperature of the cylinder and hT1 i is the average room
temperature, and t the plot to the exponential function (A-17). Why are we
justi ed in using (A-17)?

F Q 24. What is the value of h based on the exponential t? What is the

error in your value of h?

Simultaneous Radiative and Convective Loses

In this last part of the experiment, we will seal the cavity, closing its base and
covering it with the non-perforated lid at the top. The arrangement is depicted
in Figure 15.3.

F Q 25. Slide the bottom cover gently down to the base of the cavity. Heat
the cylinder again, carefully place it inside the cavity and put the non-perforated
lid on top so that convection is reduced. Your les in the VI should be labeled
cavity2 and cylinder2. Run the VI thermal.vi and leave it running till you reach
asymptotic values.

Cavity

Computer

PC
Thermocouples SCC-68

Figure 8.8: Schematic sketch of the experimental setup for simultaneous convec-
tive and radiative heat losses.

F Q 26. Use the Matlab le thermal.m to generate the processed data. You
dT2
will see numbers represented in 3 columns. The rst column represents
dt , the
second represents T1 and the third T2 . Use these and Equation A-13 to compute
the mean value of h. Plot a graph of h versus temperature. Use " = 0:85 and
c = 620 J kg 1 K 1 .
8.6. EXPERIENCE QUESTIONS 103

8.6 Experience Questions

1. Why is a light bulb hotter than tube light?

2. Are they really photons that warm us when we put our hands close to a
heater?

3. Can we build a thermometer that measures temperature using colour?

4. Are there any animals with thermal vision?

5. Can we make re by concentrating sun rays with a lens made of ice?

8.7 Idea Experiments

1. As water is heated, the temperature does not rise linearly. Design an ex-
periment to measure the rise in temperature with time and describe your
results in terms of Newton's cooling [4].

2. Measure the speci c heat capacity of water through its cooling curve [5].

3. Is a white surface really a poor emitter of radiation? Compare the cooling

curves of (a) an unpainted shiny metal, (b) a metal painted pitch black and
(c) a metal painted white.

4. Find out about the wall construction of the cabins of large commercial
airplanes, the range of ambient conditions under which they operate, typical
heat transfer coecients on the inner and outer surfaces of the wall, and
the heat generations inside. Determine the size of the heating and air-
conditioning system that will be able to maintain the cabin at 20 at all
times for an airplane capable of carrying 400 people [1].
Bibliography

[1] Y. A. C
 engel, R. H. Truner, Fundamentals of Thermal-Fluid Sciences, (Mc-
Graw Hill, 2001).

[2] F. P. Incropera, D. P. DeWitt, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer,

(Wiley & Sons.), pp. 1-47.

[3] J.E. Spuller, R. W. Cobb, \Cooling of a vertcal cylinder by natural conven-

tion: an undergraduate experiment", Am. J. Phys. 61, 568 (1993).

[4] J. O'Connell, \Heating water: rate correction due to Newtonian cooling",

Phys. Teacher 37, 551 (1999).
[5] C. R. Mattos, A. Gaspar, \Introducing speci c heat through cooling curves",
Phys. Teacher 40, 415 (2002).
[6] R. A. Bartels, \Do darker objects really cool faster", Am. J. Phys. 58, 244
(1990).

[7] M. Vollmer, \Newton's law of cooling revisited", Eur. J. Phys. 30, 1063
(2009).

104
Chapter 9

Magnetic Phase Transitions

of a Ferromagnetic Alloy

Wasif Zia and Sabieh Anwar

Magnetic phenomena have been known since time antiquity. The ancient Greeks
knew about the magnetic force of both magnetite and rubbed amber. Magnetite,
a magnetic oxide of iron mentioned in Greek texts as early as 800 B.C.E., was
mined in the province of Magnesia in Thessaly. Thales of Miletus is considered
to have been the rst man to study magnetic forces. According to Lucretius, a
Roman philosopher in the rst century BC, the term magnet was derived from
the province of Magnesia.

Starting from these early discoveries in magnetism, through the Chinese invention
of the magnetic compass to the pioneering work of scientists such as Oersted,
Ampere, Faraday, Maxwell and Neel, we have indeed come a long way in our
understanding of magnetism. Today, a complete understanding of magnetism
requires a deep appreciation of the branch of physics, we call quantum physics.
However, as a rst approximation, we can also interpret magnetism in its full
bloom, with the help of classical physics.

Nature has given us materials with diverse magnetic properties. Ranging from
the strongly magnetic iron and cobalt to the weakly magnetic (or in everyday
language, the \non-magnetic") rubber and water, there exists a remarkable va-
riety of magnetic materials. The kings of these materials are the ferromagnets
and ferrimagnets that are used in inductors, transformers, motors and generators,
antennas, audio and video tapes, loudspeakers and microphones and the exotic gi-

105
106CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

ant magnetoresistance (GMR) devices. We can say that in electrical engineering,

magnetic materials and devices [1] are as pervasive as oxygen! Without trans-
formers with ferrite cores, for example, it would be almost impossible to have
the vast electric grid and supply systems that have transformed the fate of the
post-industrial man.

There are other weaker forms of magnetism as well, such as paramagnetism that
pulls in the material towards a strong magnetic eld. Paramagnetism plays a
vital role in many important chemical processes such as catalysis. Furthermore,
every material exhibits some form of diamagnetism, pushing the material away
from the strong magnetic eld. Superconductors are perfect diamagnets; they
will repel strong permanent magnets to the extent that they will hover in mid-air
when placed on top of a magnet. This principle of magnetic levitation is at the
heart of the super-fast train, the MAGLEV.

The present experiment on \magnetic phase transitions" is quite di erent in

character from our other experiments. The experiment is based on a reasoned
and informed discussion about the apparatus and its various features. You will
learn about new equipment, electric components and probe the safety features
that have gone into the design of this setup.

You must follow all safety procedures and warnings. The experiment involves
large electric currents and hot wires that can seriously risk your safety.

KEYWORDS
Ferromagnetism
Paramagnetism
Curie Point
Electrical Energy
Speci c Heat
Capacity
Stefan-Boltzmann Law
Variable Transformer
Digital Multimeter

Clamp meter
Electrical Safety

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours.

9.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. learn how to handle electricity, especially large currents, safely;

2. understand the role of thermal and electric insulators and conductors;

3. familiarize ourselves with common electrical test equipment such as the

9.2. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES 107

voltmeter, ammeter, multimeter, clamp meter, tester and circuit compo-

nents such as the circuit breaker and variable transformer (variac);

4. learn to interpret important thermal and electrical properties of materials;

5. appreciate the instantaneous nature of phase transitions; and nally,

6. appreciate the inter-relationship between electricity, magnetism and ther-

modynamics.

9.2 Experimental Objectives

The experiment determines the Curie point of a ferromagnetic material as its
temperature is raised with the help of resistive heating. Besides the monitoring
of the phase transition, we will also learn about the use of electrical measurement
equipment and safety practices that must be observed when designing, operating
or testing electric equipment.

9.3 Theoretical Introduction

Resistance and Ohm's Law

Ohm's law is an empirical observation deduced from experiments performed by

Georg Simon Ohm in 1827. The modern form of Ohm's law is,

V = IR; (A-1)

where V is the applied potential in volts (V), I is the current in amperes (A) and
R is the resistance in ohms ( ). Remember that Ohm's law has limited validity
and applies only to the so-called ohmic resistors.

Resistance is due to the interaction of moving charged carriers (electrons) and

the xed atoms or ions in a conductor. Due to the applied potential di erence,
moving charge carriers drift from higher to lower potential and in the process,
collide with the atoms of the material. This results in increased vibrations of
the atoms. The increased kinetic energy raises the temperature of the conductor
because temperature is proportional to the kinetic energy. This is the origin of
the heating e ect of current, called Joule 's or resistive heating.
108CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

Power Dissipated

The electric power P fed into any circuit component is given by,

P = V I: (A-2)

If the component is a resistor, this power is dissipated as heated. Using Ohm's

expression (A-1), we obtain,

P = I 2 R: (A-3)

We know that power is

energy (E )
P = time (t ) ; (A-4)

and substituting P with (A-2) we obtain,

E = V It: (A-5)

Q 1. Suppose we have two heating elements with identical lengths, but one
has a higher resistance than than the other. Both are connected to identical
voltage sources. Which of the elements will be heated more, the higher or the
lower resistance element?

Q 2. Suppose we have two heating elements made from the same material,
nichrome, commonly used in domestic heaters? One is twice the length of the
other but the area is also doubled, so the two elements have the same resistance.
They are connected to identical supplies for the same amount of time. Which
wire would acquire the higher temperature?

Magnetism in Materials

To a very good rst approximation, the origin of magnetism in materials lies in

the motion of electrons. The magnetic material can be thought of as being com-
posed of elementary magnets also called magnetic dipoles. These are similar to
tiny magnets with a north and south pole. An atom contains electrons in motion.
These electrons constitute a current and hence, produce a magnetic eld. One
such atom can be thought of as an elementary magnet. Now the material as a
whole, will be made up of many elementary magnets. The arrangement and ori-
entation of these elementary magnets determine the overall magnetic properties.
9.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 109

Paramagnetic materials

In paramagnetic materials, the elementary magnets are all randomly oriented.

Suppose, we draw a tiny vector corresponding to the orientation of the dipole.
Now take the vector sum of these dipoles. What do we get? The resultant is
zero, showing that in the absence of an external eld, the paramagnetic material
is unmagnetized. However, this observation does not mean that there are no
elementary magnets. The elementary dipoles still exist; it just happens that they
completely cancel the e ect of one another. This e ect is shown in Figure 9.1(a).

Once we apply an external eld with intensity H, the dipoles rotate and tend
to orient in the direction of the eld. This overall alignment results in a net
magnetization M of the sample. The alignment, however, is by no means perfect.
At any temperature higher than absolute zero, the thermal agitation will kick the
elementary magnets out of perfect alignment. The situation is clearly depicted in
Figure 9.1. The dashed arrow shows the direction of the magnetization vector,
that is de ned as,
∑ !
! 
M = k k; (A-6)
V
where k is the dipole moment of the elementary magnet and V is the total
volume of the sample [1, 2].

Figure 9.1: The alignment of the elementary magnets in a paramagnetic sample.

(a) Shows the situation when the applied eld is zero. (b) As the applied eld
intensity H is increased, the magnets preferentially tip in the direction of the
applied eld, resulting in a net magnetization of the sample.
110CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

Ferromagnetic materials

On a microscopic level, approximately millionth of a meter, metals look like

drought struck soil of the summer sun. These `cracked segments' are called
grains and the cracks are called grain boundaries (see page 54 of [2]). As the
name suggests, grain boundaries separate one grain from another.

Ferromagnetic materials are quite distinct in their character from paramagnetic

materials. Ferromagnets have regions called magnetic domains. Elementary mag-
nets within each domain are aligned with respect to one another, even though
the domains can be aligned in all possible directions.

Now, one grain can comprise more than one domains. Figure 9.2(a) is a simpli ed
representation of a polycrystalline material. The grain boundaries are shown as
dark lines whereas the domain walls inside the grains are drawn as thinner lines.
Within each domain, the net magnetization is represented by the dashed and dot-
dashed arrows. The domains are randomly oriented (Figure 9.2(c)). For the same
reason, even a strongly magnetic material such as iron can be unmagnetizaed in
the absence of a eld.

As the applied eld intensity H is increased, the domains that are favourably
aligned, i.e., tilted towards the applied eld, grow in size and the unfavourably
oriented domains shrink (Figure 9.2(d,e)). As the applied eld is ramped up,
the growing domain engulfs the smaller domains with the result that there is
one domain per grain (Figure 9.2(f)). Finally, with a suciently strong eld, the
magnetization of the grain (=magnetization of the domain) rotates so as to align
itself with the applied eld.

Curie temperature

Ferromagnets have a much higher magnetization than paramagnets. In addition,

the phenomenon of ferromagnetism comes about due to a totally di erent mech-
anism. In ferromagnetic materials, the elementary magnets act in a cooperative
fashion, forcing neighbouring magnets to align within themselves. Soon all el-
ementary magnets within a domain are unitedly pointing in one direction. This
con guration lowers the energy, called the exchange energy.

The exchange energy, however, acts in con ict with the thermal energy that tends
to misalign the elementary magnets. As the temperature is increased, the thermal
energy starts dominating over the exchange energy and the magnetization drops.
9.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 111

Figure 9.2: The magnetic moments, domains and grains in a ferromagnetic ma-
terial. (a) The grains and domains in a polycrystalline material. One grain com-
prises several domains and the magnetization within a domain is indicated by a
dark arrow. (b) Domain microstructure of an amorphous ribbon ( gure extracted
from [3]). (c-g) Illustrations for a single grain. (c) The magnetization is zero in
the absence of the applied eld intensity H . (d-f) As the applied eld increases,
domains grow and shrink, to the extent that there is only one domain per grain,
and (g) nally, the magnetization rotates in the direction of the applied eld.

However, the material is still ferromagnetic as the domain structure is preserved.

Above a critical temperature, the Curie temperature Tc , the ferromagnet suddenly
turns into a paramagnet. The Tc 's of common ferromagnets are presented in
Table 9.1.

Element Tc ( C)
Fe 770
Ni 358
Co 1127
Gd 16

Table 9.1: Curie temperatures for common ferromagnetic elements [1].

112CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

9.4 Apparatus and Experimental Preparation

There are several examples of undergraduate experiments [4, 5, 6] used to de-
termine the Tc for various materials. The present experiment is an adaptation of
the approach followed in [6].

A schematic sketch of the apparatus is shown in Figure 9.3 and photographs of

some of the components are presented in Figure 9.4. Given below is a short
description of the equipment used. You are required to note down answers to the
following questions, before you start the experiment in the lab. Carefully observe
the experimental setup and remember, \do not switch on the mains power
supply".
Your experiment starts here!

Pole

Kanthal
Wire

Magnet

Alumina
Ceramic Silicate
Variac Insulators separator

Control Box

V A

Emergency
Stop Button
AC Mains
Clamp Meter

Circuit Breaker

Granite base

Figure 9.3: Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

1. Variac The variac (Electrodynamic Works, Karachi ) is a variable trans-

former. The ac mains supply from WAPDA (or the local generator) is
connected across the primary coil and the variable output is taken from the
sliding contact on the output side. The voltage is step down in the ratio of

Vout Nout Iin

Vin = Nin = Iout ; (A-7)
9.4. APPARATUS AND EXPERIMENTAL PREPARATION 113

(a) (b)

Voltmeter Ammeter

Emergency Circuit
(c) Stop
Breaker

Current
Indicator

Start Stop

(d)

(e)

Figure 9.4: Photographs of selected components: (a) variac, (b) digital multi-
meter, (c) clamp meter, (d) electric panel box (control box), (e) pole for ferro-
magnetic heating element.

where Nin and Nout are the total number of turns in the primary coil and
the turns between the output tap and ground (Figure 9.5).

Nin

Vin
input ac
voltage Vout
Nout output ac
voltage

Figure 9.5: Simpli ed internal construction of a variac.

114CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

F Q 3. The input of the variac is connected to the 220 V mains. The

output is connected to a load resistor that draws a current of 5 A. If the
ratio Nin =Nout = 2=1, what is (a) the output voltage and (b) the input
current drawn from the mains?

F Q 4. How is the variac di erent from an ordinary transformer?

2. Digital multimeter A digital multimeter (GW-Instek GDM-451 ) measures

the output voltage from the variac.

3. Clamp meter Currents are measured with the help of a clamp meter (Ky-
oritsu ). The jaws of the clamp meter surround the wire through which the
current is to be determined.

F Q 5. How does a clamp meter work? Will the clamp meter work for
direct current (dc)?

F Q 6. For alternating current (ac), the direction of the current is con-

stantly changing, but the clamp meter shows one positive current reading.
Resolve this apparent anomaly.

4. Control box The control box shown in Figure 9.6 has been designed and
assembled in-house and serves as the main electric distribution box for the
experiment. The panel is tted with an analog voltmeter and ammeter

Figure 9.6: Internal wiring of the control box.

that measure, respectively, the ac mains voltage and the current through
the heating element. However, we will use the clamp meter for the most
accurate current readings. The box is also tted with a red emergency
stop button. Press this button in case of leakage of current or fear
of electric shock. The button can be reset by turning it clockwise and
releasing.

The control box is also tted with a circuit breaker (Terasaki ) rated at 15 A.
As soon as the current goes beyond the rated value, the circuit breaker trips
and opens the circuit; the current drops to zero.

For electric protection of the circuit components, a magnetic contactor

9.4. APPARATUS AND EXPERIMENTAL PREPARATION 115

(NHD Industrial Co., Taiwan, SC-16 ) has also been used. Ask your demon-
strator if you want to know more about the working of the contactor.
The exposed metal parts of the apparatus, including the mounting screws
of the control box, have all been earthed. This prevents electric shocks if
by accident or damage, a live wire comes in contact with the metal body.
F Q 7. What is the di erence between a circuit breaker and a fuse?
F Q 8. What is the function of the earth wire? Draw a simple diagram
to describe your reasoning.
F Q 9. What is the role of the magnetic contactor in the circuit?

5. Ferromagnetic heating element In our experiment, current passes through

a ferromagnetic heating element. The element we have chosen is a commer-
cially available material called Kanthal-D (Kanthal and Hyndman Industrial
Products ). We will use a heating element approximately 1:5 m in length
and wound into a spiral shape. The spiral diameter is approximately 10 mm
whereas the wire diameter is 0:6426 mm.
Some important properties of Kanthal-D relevant to this experiment are
presented in Table 9.2.

Property Value
Composition 83:2%Fe 22%Cr 4:8%Al
Speci c heat capacity c 460 J kg 1 K 1
Resistivity  at 20 C 1:39 mm2 m 1 .
Emissivity " 0:7
Density 7:25 g cm 3
Melting point 1500 C

Table 9.2: Important properties of Kanthal-D alloy [7].

F Q 10. De ne speci c heat capacity and derive its units.

F Q 11. De ne resistivity and derive its units.
F Q 12. Does the speci c heat capacity change with temperature?
F Q 13. De ne emissivity.

6. Pole for Kanthal and magnet assembly. The pole for the Kanthal and
magnet assembly was fabricated locally (Noor Trading and Consultancy,
Rawalpindi ) and modi ed in-house. The Kanthal wire is hooked up between
porcelain insulators xed to the top and bottom arms (see Figure 9.4(e)).
The middle arm has an array of ferrite disk magnets (Hall Road ) epoxied
116CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

Figure 9.7: Suspension insulators used with electric tower.

onto an alumina silicate base. The whole pole assembly is made of mild
steel.

F Q 14. Why have we used porcelain for mounting the heating element
on the pole?

F Q 15. Why have we used metal to construct this pole?

F Q 16. Why cannot we attach the magnets directly to the metallic

post? Why do we need to insert the alumina silicate ceramic in between?

F Q 17. In the experiment we will use a tester to detect current leakage.

The tester is made to touch a conductor. If the conductor is live, a small
bulb inside the tester will glow. How does a tester work?

9.5 Experimental Method

Inspection

The mains supply is still switched o . Follow all rules and safety procedures.
In this section, we will test the safety features of the circuit.
The electric current in this experiment can kill! Follow all rules.
F Q 18. Visualize and sketch a possible circuit diagram for the experiment?

Q 19. Check the zero error for the analog voltmeter and ammeter on the
control box. Use the adjusting screw at the base of the pointer to correct.

F Q 20. Attach a three-pin shoe to the control box.

F Q 21. What are the di erent colour codes for wires in live, neutral, earth?
Suggest why do we have two additional colours.

Ask the demonstrator to check the electrical connections. Do not attempt

to switch on the mains supply in the absence of the demonstrator.
9.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 117

Q 22. Set the regulator on the variac to its minimum output voltage, zero.
The demonstrator will switch on the mains supply. Press the green START button
on the control box.

Q 23. Check that there is no current leakage using a tester in all three com-
ponents (variac, control box and pole). Put the tester on bare metal surface to
check for leakage.

Q 24. Slowly increase the output voltage (voltage from the output of the
variac) to 15 V (measured on the digital multimeter). Check for current leakage
again.

F Q 25. What is the reading on the clamp meter?

F Q 26. Test the emergency stop button. Does the clamp meter reading go
to zero? If it doesn't, immediately inform the demonstrator.

F Q 27. Set the regulator on the variac to its minimum output voltage, zero,
again and press the green START button.

F Q 28. Test the circuit breaker, using the test button.

F Q 29. Hook the clamp meter to the WAPDA mains and measure the current.

Measurement of Curie temperature

F Q 30. Set the output voltage regulator on the variac to 24 V and press the
green START button.

F Q 31. Measure the current (using the clamp meter) and the time it takes
the wire to reach the Curie temperature. You will be provided with a stopwatch.
When the heating element snaps away from the magnet, immediately press the
red STOP button to switch o the circuit.

F Q 32. Repeat the experiment twice or thrice at one voltage setting. Allow
the heating element to suciently cool between two successive meausrements.

F Q 33. Repeat the experiment nearly ve times, always keeping the voltage
below 35V.

F Q 34. Switch o the mains supply.

118CHAPTER 9. MAGNETIC PHASE TRANSITIONS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY

Calculations

The electrical energy supplied in a certain interval of time is de ned in Equation

(A-5). In the present experiment, this energy is used up in two processes:

1. absorbed by the heating element, raising its temperature from the ambient
room temperature T0 to the Curie temperature Tc ; and

2. radiated away by the heating element.

The energy absorbed Ea may be expressed as

Ea = mc (Tc T0 ) (A-8)

where m is the mass of the wire and c the speci c heat capacity. The mass can
be measured using the provided weigh balance.

The energy radiated (Er ) form the wire is,

Er = "S (Tc4 T04 ) t (A-9)

where Tc is the Curie temperature,

" is the emissivity,  is the Stefan-Boltzman
constant ( = 5:675  10 8 W=m2 K 4 ) and S is the surface area of the heating
element.

F Q 35. Using Equations (A-5),(A-8) and (A-9) and the principle of energy
conservation, write down the energy balance equation.

F Q 36. Express your nal equation in terms of the data obtained in the
previous section. This step requires some careful thinking. You will obtain an
equation with the unknown variable Tc .

F Q 37. Run Matlab on the PC and solve the energy balance equation using
the command,

>>solve(`equation').

where equation is inserted within single quotes and represents the Matlab format
for the energy balance equation.

F Q 38. What are the four di erent numbers that you see? Which one will
you choose?

F Q 39. Convert you answer to degrees Celsius. What is the Tc for the
Kanthal-D alloy?
9.6. EXPERIENCE QUESTIONS 119

F Q 40. What are the major sources of error in your calculation of Tc ?

9.6 Experience Questions

1. While using a tester, does the current really pass through us?

2. Why do our muscles jerk when we get an electric shock?

3. Can high magnetic elds e ect our nervous system?

9.7 Idea Experiments

1. What is the Hall e ect? Use a Hall e ect sensor to measure the magnetic
eld due to permanent magnets of various shapes and strengths [4].

2. Ferromagnetic materials display the phenomenon of hysteresis. Build a

teaching apparatus that demonstrates hysteresis [9].

3. Drive an electric bulb at various frequencies. Plot the voltage-current rela-

tionship and see whether the resistive element in the bulb satis es Ohm's
law. Furthermore, demonstrate hysteresis in the behaviour of the resistive
element [10].
Bibliography

[1] S. O. Kasap, Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, (McGraw Hill,

2006).

[2] W. D. Callister, Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, (6th

Edition, John Wiley & Sons., 2004).

[3] R. Schae er, G. Herzer, \Continuous magnetization patterns in amorphous

ribbons", IEEE Trans. Magn. 37, 2245 (2001).

[4] S. Valesco, F. L. Roman, \Determining the Curie temperature for iron and
nickel", Phys. Teacher 45, 387 (2007).
[5] T. Lewowski, K. Wozniak, \Measurement of Curie temperature for gadolin-
ium: a laboratory experiment for students", Eur. J. Phys. 18, 453 (1997).

[6] C. Kizowski, S. Budzik, J. Cebulski, \Finding the Curie temperature for

ferromagnetic materials", Phys. Teacher 45, 31 (2007).
[7] \Resistance heating alloys and systems for industrial furnaces", Kanthal,
Web: http://physlab.lums.edu.pk.

[8] M. Connors, \Measurement and analysis of the eld of disk magnets", Phys.
Teacher 40, 308 (2002).
[9] J. P. V. Hof, J.A. Bain, R.M. White, J-G. Zhu, \An undergraduate laboratory
in magnetic recording fundamentals", IEEE. Trans. Educat. 44, 224 (2001).

[10] A. A. Clauss, R. M. Ralich, R. D. Ramsier, \Hysteresis in a light bulb: con-

necting electricity and thermodynamics with simple experiments and simu-
lations", Eur. J. Phys. 22, 385 (2001).

120
Chapter 10

Optical Activity of the Chiral

Solutions

Sabieh Anwar and Wasif Zia

Visible light is only a small fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact,

light is composed of oscillating electric (E) and magnetic eld (B) vectors. These
vectors are mutually perpendicular as well as perpendicular to the direction of the
propagation.

Light passing through vacuum is the simpler to understand, moving unperturbed

with the speed c  3  108 m/s but in the present experiment we would like
to understand the more complicated (and aesthetically assuring!) problem of
how radiation interacts with matter. The simple experimental setup will help us
appreciate one facet of light's wave nature itself, its polarization and how this
polarization can rotate as it traverses an optically active liquid.

KEYWORDS
Polarization
Optical Activity
Chirality
Stereochemistry
Enantiomers
Laser

Photodetector
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours.

121
122 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

10.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. learn how to use lasers safely;

2. practice aligning of optical setups;

3. investigate the concept of standard errors in simple measurements;

4. learn the use of cathode ray oscilloscopes (the work-horse of most science
laboratories);

5. identify uncertainties in measurement of angular and linear scales;

6. correlate experimental data with mathematical expressions;

7. observe the di erence between accurate and precise results;

8. learn that for wave motion, intensities are squares of amplitudes; and

9. reveal the inter-disciplinary character of experimental science, revisiting an

experiment that is routinely performed in the chemistry laboratory.

10.2 Experimental Objectives

The experiment manifests the wave nature of light through the concept of polar-
ization. We will also nd the optical activity of a commonly available compound
showing how the plane of polarization can be rotated by certain molecules. Finally,
we will demonstrate the concept of \optimal sampling".

10.3 Theoretical Introduction

Polarization

Light is emitted by tiny atomic or molecular emitters. The electric eld vector
from a single emitter oscillates in a plane perpendicular to the direction of prop-
agation. The light is said to be linearly polarized. We may have horizontally (H )
or vertically (V ) polarized light as shown in Figure 10.1, where the electric eld
vector vibrates in the horizontal or vertical planes, respectively. We may also have
polarizations that are titled with respect to these axes, 40 , 60 , 230 and so on.
10.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 123

Horizontally Polarized
z

Vertically Polarized

x y
y
x

Figure 10.1: Horizontally and vertically polarized light.

Most objects we are familiar with, however, emit unpolarized light. The planes
of polarization are oriented randomly in all possible directions. A polarizer picks
up only plane of vibration from all these random orientations and produces plane
polarized light. Materials that have this property are generally used in making
polarized sunglasses.

The direction of the plane of polarization emerging from the polarizer depends on
its optical axis. We use a polarizer in which the direction of polarization is marked
by two diametrically opposed green spots. (However, you cannot see them be-
cause the lab demonstrators have already tted the polarizers into their mounts).
Suppose we orient the optical axis so that we obtain vertically polarized light.
The electric eld vector is always pointing along the vertical (^z) direction while
the light moves forward in the horizontal ^y direction. For such an arrangement,
the electric eld is,

( )
E0 cos ky !t +  ^z; (A-1)

where E0 is the amplitude, ! = 2f is the frequency, k = 2= is the wave

number and  is the phase of the wave. Make sure you understand these terms
[1].

On the other hand, if the optical axis were horizontal (along the ^x axis), we would
obtain horizontally polarized light,
( )
E0 cos ky !t +  ^x: (A-2)

The direction in which light propagates is still along the ^y axis. Note that the unit
vector written in bold denotes the direction of the plane of polarization, whereas
the variable y next to k denotes the direction of propagation.

We can also get circularly polarized light. You will learn more about these con-
cepts in physics lectures. In this case, the eld vector rotates along a helix just
124 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

like a screw. When viewed from the end, the vector is in fact moving in a circle.
This happens when you add or subtract two components that are 90 out of
phase, a sine and a cosine. This circularity as shown in Figure 10.2 can be right
or left depending on how you add or subtract the components,

( ) ( )
E0 [cos ky !t + 0 ^z sin ky !t + 0 ^x]; (A-3)

( ) ( )
E0 [cos ky !t + 0 ^z + sin ky !t + 0 ^x]: (A-4)

Right Circularly Polarized Left Circularly Polarized

y y

Figure 10.2: Right and left circularly polarized light.

The tip of the electric eld vector rotates clockwise or anticlockwise for circularly
polarized light, but the important thing to remember is that the phase (0 ) is
the same for both the components. The accompanying Figures may help you
perceive this concept better.

Q 1. Write down the mathematical expression for the electric eld for light
that is linearly polarized with a plane of polarization making an angle of 45 with
the ^x and ^z axes? In which direction is the light propagating?

Malus's Principle

In our experiment randomly polarized light from a laser ( of wavelength 633 nm)
passes through two polarizers labelled A and B as shown in Figure 10.4. The
eld emerging from A is given by the expression (A-1). The eld emerging from
B is determined by the relative orientations of the optical axes of A and B. The
polarizer B used in this way is called an analyzer.

If the relative orientation between A and B is  as shown in the Figure 10.3, then
the emergent electric eld after passing through B becomes,
( )
E0 cos  cos ky !t +  ^z: (A-5)
10.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 125

Figure 10.3: Orientation of B.

This represents a decrease in the amplitude by a factor of cos . But exper-

imentally, we measure the intensity, not the electric eld. As the intensity is
proportional to the amplitude squared, the reduction factor is cos2 . This is a
statement of Malus's principle, mathematically written as,

IB = IA cos2 : (A-6)

We will measure intensities using a silicon photodetector. Remember that IA and

IB are the intensities of the radiation emerging from the polarizers A and B.
z

y
x
A cell B
Si photo detector

HeNe laser

Osciloscope

Figure 10.4: Schematic sketch of the experimental setup.

In this sense, the polarizers act as \projectors"|they project a vector onto a cer-
tain axis. It is also possible to do something more complicated, i.e., to physically
rotate the plane of polarization. This is achieved through optical components
called wave plates or retarders. In our experiment we will achieve the same ef-
fect using certain chemical substances that are called optically active substances.
What are the basic properties of optically active substances and why are they
important? This question requires a brief digression into the area of stereochem-
istry.

Chirality and Enantiomers

Try to recall what you saw when you were combing your hair in the morning or
brushing your teeth for that matter. What did you see? `Your image!' That is
such a trivial question. But what if you are asked to place your image on top of
126 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

your original self. Will they coincide or not? The answer is `No! They will not'.
This `placing on top' is called superposing. If you have parted your hair on the
right, your image has parted them on the left. Try shaking hands with your mirror
image. You will be confounded. Similarly there is no painless way of wearing your
left shoe on your right foot.

With this background, consider a molecule which is a network of atoms arranged

in three dimensional space. Two molecules may have an identical composition
of atoms and the same bonding network, however they may still di er in their
detailed three dimensional arrangement. Surprisingly, these variants of molecules
can have totally di erent physical and even chemical properties.

For example, consider bromochloro uoromethane. Its structure is shown in Fig-

ure 10.5. Now place a mirror next to the molecule and observe the image.
The mirror image has a distinct con gurational arrangement and cannot be su-
perposed onto the original molecule (without of course, re ection through the
mirror plane). The molecule and its non-superposable mirror image are enan-
tiomers of each other and the corresponding property is called chirality. Only
chiral molecules are optically active.

Cl

H Br
F

(a) (b)
Figure 10.5: (a) Structure of bromochloro uoromethane and (b) its ball-and-
stick model shown alongwith the mirror image. The wedge shaped arrows in (a)
represent chemical bonds pointing into or out of the plane of the paper.

Q 2. Identify the chiral molecules: (a) 3-methylhexane (b) 3-methylpentane

(c) the amino acid glycine and (d) dibromochloro uoromethane. The structures
are shown in Figure 10.6.
10.3. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 127

H2 H2 H2 H2
C C CH3 C C
H3C C C H3C C CH3
H2
H H
CH3 CH3
3-methylhexane 3-methylpentane

O OH Br
C
C
C Cl Br
H F
H
NH2 dibromochlorofluoromethane
glycine

Figure 10.6: Chemical structures for the molecules named in Q3.

Chirality is seen throughout the biological world. With the exception of inor-
ganic salts and a few low molecular weight organic substances, molecules in living
systems, both plant and animal, are generally chiral. For example, only one of
the stereoisomers called (S )-alanine occurs naturally. Enzymes that catalyze bio-
chemical reactions are also highly stereoselective, i.e., they will speed up reactions
only with one enantiomer of the chiral pair. Chymotrypsin, a chiral intestinal en-
zyme will break down only the corresponding peptide enantiomer during digestion.
This `chiral favouritism' in nature is one of the open questions in the life sciences.
Researchers have even linked this with the similar question in cosmology of why
the universe is made up of matter and not of antimatter!

In the chemical industry too, there is a drive towards synthesizing chiral catalysts
for developing stereoselective reactions. Chirality is also an important factor in
drug ecacy and design. Drugs that are packaged as racemic mixtures, com-
prise equal amounts of the two enantiomers. However in most cases, only one
of these molecules is biologically active. For example in Ibuprofen, sold as an
analgesic in Pakistan in the racemic form, only the (S )-enantiomer is active [6].
Chiral drugs have now become a focus of most pharmaceutical companies. For
example Naproxen available in this country is a chiral molecule and is sold in the
enantiomerically pure form. Statistics show that about 56 percent of the drugs
in present use are chiral molecules [7].
128 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

Light as a Chiral Probe

The human foot is a chiral entity. That is why a a right shoe cannot t on
the left foot and a left shoe cannot t on the right foot. However, the tradi-
tional footwear, the khussa can|as it cannot distinguish between \leftness" and
\rightness". The shoe is a chiral probe whereas the khussa is an achiral entity.

Analogously, it is impossible to physically distinguish between two enantiomers

using unpolarized light. One needs plane polarized light to test chirality.

The experiment that performs this probing is in fact, very simple. Shine polarized
light onto an optically active substance. The plane of polarization rotates in one
direction or the other. (We cannot tell before hand, the direction of physical
rotation. This has to be determined from experiment.) For example, the chiral
molecule d -glucose bends light to the right (when viewed along the direction of
propagation) and this is experimentally determined. The pre xes d and l signify
`dextro' (right) and `levo' (left) physical rotations.

Q 3. Why is plane polarized light chiral? Why is randomly polarized light

achiral? HINT: Draw a one-sided arrow pointing upwards representing plane
polarized light and re ect it across a plane perpendicular to the arrow.

Q 4. Polarized light is shone through a racemic mixture of glucose. In which

direction will the plane of polarization rotate?

Q 5. A mixture of l -2-butanol and d -2-butanol rotates the polarization plane

in the left direction through 10 . If pure l -2-butanol has a rotation of 13:5 in
the same direction, determine the composition of the mixture.

Q 6. A liquid is made up of molecules randomly jostling in all directions. Inves-

tigate why this randomly oriented jumble-up can, in fact, rotate light so coherently
in one direction. Note: This is a tough question!
In a chiral medium, each molecule contributes to the optical rotation. More
molecules would imply stronger rotation. So a longer path length and a more
concentrated solution would result in greater rotation angles. For comparison,
we often normalize with respect to the length of the sample and concentration,
resulting in the speci c optical activity,

[ ] = (A-7)
cl
where c is the concentration and l is the path length. It is also important to
mention the temperature and wavelength of the light used.
10.4. APPARATUS 129

Figure 10.7: Photograph of the experimental setup. Refer to the Section on

Apparatus for a description of the components.

Q 7. A sample of an optically pure enantiomer yields an optical rotation of

about 180 . How will you determine whether it is dextrorotatory or levorotatory?

Q 8. What are the units of []?

10.4 Apparatus
The schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 12.7 and a digital
photograph in Figure 10.7.

1. Laser The source of light in the experiment is a continuous-wave He-Ne

laser (Melles-Griot 25-LHR-073 or Thorlabs HRR020 ) with a wavelength
of 633 nm (red) and output power of 2 mW. The output from the laser is
randomly polarized. The laser is mounted on a V-shaped housing (Thorlabs )
attached to a mounting post (Thorlabs ).

Lasers can be very dangerous if mishandled or if the relavent safety pro-

cedures are not followed. Always contact the lab sta if you have any
doubt. In all cases, it is incumbent that you always abide by these safety
precautions for our Class-IIIA laser.
 Never look directly into the laser beam or direct the beam to
anyone else or to an area where people are present. This may
result in serious eye damage.
 Wear the properly rated safety glasses (Thorlabs ) while performing
130 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

the experiment.

 Do not scoop down to the level of the table or bring the laser to the
level of the eye.

 Do not disconnect or connect the laser head from its high voltage
power supply. The demonstrators have already completed this step
for you.

 Do not remove the laser head from its housing.

2. Polarizers and rotation mounts The experiment uses two polarizers (Thor-
labs LPVIS050 ) at the positions A and B in the experiment. These polar-
izers are mounted and retained in rotation mounts (Thorlabs RSP05/M ).
Be careful not to touch the surface of the polarizer. This will scratch the
surface resulting in permanent damage. The rotation mount can be locked
and unlocked with a hex key that is provided with the setup. The rotation
mount is provided with an angular scale, that keeps track of the polarizer
orientations.

3. Optical activity cell This is a cylindrical glass cell that has been designed in-
house and manufactured by the glass-blowers (Marghoob Scienti c Store,
Lahore ) in the market. The cell is supported by two crescent-shaped holders
and posts manufactured locally (Crown Engineering Works, Lahore ). The
cell is tted with inlet and outlet ports. When you start the experiment,
the demonstrator will have already lled up the cell for you.

4. Silicon photodetector The Siphotodetector (Newport 818-SL) converts

incident light intensity into current. Ensure that the light falls in the central
region of the photodetector. This is where the sensitivity (output current
divided by the incident intensity) is at and maximum. The output current
is fed into an oscilloscope where it is converted into voltage.

5. Cathode ray oscilloscope The cathode ray oscilloscope (GW-Instek GOS-

635G ) is a ubiquitous tool used in most science laboratories, especially
in physics and electrical engineering. A familiarity with this instrument is
crucial, as it is likely to remain attached to your academic life at the SSE.
In the present experiment, we will use the oscilloscope to measure voltages.
10.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 131

10.5 Experimental Method

Preparation

The laser has already been turned on by the demonstrators. Note that each time
the laser is switched on, it takes about 15 minutes to warm up and reach a stable
intensity.

F Q 9. The demonstrator has already closed the shutter of the laser. Now
connect the detector to the oscilloscope. Turn the input mode to GND. You
should see a straight line. Turn the vertical positioning knob of the channel to
place the line on the middle of the screen. Change the input mode to DC. Does
the vertical position of the line shift? If yes, how much? This is background
reading from ambient light? Turn the vertical positioning knob so that the back-
ground level is at the datum. All intensity readings will now be referenced to the
background.

F Q 10. Ask the demonstrator to open the laserhead shutter. Align the detec-
tor so that the laser spot falls on the approximate middle of the detector. What is
the reading on the oscilloscope? Call it I0 . What is the voltage sensitivity setting
on the scope? What are the units of I0 ?

F Q 11. Place the polarizer A near the output of the laser. Adjust its height
and orientation and align the polarizer in the path of the optical beam. Call the
intensity measurement with A as IA ? Why is IA < I0 ?

F Q 12. Unscrew the lock on the top of A using the hex key provided. Now
rotate the optical axis of the polarizer through large angles on both sides. Does
the reading IA vary? Describe your observation.

F Q 13. Now place the second polarizer B in front of the detector. The
intensity recorded on the scope will change to IB ? How does IB compare with
IA ? Unscrew the lock on top of B. What happens to IB as you rotate B through
large angles?

Malus's principle

F Q 14. Note the reading on the rotation mount A. Call it . What is the
uncertainty in ?
132 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

F Q 15. Slowly rotate B so that the intensity is maximized? Note down the
value of the angular position of B, calling it . Note down the corresponding
intensity IB .

F Q 16. Rotate in steps of 20 , keeping all rotations clockwise or anti-

clockwise. Take approximately 20 readings. At each step, record IB . Keep
xed throughout.

F Q 17. Plot the values of IB versus .

F Q 18. Fit your data to a suitable function. What is the tting function and
the goodness of the t? Describe your observations in light of Malus's principle.

Determination of the optical activity

F Q 19. Note down the value of , the reading on the polarizer A.

F Q 20. Adjust on the polarizer B such that the intensity is maximized.

Call this intensity Imax . Note down the value Imax as well as the value of the
corresponding , calling it max .

F Q 21. Now rotate such that the intensity is minimized. The minimum
intensity is called Imin and the corresponding angle is min . What is the angular
di erence between max and min ? Note down the values of Imin and min .

F Q 22. Calculate the intensity half way between Imax and Imin ,

Imax Imin I +I
I1=2 = Imin + = max min : (A-8)
2 2

Adjust to locate the point where the intensity equals I1=2 . Call this angle 1=2 .
Note down the values of I1=2 and 1=2 .

Q 23. Now vary the angle by some xed amount, say 20 and repeat the
procedure of nding the maximum, minimum and average intensities, noting down
the intensities and corresponding angles. Take approximately ten readings, tabu-
lating your results in the suggested format (Table 1).

Sr.No. (deg.) max (deg.) Imax (V) min (deg.) Imin (V) 1=2 (deg.) I1=2 (V)
1. 0 76 0:22 166 0 122 0:11
2. 20

Table 10.1: Suggested format for tabulating the experimental results.

10.5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 133

F Q 24. The demonstrators have already prepared a sucrose solution of a

known concentration and lled it into a glass cell. Perch this cell on the posts
and place it in between the polarizers A and B. The laser light must enter and
emerge from approximately the middle of the side ends of the cell.

F Q 25. Construct another table similar to the one above. This time nd the
maximum, minimum and average intensities and the corresponding angles with
the optical cell in place.

F Q 26. Once you have nished taking all the necessary readings, the demon-
strator will switch o the laser power supply.

Data analysis for determination of the optical activity

All the remaining steps can be performed on paper or on the PC. From the
available data, you are required to determine the optical activity of the solution.

F Q 27. What is the optical activity based on the maxima of the intensity?
What is the standard error in the measurement?

F Q 28. What is the optical activity based on the minima of the intensity?
What is the standard error in the measurement?

F Q 29. Are the two results statistically di erent or the same? Justify your
answer.
(a)

(c)

(b)

Figure 10.8: Maximum and minimum.

F Q 30. Suppose you are given data that resembles the square of a cosine
curve, as in (A-1). You measure the data along the curve. In which of the regions
would one expect to get more precise results? Considering the accompanying
Figure, would it be near the peak (a), the trough (b) or half way in between (c)?
HINT: Think in terms of the slope of the cosine squared curve.

F Q 31. Finally, determine the optical activity based on the intensities that
are the average of the minima and maxima? What is the standard error in the
134 CHAPTER 10. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CHIRAL SOLUTIONS

measurement? Is this a more accurate result? Is this a more precise result?

F Q 32. What are the main results of this experiment.

10.6 Experience Questions

1. Does the sun emit polarized light?

2. Can a star emit polarized light? If yes / no, what consequences could be
seen in nature?

3. Is the light from the sky polarized?

4. A small radio receiver is placed near a radio transmitter. What is the opti-
mum orientation between the transmitter and the receiver that maximizes
the reception?

5. At the time of dusk, the atmosphere appears somber blue but looking di-
rectly at the sun, it has an orange or pinkish tinge. Reason why.

10.7 Idea Experiments

1. Find the optical activity of kerosene or octane.

2. Does the intensity of light change the measurement of optical activity?

3. Measure the birefringence of liquid crystals [9].

Bibliography

[1] D. Halliday, R. Resnick, J. Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, (John Wiley &

Sons, 2001).

[2] M.A. Vaksma, J.W. Lane, \Using guided inquiry to study optical activity
and optical rotary dispersion in a cross-disciplinary chemistry lab", J. Chem.
Ed. 78, 1507 - 1590 (2001).

[3] M. Jones Jr., Organic Chemistry, (W.W. Norton and Company, 1997), pp.
159 - 169.

[4] G.R. Fowles, Introduction to Modern Optics, (Dover Publications, 1989).

[5] R.A. Gawley, \Chirality made simple: a 1 and 2-D introduction to stereo-
chemistry", J. Chem. Ed. 82, 1009 (2005).

[6] B.G. Katzung, Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, (Appleton & Lange, 1998),
pp. 585.

[7] John C. Lengwell, Chirality and Bioactivity I.:Pharmacology, Lengwell

Reports, Vol.3 (No. 1), May 2003, pp. 5.

[8] \Photodiode/phototransistor application circuit", Sharp Application Note

No. SMA99017, Web: http://www.sharp.com (1999).

[9] G.R. Van Hecke, H.K. Karukstis et al, \Synthesis and physical properties
of liquid crystals: an inter-disciplinary experiment", J. Chem. Ed. 82, 1349
(2005).

135
Chapter 11

Data Acquisition and Filter

Design

Umer Hassan and Sabieh Anwar

The experiment is an introduction to electronics. Our main objective in this

experiment is to lter out noise in electric circuits. This experiment is divided
into sections, such that each section introduces one of the key concepts, and
nally this culminates to our nal objective.

KEYWORDS
Breadboard
Data Acquisition
Sampling
Signal reconstruction
Nyquist The-
orem
Logic Gates
Filters
Noise
Frequency Spectrum
Composite Signal

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours

11.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. learn how to implement circuits,

2. practice data acquisition,

3. understand the inter-relationship between mathematical expressions and

graphs,

136
11.2. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES 137

4. learn the use of electric test and measurement equipment,

5. appreciate the concept of frequencies,

6. observe the conversion between analog and digital signals, and

7. practice how to extract useful information from graphs.

11.2 Experimental Objectives

The experimental objectives are presented at the head of each Section. There
are nine sections comprising this manual.

1. Introduction to the history of electronics

2. Breadboard layout and its internal connections

3. Data acquisition system

4. Understanding the frequency concept

5. Verifying the Nyquist theorem

6. Understanding logic gates exempli ed by an XOR gate

7. Filter design

8. Learning frequency composition of a signal

9. Understanding the composite signal

10. Filtering a composite signal

11.3 Introduction to the History of Electronics

The history of modern electronics can be traced back to 1883, when Edison
discovered that electrons ow from one metal conductor to another through
vacuum. This is known as thermionic emission.

In 1987, J.J. Thomson developed a vacuum tube to carefully investigate the

nature of cathode rays. He showed that the cathode rays were made up of par-
ticles, which he named \corpuscles". This marked the discovery of the electron.
Thomson received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906.
138 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

In 1904, John Fleming applied Edison's thermionic emission to invent a two-

element electron tube called the diode. This was followed by Lee De Forest's
discovery, in 1906, of the three-element tube, the triode. These vacuum tubes
made possible the ampli cation and transmission of electrical signals.

In 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, working at Bell Telephone Labo-
ratories, were trying to understand the nature of the electrons at the interface
between a metal and a semiconductor. They realized that by making two point
contacts very close to one another, they could make a three terminal device called
the transistor, the semiconducting analog of the triode.

Figure 11.1: John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain.

The invention of the transistor, initiated the electronics revolution of the twentieth
century. The drive was to build more transistors on a single chip. In 1965,
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, observed that the number of transistors per
square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since the invention of
the integrated circuit. Moore predicted that this trend would continue for the
foreseeable future. In subsequent years, the pace slowed down a bit, but data
density has still doubled approximately every 18 months.

Today, as the trend and need towards miniaturization is gaining momentum, there
is also a growing realization that the physical limits of the transistor fabrication
have been achieved. So, new elds have now emerged, such as quantum com-
puting, spintronics, nanoelectronics, and so on.
11.4. BREADBOARD LAYOUT AND ITS INTERNAL CONNECTIONS 139

11.4 Breadboard Layout and its Internal Connec-

tions

Objective

The objective of this section is to familiarize you with the internal connections of
the breadboard.

Breadboard

A breadboard is used to make up temporary circuits for testing or to trying out

an idea. No soldering is required, so it is easy to change connections and replace
electronic components

Figure 11.2: Breadboard.

Internal connections

Figure 11.3 shows the layout and internal connections of the breadboard. The
holes in black are used for inserting the electronic components. The line joining
holes shows their serial connection.

IC placement on the breadboard

Figure 11.4 shows how to place an integrated circuit (IC) chip on a breadboard.
140 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Figure 11.3: Breadboard Internal Connections.

Figure 11.4: IC on a breadboard.

11.5 Data Acquisition System

Objective

This section describes the experimental setup, particularly the data acquisition
system, which is being used in di erent activities of this experiment.

Experimental layout

The basic layout of the Data Acquisition System for our experiment is shown in
Figure 11.5.

1. Signal source
The signal is provided by the signal generator (GW-INSTEK ). Sine wave,
11.5. DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM 141

Figure 11.5: Data Acquisition System.

square wave and triangular shaped signals can be generated using the signal
generator.

2. Signal routing
The signal routing and conditioning module (National Instruments SCC-68 )
is used for signal routing. The signal is taken from the breadboard using
the provided hook-up wires. The SCC-68 module is shown in Figure 11.6.

Figure 11.6: NI SCC-68 Module.

3. Cables and accessories

The SCC-68 module is provided with the cable. It consists of a male con-
nector which is further attached to the DAQ card.

4. DAQ card
The DAQ card (NI PCCI 6221 ), shown in Figure 11.7 acquires the sig-
nal. If the incoming signal is analog, then DAQ performs analog to digital
conversion. This is done using a chip called the analog to digital converter
(ADC). The ADC is located on the DAQ card.
For, analog to digital conversion we have to sample the incoming signal.
The sampling frequency must be greater than twice the fundamental fre-
quency of the incoming signal. This criterion is stated in the Nyquist
Theorem. Sampling and the Nyquist theorem will be discussed further in
Section 7.
142 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Figure 11.7: NI PCI 6221 DAQ Card.

5. LabVIEW
The DAQ system is controlled through LabVIEW software. We are using
LabVIEW version 8.5.1 on our computers.

11.6 Understanding the Frequency Concept

Objective

This section gives insight into the relationship between frequency and time period.

De nitions

1. Frequency
It is a measure of the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit
time. It is usually denoted by f and its units are Hertz (Hz) or cycles per
second.

2. Time period
It is de ned as the time required for a single cycle in a repeating event. It
is denoted by T and its SI units are seconds. So we notice that frequency
is the reciprocal of the time period. Mathematically, this is expressed as,

1
f = T: (A-1)
11.7. VERIFYING THE NYQUIST THEOREM 143

Example

Figure 11.8 shows the two sine waves. Figure 8(a) shows a sine wave with time
period of 6 ms, whereas Figure 8(b) shows a sine wave whose time period is 3 ms.
Thus the second sine wave has half the time period but double the frequency.

1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0

0. 2 0. 2

0. 4 0. 4

0. 6 0. 6

0. 8 0. 8

1 1
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10

t (ms) t (ms)

(a) (b)

Figure 11.8: Sine Waves.

11.7 Verifying the Nyquist Theorem

Objective

This section describes some of the key concepts in data acquisition and signal
processing|sampling and analog-to-digital conversion.

Sampling

Sampling a signal means to take the value of signal at discrete intervals of time,
thus converting a continuous signal into a discrete signal.

Sampling rate is de ned as the number of samples taken per second.

144 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Example

Figure 11.9(a) shows a simple continuous sine wave with a time period of 6 ms.
Figure 11.9(b) shows the digitized, sampled version of this signal, with a sampling
rate of 5 KHz or a sampling interval of 200 s.
1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0

0. 2 0. 2

0. 4 0. 4

0. 6 0. 6

0. 8 0. 8

1 1
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10

t (ms) t (ms)

(a) (b)

Figure 11.9: (a) Continuous time analog sine wave and (b) its sampled version.

An analog input signal is fed into the DAQ card. The ADC on the DAQ card
samples the analog voltage and stores the sampled points in the memory. The
sampled points will have an amplitude distribution resembling the one in Fig-
ure 11.9(b).

Block diagram of an ADC

The functional block diagram of an ADC is shown in Figure 11.10. It takes the
analog signal as an input and returns the sampled signal.

Curve tting

After sampling, it might be required to t the samples to a mathematical function.

This could be done by using the curve tting techniques, which we have learnt
in the Matlab tutorials. Figure 11.11 shows how the acquired samples are tted
11.7. VERIFYING THE NYQUIST THEOREM 145

continuous sampled
input output
Analog-to-digital
converter (ADC)

Figure 11.10: ADC.

using the Matlab command lsqcurve t that employs the least square curve tting
algorithm.

Figure 11.11: Least Square curve tted waveform.

Signal reconstruction

The result of data acquisition is an array of sampled points. The analog, continu-
ous nature of the signal has been lost. After the process of sampling, the resulting
sample values can be used for re-constructing the original signal. But, we have
to determine the appropriate sampling rate that allows for reconstruction. If the
sampling rate is not high enough, it is impossible to get the original signal back.
This is the essence of the Nyquist Theorem.

Nyquist sampling theorem

The theorem states that for the perfect reconstruction of a signal the sampling
frequency must be greater than twice the maximum frequency of the signal being
146 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

sampled.

Q 1. Can you guess what is the minimum number of samples per second
required to reconstruct the 1 Hz sine wave?

Experiment

We now use our DAQ system to generate and acquire a signal and sample it at
di erent rates. We observe the appearance of the corresponding reconstructed
signal and determine the frequency of the reconstructed signal. We will comment
on the accuracy of the reconstruction process, Thus, we will experimentally verify
the Nyquist Theorem, and of course, in the process we also learn about sampling.

Procedure

Q 2. Carry out the following procedure.

1. The DAQ System has already been setup for you.

2. Familiarize yourself with the apparatus.

3. Generate a sine wave as an input signal using the signal generator.

4. Set the output frequency on the signal generator to 10 Hz.

5. Run the nyquist.vi le.

6. In the Block Diagram window, enter the rate. It is the sampling rate, the
rate at which ADC samples the input signal.

7. In the front panel window click the Run button (shown by the arrow key).

8. Data acquisition starts, the output starts appearing on the waveform graph.

9. Samples are stored in nyq.lvm le.

10. Now start Matlab

11. In the Matlab window, type,

 nyquist;
12. This command asks you to input the sampling rate, which then returns the
reconstructed waveform.
11.8. LOGIC GATES EXEMPLIFIED BY THE XOR GATE 147

13. Now observe the outputs and complete the Table 11.1 on your note book,
with sampling rates of 3, 4 , 8, 15, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100, 500, 1000 Hz.

Sampling Rate Sketch the waveform Frequency of the

(Samples per second or Hz ) reconstructed waveform (Hz)

3
.
.

Table 11.1: Illustrating Nyquist Theorem.

F Q 3. Write your observations and inferences on your note books.

11.8 Logic Gates Exempli ed by the XOR Gate

Objective

This section introduces you to digital logic, integrated circuit chips and truth
tables. It also o ers more practice in using a DAQ system.

Logic levels

In the world of digital logic, we always come across the terms logic level high and
logic level low. In binary digital logic, we have two voltage levels only, high and
low. Logic level high is considered to be approximately +5 V whereas logic level
low is equal to 0 V approximately. The logic levels for an arbitrary binary digital
waveform (TTL) are shown in Figure 11.12.

5V

0V

Figure 11.12: Logic level representation.

148 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Logic gates

The components that inter-convert signals between logic levels are called logic
gates. The basic logic gates include AND, OR, NOT, NAND, XOR, and NOR
gates. These gates are used for implementing a variety of logic circuitry in digital
systems. Logic gates lie at the heart of all computers. In this section we are
going to study an XOR gate.

PIN Con guration

Figure 11.13 shows the PIN Con guration of the IC 7486, which is a quad XOR
gate IC. Quad means that the chip contains four XOR gates.

Figure 11.13: Pin Con guration of 7486.

Logic Diagram

Figure 11.14 shows the logic diagram of the 7486 IC. This illustrates the four
XOR gates, that are fabricated in a single chip. The Figure also shows the pin
number associated to each XOR gate.

Figure 11.14: Logic Diagram of IC 7486.

11.8. LOGIC GATES EXEMPLIFIED BY THE XOR GATE 149

Function Table

As shown in Table 11.2, each of the XOR gates has two inputs and one output.
For example, the topmost gate has inputs D0a and D0b and output Q0. Ta-
ble 11.2 shows the function table, also called the truth table of an XOR gate.
The table speci es the output of the gate for the speci ed inputs.

Input Input Output (Qn)

Dna Dnb
L L L
L H H
H L H
H H L

Table 11.2: Function Table of an XOR gate..

Data Sheet

Every manufacturer of an IC sends the documentation for the IC, which is called
the Data Sheet. It contains all necessary information about the IC. It also
includes a function table, pin con guration and logic diagram of the IC.

Procedure

F Q 4. Carry out the following procedure.

1. Place the 7486 IC on the breadboard.

2. Connect Pin 14 to +5 V.

3. Connect Pin 7 to 0 Volts or ground.

4. The rst input A is applied to pin no 1. The input voltages can be taken
directly from the power supply or the +5 V and 0 V lines on the breadboard.

5. The second input B is applied to pin no 2.

6. The output is obtained from pin no 3.

7. Double Click the xor.vi le.

150 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

8. In the front panel window click the Run button (shown by the arrow key).

9. Data acquisition starts, three waveforms starts appearing on the waveform

graph.

10. The legend bar shows the di erent colors associated with signals.

(a) White is the output signal.

(b) Red is the rst input signal on pin no. 1.

(c) Green is second input signal on pin no. 2.

11. When the output is high, the LED on the front panel also turns green.

12. To stop acquiring signal, click the Stop button at the bottom of the wave-
form graph.

13. Now observe the outputs for all the logic combinations and verify the XOR
truth table.

F Q 5. Draw the Function Table on your note books also write down the
voltages of the inputs and the output.

11.9 Filter Design

Objective

Having understood what is meant by frequency, the present section introduces

the concept of a lter, its operation and design.

Frequency content of signals

A signal may be composed of one or more frequencies. Thus each signal could
be expressed in terms of its frequencies as well.

What is a lter?

Filter is an electronic device which allows a range of certain frequencies to pass

through and blocks the rest.
11.9. FILTER DESIGN 151

Cutt-o or corner frequency

The cut-o frequency of the lter is the frequency at which the power output of
the lter is reduced to half of its maximum. This frequency is denoted by fc .

Figure 11.15 shows a lter made from a resistor R and a capacitor C . This lter
is an RC lter. These components can be used for making both low pass as well
as high pass lters. We will describe these terms shortly. The input signal comes
into the left and the output is taken from the right.

Figure 11.15: An RC Filter.

Filter diagrams
power

power
power

fc

frequency frequency frequency

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11.16: Filter Diagrams; the output power from the lter is plotted with
respect to frequency.

Figure 11.16(a) shows a low pass lter, (b) shows a high pass lter and (c) shows
a band pass lter. For example, a low pass lter allows low frequencies to pass
through and blocks high frequencies. The transition between the blocked and
the unblocked frequencies, however, is not sharp. The output power decreases
smoothly. At an applied frequency equal to fc , the output power is reduced to
half as compared to the maximum.
152 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Design considerations

For RC circuits, cut-o frequencies are determined using the formula,

1
fc = 2  R C : (A-2)

Calculational example

1. Select a suitable cut-o frequency for the lter.

2. Take any standard value of the resistor available.

3. Then, using Equation A-2, determine the value of capacitor, to achieve the
desired fc .

Low pass lter

In order to make a low pass lter, we take the output across the capacitor, as
shown in Figure 11.15. This will attenuate all the high frequencies present in the
input signal and will allow the low frequency components to pass. Attenuation
means that the lter will reduce the output amplitude for the high frequency
components.

High pass lter

In order to make a high pass lter, we take the output across the resistor, as
shown in Figure 11.17. This will attenuate all the low frequencies present in the
input signal, allowing the high frequency components to pass.

Figure 11.17: High Pass Filter.

11.9. FILTER DESIGN 153

Mathematical explanation

As we know a resistor has a property called the resistance R. The resistance

quanti es the opposition to the ow of electrons, Similarly, a capacitor has an
analogous property called the reactance denoted as Xc . The capacitive reactance
is

1 1
Xc / !C = 2  f C : (A-3)

The above relation tells that capacitive reactance is inversely related to frequency
and capacitance. Thus by decreasing frequency, reactance increases. When the
frequency is zero, the reactance becomes in nite, indicating an open circuit, as
shown in Figure 11.18(b). This means that no current will ow through the
circuit and the voltage drop across the resistor R will be zero (I R = 0). But
according to Kircho 's rules, the output voltage must be equal to the input
voltage. Hence the drop across the capacitor will be equal to the input voltage
and hence, maximum. Likewise, for extremely high frequencies, the reactance of
the capacitor drops to very small values and it behaves like a short circuit|an
ordinary piece of wire. This is shown in Figure 11.18(c). The drop across the
capacitor becomes zero and hence the output voltage is zero.

output
output
voltage is
voltage is
zero
maximum

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11.18: (a) Behaviour of the low pass lter under the conditions of (b) DC
input voltage and (c) very high frequencies.

F Q 6. Draw an illustration similar to Figure 11.18 for the high pass lter of
Figure 11.17 and describe how this circuit attenuates low frequencies.

F Q 7. When a DC voltage is applied to a capacitor, does the capacitor con-

duct current?

F Q 8. When a sinusoid of any frequency is applied, the capacitor conducts

current. However, in between the plates of the capacitor, we have air that is a
poor conductor. How does the current pass through the insulator?
154 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Procedure

F Q 9. Carry out the following procedure.

1. Design a low pass lter with cut-o frequency of approximately 1:3 KHz
using the provided components.

2. Place the components on the breadboard.

3. Generate a sine wave using the signal generator. This is going to be used
as an input signal for the rest of our experiment.

4. Set the peak input voltage Vin to 5 V.

5. The output can be viewed using LabVIEW, and the DAQ system. Connec-
tions will be shown by the demonstrator.

6. Run the lter.vi le.

7. In the front panel window click the Run button (shown by the arrow key).

8. Data acquisition starts, the lter's output starts appearing on the waveform
graph.

9. Observe the waveforms and carry out the following procedures.

Low Pass Filter

1. Take the output across the capacitor resulting in a low pass lter.

2. Now, you will successively change the input frequency, fin to 0:1, 0:2, 0:4,
0:6, 0:8, 1:0, 1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 2:0, 3:0, 4:0, 5:0, 6:0, 7:0, 8:0, 9:0 and
10:0 KHz.

3. Complete Table 11.3 in your note books.

4. Use Matlab to plot the graph between f and Vout .

5. Use Matlab to plot the graph between f and G that is called the gain of the
lter. The Matlab command to compute the Gain is G = 20*log10(Vout/Vin)

6. Select a suitable range of points in the data between f and G . Fit these
points to a straight line using the lsqcurve t function in Matlab. What is
the slope of this line? What does this slope represent?
11.9. FILTER DESIGN 155

Frequency fin (KHz) Peak output voltage Vout (V) G = 20  log ( VVoutin ) (dB)

0.1
..
.

Table 11.3: Suggested format for tabulating the experimental results for the low
pass lter.

High Pass Filter

F Q 10. For the high pass lter, carry out the following procedure.

1. Take the output across the resistor resulting implementing the high pass
lter.

2. Successively change the input frequency, fin to 0:2, 0:4, 0:6, 0:8, 1:0, 1:2,
1:4, 1:6, 1:8, 2:0, 3:0, 4:0, 5:0, 10:0, 15:0 and 20:0 KHz.

3. Complete Table 11.4 in your note books.

4. Use Matlab to plot the graph between f and Vout .

5. Use Matlab to plot the graph between f and G .

Frequency fin (KHz) Peak output voltage Vout (V) G = 20  log ( VVoutin ) (dB)

0.2
..
.

Table 11.4: Suggested format for tabulating the experimental results for the high
pass lter.

F Q 11. Based on the plotted results, describe your observations on the low
and high pass lters.
156 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

11.10 Filtering a Composite Signal

Objective

This section introduces the use of an operational ampli er commonly abbreviated

as the opamp. It also represents a more illuminating veri cation of the concept
of ltering introduced in the previous Sections.

Composite Signal

Two or more signals are added to make, what we call a composite signal. In this
section we are using an operational ampli er to add the two signals.

A signal may possess di erent frequency components. When two signals are
added, the resulting signal possess the frequency components of both signals.
Thus in order to lter out a particular signal, we design a suitable corresponding
lter (low pass, high pass, or band pass) to extract the desired components and
leave the rest.

Block Diagram

The Block diagram shown in Figure 11.19, describes the ow chart of the exper-
iment, in which two signals with di erent frequencies are added together using
an opamp to produce a composite signal which is then ltered.

15 KHz square wave

Σ
1 KHz sinewave summer using low pass filter
opamp with fc 1.3 KHz

Figure 11.19: Block diagram showing low pass ltering of the composite signal.
11.10. FILTERING A COMPOSITE SIGNAL 157

Frequency Spectrum of Signals

F Q 12. Carry out the following procedure to see the frequency spectrum.
Note down all the observations on your note books.

1. Generate a sine wave of 1 KHz.

2. Run the Labview le composite.vi.

3. In the front panel window click the Run button (shown by the arrow key).

4. See the sine wave on the waveform graph.

5. Start Matlab and type

 signalspect;
6. It shows the frequency spectrum of the signal. You can see a single peak
on the frequency axis at 1 KHz.

Q 13. Repeat the same procedure to see the frequency spectrum of a square
wave of 1 KHz. It only consists of frequencies of 1KHz, 3KHz, 7KHz, and so
on. It consists of odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency which is ( 1KHz
in this case).

F Q 14. Carry out the following procedure to see the frequency spectrum.

1. Generate a sine wave of 1 KHz.

2. Generate another sine wave of 5KHz using the second signal generator.

3. The summer circuit has already been made for you on the breadboard. You
give the input signals at proper places on the breadboard. These positions
are marked on the breadboard.

4. The output composite signal can be viewed from pin no. 6 of the opamp
on the breadboard.

5. Run the Labview le composite.vi and observe the frequency spectrum in

Matlab.

F Q 15. Draw the composite signal waveform (both in time and frequency
domain).

F Q 16. Draw the composite signal after low pass ltering (both in time and
in the frequency domain).
158 CHAPTER 11. DATA ACQUISITION AND FILTER DESIGN

Experiment

F Q 17. Carry out the following procedural steps. The circuit diagram is shown
in Figure 11.20.

1. The rst input signal is taken from the signal generator. This input is a
square wave of frequency 15 KHz.

2. Take another sine wave of frequency 1 KHz from the second signal gener-
ator.

3. The summer circuit has already been made for you on the breadboard. You
give the input signals at proper places on the breadboard.

4. The output composite signal can be viewed from pin no. 6 of the opamp
on the breadboard.

5. Run the Labview le composite.vi.

6. In the front panel window click the Run button (shown by the arrow key).

7. Data acquisition starts, the lter's output starts appearing on the waveform
graph.

8. You can see the di erent frequencies in the composite signal.

9. Start Matlab and type

 signalspect;

10. Now make a low pass lter of cut o frequency approximately 1:3 KHz.
Assemble it on the breadboard and lter the composite signal.

11. Observe the ltered output.

F Q 18. Draw the composite signal waveform (both in time and frequency
domain).

F Q 19. Draw the composite signal after low pass ltering (both in time and
frequency domain).

F Q 20. Summarize your results and draw appropriate conclusions.

11.11. IDEA EXPERIMENTS 159

Figure 11.20: Circuit diagram for generation and low pass ltering of the com-
posite signal.

11.11 Idea Experiments

1. How do we reduce noise? One method is to acquire more and more samples
points, the signal grows more rapidly than the noise, increasing the signal-
to-noise ratio. Design a simple experiment to verify this [4].

2. Determine the Boltzmann constant using measurements of Johnson noise

[5].

3. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is an example of a scenario where the signal

of interest can be buried in a high level of noise. Design a circuit that
measures the ECG from a human body, enhancing the signal. Also lter
out the interfering noise from the 50 Hz mains [6].
Bibliography

[1] J. L. Passmore, B. C. Collings and P. J. Collings, \Autocorrelation of elec-

trical noise: an undergraduate experiment", Amer. J. Phys. 63, 592 (1995).

[2] P. Horowitz, The Art of Electronics, (Cambridge University Press, 1989).

[3] B. P. Lathi, Modern Analog and Digital Communication Systems, (Oxford

University Press, 1998).

[4] Y. Kraftmakher, \Noise reduction by signal accumulation", Phys. Teach.

44, 528 (2006).
[5] Y. Kraftmakher, \Two student experiments on electrical uctuations",
Amer. J. Phys. 63, 932 (1995).

[6] A. Thompson and A. Trolestra, \Signal enhancement in the presence of high

noise levels|the electrocardiogram", Phys. Teach. 34, 418 (1996).

160
Chapter 12

Latent Heat of Vaporization

of Liquid Nitrogen and
Speci c Heats of Metals

Waqas Mahmood, Sabieh Anwar and Wasif Zia

In this experiment, we have used a simple and intuitive setup to measure the latent
heat of vaporization of liquid nitrogen and the speci c heat capacity of a material.
We will learn about the thermal properties of materials including solids, liquids
and gases. Furthermore, we will be exposed to the safe handling of cryogens that
are routinely used in low temperature physics. This experiment is inspired from
previously published articles [1, 2] on the subject.

KEYWORDS Latent Heat of Vaporization
Speci c Heat Capacity
Cryogenics

Wire wound resistors
Ammeter
Voltmeter
Cooling baths
Measurement of
mass

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours

12.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

161
162CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

1. understand the concepts of latent heat of vaporization, internal energy,

equipartition and speci c heat,

2. understand the transfer of heat in calorimetric experiments,

3. determine the molar gas constant,

4. learn how to get meaningful data from experimental graphs,

5. learn calculations of uncertainties from experimental data,

6. practice error propagation, and

7. verify the Dulong and Petit's Law.

12.2 Experimental Objectives

The experimental objectives attainable from this experiment are,

1. getting familiar with the safe use of cryogens,

2. making of solutions to achieve low temperature,

3. setup of simple circuits for heating and measurement of current and voltage,

4. handling of metals, and

5. using Matlab as a tool for data processing.

12.3 Equipartition of energy

We know that molecules are always on the move as they have kinetic energy,
but the question is, how is this energy shared? James Clerk Maxwell solved this
problem for a large number of molecules. He said that energy is equally divided
in all the directions a molecule is free to move. The average energy, when the
number of molecules is large, per molecule is 12 kB T for each independent degree
of freedom, where kB is 1:38  10 23 J/K, is known as the Boltzmann constant
and T is temperature in degrees kelvin. Each direction in which a particle is free
to move is counted as a degree of freedom. For example if a particle can only
move along the x axis, it has 1 degree of freedom. This principle of equal sharing
of energy between the degrees of freedom is called the principle of equipartition
of energy [3].
12.3. EQUIPARTITION OF ENERGY 163

Let's model our description for nitrogen (N2 ) as we will be using its liquid form
for our experiment. N2 is a diatomic gas and its total kinetic energy is the sum
of translational kinetic energy ET and rotational kinetic energy ER . (We ignore
the vibrational degrees of freedom as these vibrations only occur at very high
temperatures, much higher than those achievable in the present experiment.)
The total energy inside all the molecules in the system is often referred to as the
internal energy.

Translational kinetic energy results in a net displacement of the center of mass

in any direction as explained by Figure 12.1. Mathematically,

1 1 1
ET = 2 mx2 + 2 my2 + 2 mz2 ; (A-1)

Figure 12.1: The diagram is a representative sketch of a diatomic molecule,

showing the three directions in which a diatomic molecule may displace and the
spirals on x axis and y axis show the two possible directions of rotation. This
accounts to a total of ve degrees of freedom.

where m is the mass of the molecule and x ; y ; z are the velocities in relevant
directions. Further, in Figure 12.1 there are two spirals showing the possible
directions of rotation about the center of mass. These are the rotational degrees
of freedom and result in the rotational kinetic energy,

1 1
ER = 2 Ix !x2 + 2 Iz !z2 ; (A-2)

where Ix and Iz represent the moments of inertia along that axis and !x and
!z are the respective angular velocities. Counting the number of terms in both
Equation A-1 and Equation A-2 we have a total of ve degrees of freedom.
Now, using the equipartition theorem we may say that the internal energy (E =
164CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

ET + ER ) for N molecules is,

5
E = N 2 kB T: (A-3)

Q 1. What is the mathematical expression of internal energy for a monatomic

gas such as He?

Molar heat capacity of solids

Solids have atoms vibrating in xed positions. At these speci c positions they
have kinetic energy which allows them three degrees of freedom, furthermore they
have potential energy in all three directions. This means that the total internal
energy for molecules in a solid is due to six degrees of freedom. Therefore using
the equipartition theorem,

Figure 12.2: A representative diagram depicting an atom in a solid bound to

six neighbouring atoms. The atom can vibrate in three independent directions.
Furthermore, the forces between the atoms impart some potential energy to the
system. A pair of springs in each direction models the kinetic and potential
energies.

E = N 3kB T: (A-4)

The heat capacity C signi es that a small change in temperature
T leads to a

change in total internal energy
E ,

E
C =
T : (A-5)

Using Equation A-5 we get,

C = 3NkB : (A-6)
12.3. EQUIPARTITION OF ENERGY 165

As the number of molecules is given by the product of number of moles n and

the number of molecules per mole, the Avogadro number, NA ,

C = 3nNA kB : (A-7)

The heat capacity for one mole of the solid is called the molar heat capacity CM
and is given by,
CM = 3NA kB = 3R; (A-8)

where R = NA kB = 8:31 J/mol K, is the molar gas constant.

It is important to note that according to Equation A-8, CM is a constant, which

means that the molar heat capacity is independent of temperature and the type
of solid: all solids should have the same molar heat capacity. This is known as
the Dulong{Petit law [3].

Limitations to the classical equipartition theorem

Experimentalists found that Dulong{Petit law was only obeyed for temperatures
above 300 K. However, for temperatures below 250 K a heavy dependence of
heat capacity on temperature was observed. A general sketch of this dependence
is shown in Figure 12.3.

CM
Dulong-Petit law

Einstein-Debye
model

T
Figure 12.3: The experimentally observed variation of CM with temperature,
showing the region where Dulong{Petit law agrees with experimental results and
also the region where the law breaks down.

The heat capacity of solids is important information as it allows us to understand

166CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

the material in a myriad of ways. Therefore an accurate depiction is necessary.

Further, it was important for physicists to explain the theory behind the observa-
tion.

At one time in history, physicists considered an atom to be indivisible. The advent

of quantum mechanics led scientists to understand that the atom is not indivisible
and that the thermal energy is divided between the ions and electrons. Thus there
is a fraction of thermal energy carried by electrons and a fraction carried by the
ions. Both of these factors contribute to the speci c heat. The mathematical
explanation of the low temperature dependence of heat capacity is called the
Einstein{Debye model. Put very simply, the electrons and ions inside the crystal
structure of the solid are oscillating. The quantum theory predicts that these
oscillations are quantized, they occur only in discrete steps. This discretization
becomes more prominent at lower temperatures, resulting in departure from the
Dulong{Petit law.

Latent Heat of Vaporization

The amount of energy released or absorbed by any substance during a phase

transition is called the latent heat. If we add heat continuously as in Figure 12.4,
a change of phase from solid to liquid and then from liquid to vapor occurs.
These changes are called phase transitions. The latent heat absorbed during
the liquid-vapor transition is called the latent heat of vaporization. This energy
overcomes the inter-molecular forces inside the liquid. Figure 12.4 illustrates this
phenomenon, whereby temperature remains constant as the heat is supplied at
the phase transition.

The latent heat of vaporization can be mathematically expressed as,

Q
Lv = m ; (A-9)

where
Q is the heat supplied during phase transition and m is the mass of the
liquid vaporized.

In our experiment we will use electrical energy to supply energy. Current is made
to ow through a heater placed inside the liquid of interest, in our case, liquid
nitrogen. The heat supplied is,
Q = V I
t , where V is the voltage from the
source, I is the current owing and
t is time interval for which electrical heating
remains on.

How do we calculate the mass of the nitrogen vaporized due to the electrical
12.4. EXPERIMENTAL PREPARATION AND SAFETY MEASURES 167

Temperature
Liquid to vapour

Solid to
liquid

Energy absorbed

Figure 12.4: Phase change when heat is added at a constant rate. The tempera-
ture remains constant during the phase transition and the heat supplied at these
points is called a latent heat.

heating alone ? In fact, the mass of liquid nitrogen, gradually decreases because
the room temperature provides a suciently high temperature for the nitrogen to
boil o . So, one has to separate out the loss in mass due to electrical heating from
the loss in mass from ambient heating. The term m in Equation A-9 corresponds
to the decrease in mass due to electrical heating only. This is done by establishing
a background rate of loss of nitrogen while electrical heating is switched o . In this
experiment, you will be required to intelligently interpret your data and calculate
m by comparing against the background loss.

With electrical heating, the preceding equation becomes,

V I
t
Lv = m : (A-10)

12.4 Experimental preparation and safety measures

Using Liquid Nitrogen

Liquid nitrogen is a colorless, odorless and tasteless uid which boils at 77 K, and
is formed by cooling and increasing pressure on air which is predominantly N2 .
On evaporation, it generates enormous pressure and direct contact with liquid
nitrogen can cause cold burns or frost bites. Liquid nitrogen should never be
mixed with water and you must wear goggles when making solutions.
168CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

Cooling baths

We will make few low temperature cooling baths in this experiment using dif-
ferent solvents. In the process of making these baths, fumes are produced. To
avoid fumes entering the eyes, safety goggles are used. These baths have low
temperature and direct contact might cause injury. You must wear the provided
gloves as a safety precaution. Some cooling baths along with the temperatures
achievable are given in Table 12.1.

S.No Mixture Temperature C

1 Air 29
2 CaCl2 .6 H2 O/ice 1 : 2:5 10
3 NaCl/ice 1 : 3 20
4 Ethanol/N2 40
5 Acetone/CO2 78
6 Liquid N2 196

Table 12.1: Mixtures with di erent approximate temperatures.

Some solvents when mixed with dry ice are ammable but most of them are not.
Students must not mix any solvent without prior knowledge.

Handling of the Dewar

The container of liquid nitrogen also called a dewar as shown in Figure 12.5,
should be handled with care and covered properly after taking out liquid nitrogen.
The cylindrical tubes used to take out nitrogen are delicate and no extra pressure
should be exerted on them. The container must be re lled when the level of LN2
is below a certain value.

Q 2. How can the container be damaged if liquid nitrogen is not re lled at the
right time?

Using Metals

We will use lead and tin in our experiment. Lead is carcinogenic (cancer causing)
and tin is toxic, therefore it is advised that students handle this material with
tongs, wear the provided gloves and try not to make direct contact with hands.
12.5. THE EXPERIMENT 169

Figure 12.5: Liquid nitrogen container.

In case of contact, wash your hands properly with water.

12.5 The Experiment

A resistor (e.g., a 10 watts wire wound resistor shown in Figure 12.6 1 or a dissem-
bled 30 watts soldering rod) is connected to the variac (Space Power Electronics,
Karachi ) through a needle-type ammeter in series as shown in the Figure 12.7.
The variac is an ac transformer that can provide variable voltage. The voltage is
measured by the voltmeter.

Figure 12.6: Wire wound resistor.

F Q 3. Liquid nitrogen from the cryogenic container is poured safely into the
provided styrofoam cup and the cup is placed on the weighing balance which will
record the loss in the mass of liquid nitrogen. This decrease in the mass of the
liquid nitrogen is recorded against time and is measured with the stop watch.

F Q 4. Why does the mass of the liquid nitrogen decrease and at what rate?
Can this rate be controlled?
1 Wire wound resistors consist of a cylindrical core which is wrapped with a wire. This core
is typically made up of a ceramic material and the wire is a type of resistance wire. Wire wound
resistors are a type of power resistors and are very accurate.
170CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

A Variac
V

Styrofoam Resistor
cup

Mass balance

Figure 12.7: Set up of the Experiment.

F Q 5. After having the background loss for a few minutes, the switch is
closed to turn on the heater. Now the rate of mass loss will be faster and is again
recorded as a function of time. The heater is then switched o to reestablish the
background loss rate.

F Q 6. Plot the data points using Matlab. Find the overall change in mass
during the process of heating.

F Q 7. From the data, nd the change in mass m only due to electrical

heating.

F Q 8. Calculate the latent heat of vaporization of liquid nitrogen Lv .

F Q 9. What is the uncertainty in your calculated value of Lv for liquid nitro-

gen?

Speci c Heat Capacity Measurement

F Q 10. Follow these steps to calculate the speci c heat capacity of the metal
(tin or lead).

1. Fill the styrofoam cup with liquid nitrogen safely and place it on the weighing
balance.
12.5. THE EXPERIMENT 171

2. Measure the mass of the cube of lead or tin.

3. Place the cube of lead beside the styrofoam cup on the balance.

4. Measure the background loss for a few minutes, with the cube placed on
the balance.

5. Place the lead cube inside the cup for a certain duration of time and record
the mass evaporated.

6. Remove the solid from the cup and measure the background loss again for
a few minutes.

7. Plot the results, extrapolate and intelligently using the data, calculate the
speci c heat capacity using the relation.

F Q 11. Explain, preferably with a mathematical formula, your derivation for

the speci c heat capacity.

F Q 12. The speci c heat capacity is a temperature dependent quantity. De-

scribe, at what temperature is your calculated value good for.

F Q 13. Estimate the value of molar gas constant R.

F Q 14. Calculate uncertainties in the values of C and R.

Low Temperature Speci c Heats

In order to verify Dulong and Petit law as well as its deviations, we have to
calculate the values of speci c heat at di erent temperatures and plot a graph
between temperature and speci c heat values. Due to time constraints, we can
only do this with the metal initially placed at room temperature and maybe, for
a couple of times, when the metal is placed in some cooling bath.

F Q 15. For the low temperature measurement, follow these steps.

1. Make a cooling bath and measure its temperature with the help of the
provided thermocouple.

2. Measure the background loss of liquid nitrogen for a few minutes.

3. Insert the material from the cooling bath to the liquid nitrogen cup and
measure the decrease in mass with time.
172CHAPTER 12. LATENT HEAT OF VAPORIZATION OF LIQUID NITROGEN AND SPECIFIC HEATS OF METALS

4. When the sizzling sound stops, equilibrium is reached and background is

reestablished.

5. From the data acquired, nd the speci c heat capacity for the low temper-
ature.

6. Repeat for di erent initial cooling baths.

Bibliography

[1] C. G. Deacon, J. R. de Bruyn, J. P. Whitehead \A simple method of deter-

mining Debye temperatures", Am. J. Phys. 60(5), 422-25 (1991).

[2] C. W. Thompson and H. W. White \Latent heat and low temperature heat
capacity measurement for the general physics laboratory", Am. J. Phys.
51(4), 362 (1983).
[3] Halliday, Resnik, Krane, \Physics: Volume 1, Fifth Edition", (Wiley, 2003).

173
Chapter 13

Electromagnetic Induction
and Read-Write Operations in
Magnetic Media

Umer Hassan, Wasif Zia and Sabieh Anwar

Why does a magnet rotate a current carrying loop placed close to it? Why does
the secondary winding of a transformer carry a current when it is not connected
to a voltage source? How does a bicycle dynamo work? How does the Mangla
Power House generate electricity? Let's nd out the answers to some of these
questions with a simple experiment.

KEYWORDS
Faraday's Law
Magnetic Field
Magnetic Flux
Induced EMF
Magnetic Dipole
Moment
Hall Sensor
Solenoid

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours

13.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. understand one of the fundamental laws of electromagnetism,

174
13.2. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES 175

2. understand the meaning of magnetic elds, ux, solenoids, magnets and

electromagnetic induction,

3. appreciate the working of magnetic data storage, such as in hard disks, and

4. interpret the physical meaning of di erentiation and integration.

13.2 Experimental Objectives

The experimental objective is to use a Hall sensor and to nd the eld and
magnetization of a magnet. We will also gain practical knowledge of,

1. magnetic eld transducers,

2. hard disk operation and data storage,

3. visually and analytically determining the relationship between induced EMF

and magnetic ux, and

4. indirect measurement of the speed of a motor.

13.3 The Magnetic Field B and Flux 

The magnetic eld exists when we have moving electric charges.

About 150 years ago, physicists found that, unlike the electric eld, which is
present even when the charge is not moving, the magnetic eld is produced only
when the charge moves. This discovery allowed physicists to learn interesting
ideas about materials. In the twentieth century, scientists determined the con-
guration of elementary particles in atoms and they realized that electrons inside
atoms also produce tiny magnetic elds. This eld is found in all materials. The
magnetic eld is mapped out by magnetic eld lines.

Magnetic eld lines are like stretched rubber bands, closely packed near the poles
.This is why the closer we get to the poles of a magnet, the higher the magnetic
eld. The number of magnetic eld lines passing through an area is known as
magnetic ux .

Mathematically, we divide an area through which we want to nd the ux into

identical area elements
A~ perpendicular and away from the surface as shown in
176CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

the Figure 13.1. A scalar product between the magnetic eld vector B~ and
A~
is,
 = B~1

A~1 + B~2

A~2 : : : ; (A-1)
Subsequently, we may also write
∑
= B~i

A~i (A-2)
i

∆A

∆A

B ∆A

Figure 13.1: Magnetic ux through an area.

13.4 Electromagnetic Induction

Extensive work was done on current carrying conductors in the nineteenth century,
major ground work was set by Faraday (1831) and following him Lenz (1834) [1].
Faraday discovered that a changing magnetic eld across a conductor generates
electric eld. When a charge moves around a closed circuit this electric eld does
work on the charge. Like the electromotive force (EMF) of a battery this induced
EMF is capable of driving a current around the circuit.

Faraday's law asserts that the EMF produced is directly proportional to the rate at
which the magnetic eld lines per unit area or magnetic ux `cuts' the conducting
loop. Lenz's law is incorporated into Faraday's Law with a negative sign which
shows that the EMF produced opposes the relative motion between the conductor
and magnet, it tries to resist the change in ux.

Mathematically both of these laws are expressed together as,

d
" = dt ; (A-3)

for a single loop of conductor, where " is the electromotive force induced,  is
the magnetic ux. d
dt is time rate of change of magnetic ux. The rate depends
13.5. SOLENOIDS 177

V
EMF registered
in millivolts

N
North pole of bar magnet
approaching a single loop

Figure 13.2: Principle of electromagnetic induction.

on the speed at which the magnet moves relative to the conductor loop, as well
as the strength of the eld.

Electric power plants or more commonly; generators, are a physical manifestation

of laws of induction. The principle is to change the magnetic ux over large
stationary coils. The `change' of ux is brought about mechanically, either by
falling water or by running a turbine. The changing ux induces an EMF in the
coils.

Q 1. What are the units of " and ?

Q 2. Rewrite Equation 13.2 for N number of loops. How does the EMF
depend on N ?

13.5 Solenoids
Shown in Figure 13.3 is a coil of wire wound around a core. Magnetically it
behaves like a bar magnet, producing a magnetic eld when the current ows. It
remains a magnet till the time current is owing through the conductor.

The mathematical expression for magnetic eld generated inside an ideal solenoid
is,
B = 0 nI; (A-4)

where 0 is the permeability in free space, value; 1:26  10 6 H/m, n is the

number of turns of the conductor per unit length and I is the current through the
conductor. The magnetic eld B is measured in Tesla (T) or Gauss (G), where
178CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

1 G equals 10 4 T. In our experiment we will use a changing magnetic eld near

N S

Figure 13.3: Solenoid made from an enameled copper wire wound on a plastic
pipe

a solenoid to induce an EMF in it. This is the the Faraday e ect!

13.6 The Hall e ect

Imagine a sea. There is a sea of electrons in a conductor. When we apply a po-
tential this `sea' ows from the higher to the lower potential. Further, if we place
this conductor, in which current is owing in a magnetic eld the moving charges
tend to interact with the applied magnetic eld and also de ect. This de ection
results in a potential di erence across or perpendicular to the conduction path,
know as the Hall voltage.

Figure 13.4 illustrates how moving charges are de ected due to the applied mag-
netic eld. The magnitude of this force (FB ) is given by,

FB = Bq; (A-5)

where q is the charge and  is the velocity. The build-up of charges on one
side generates an electric eld (E? ) perpendicular to the current as shown in
Figure 13.4. These charges continue to accumulate till the time force (FE ) due
to electric eld,
FE = qE? ; (A-6)

is equal to the force due to the magnetic eld (FB ). Mathematically this equilib-
rium means that,
FE = FB ; (A-7)

or
Bq = qE? : (A-8)
13.6. THE HALL EFFECT 179

Thickness (T)

(a)
Current flowing due
to applied EMF
width (w)

Hall voltage registered across the

VH conductor when magnetic field is applied

(b)
Charges accumulating
Direction of
on the surface
Direction of applied field
electric field due to
accumulation of charges

Figure 13.4: (a) Shows electrons owing through the conductor. (b) Shows some
charges accumulating on the front and back surfaces generating Hall voltage
across the width w .

The voltage developed due to E? is,

VH = E? w; (A-9)

where (VH ) is the Hall voltage and w is the width of the conductor. Combining
Equation A-8 and Equation A-9 we get,

VH = wB: (A-10)

We know that the average velocity of electrons in terms of current (I ) is given

by,
I
 = neA ; (A-11)

where n is the volume density of electrons and A is the cross-sectional area, a

product of width (w ) and thickness (T ).

Combining Equation A-11 and Equation A-10 we obtain the Hall voltage in terms
of applied magnetic eld,
BI
VH = neT : (A-12)

The Hall e ect is important in the study of materials, for example it helps us
to nd the number of conducting particles in a wire and their charge. In our
experiment, this e ect holds a central importance as we will use sensors developed
using this principle to probe the magnetic elds generated by magnets. Read
heads in tape recorders and magnetic disk drives utilize this principle too.
180CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

Q 3. A strip of copper 150  m thick is placed inside a magnetic eld B =

0:65 T perpendicular to the plane of the strip, and a current I = 23 A is setup
in the strip. What Hall potential di erence would appear across the width of the
strip if there were 8:49  1028 electrons/m3 ?

Comparison between the solenoid and the Hall probe

The Hall probe and the solenoid are both transducers, they convert one form
of energy to another. Figure 13.5 shows that Hall probes generate a measurable
potential which varies with the direction and magnitude of the eld and ux. This
potential is then converted to magnetic eld using a simple relation provided by
the manufacturer of the Hall chip.

On the other hand, a solenoid, directly measures the EMF. The value of EMF, of
course depends on the rate of change of ux being measured. However a major
role is also played by the number of turns of the solenoid.

Magnetic field
Area

Hall probe Flux Solenoid

Potential No. of turns
drop and area

Calibration Rate of change

of flux linkage
Magnetic
field B EMF

Figure 13.5: A comparison between the operation of the solenoid and Hall probe.

13.7 Data Storage on a hard disk

Computers are digital. So, every letter of every language must be stored or
processed in computers in \digital form"; i.e. as a sequence of 0's and 1's.
Computers use ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). It
is a 7 bit code for all English alphabets, Roman letters and many other symbols.
We will be using a similar scheme for a 5 bit code in our experiment. Consider the
13.8. THE EXPERIMENT 181

following table, Table 13.1, which shows a possible binary conversion of English
alphabets into bits.

Letter Binary Code Letter Binary Code Letter Binary code

a 00000 j 01001 s 10010
b 00001 k 01010 t 10011
c 00010 l 01011 u 10100
d 00011 m 01100 v 10101
e 00100 n 01101 w 10110
f 00101 o 01110 x 10111
g 00110 p 01111 y 11000
h 00111 q 10000 z 11001
i 01000 r 10001

Table 13.1: Binary Representation of English alphabets

13.8 The Experiment

Building a Hall probe

Hall probes are used to measure magnetic elds. The output voltage of a Hall
sensor is proportional to the magnetic eld being measured. The measured volt-
age is then converted to magnetic eld using a calibration scheme provided by
the manufacturer of the Hall sensing chip. This calibration curve will be given to
you in the lab.

Hall probe sensor is shown in Figure 13.6. Vcc is provided to the Hall sensor using
the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. All USB ports have a 5 V regulated output,
so we will be using USB port as power supply to the Hall chip.

Vcc 1
GND 2
3
Vout

Figure 13.6: Hall sensor

182CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

Magnetic Field of a Disk Magnet

Now let's map the eld of a disk magnet using the probe you just built. The lab
has provided you small disk magnets based on iron.

Hall probe

Vary the position

x of the Hall probe
along x

a
l

Disk magnet

Magnetic Axis

Figure 13.7: Schematic shows disk magnet eld mapping using a Hall probe.

F Q 4. Following the scheme in Table 13.2 below to nd the output voltage

on the probe as you move along the magnetic axis as shown in Figure 13.7. Make
sure that the at face of the probe is perpendicular to the magnetic axis.

Distance (mm) Output Volatge (volts) Measured magnetic eld Bmeasured (Gauss) Bmeasured (Tesla)
0
2
:
:
Table 13.2: Mapping the eld of a disk magnet. For voltage to eld conversion
use the provided calibration sheet.

F Q 5. Find the error Bmeasured .

F Q 6. Plot a graph between magnetic eld strength Bmeasured and distance.

F Q 7. Using the above graph, write your observations regarding the change
in magnetic eld with respect to distance.
13.8. THE EXPERIMENT 183

Magnetization of a disk magnet

Magnetic materials are made up of atoms which have magnetic dipole moment
~ B . These randomly aligned dipoles have a net magnetic dipole ~ if we sum over
a volume V , mathematically,
∑
~ = ~ B : (A-13)
~ as
We can now de ne magnetization M
∑
~
M~ = V B (A-14)

For a disk magnet the expression for the magnetic eld strength as a function of
distance is
( )
M x + l=2 x l=2
B(x ) = 02 √ √ ; (A-15)
(x + l=2)2 + a2 (x l=2)2 + a2
where M is the magnetization of a disk magnet, x is the distance along the
magnetic axis from the disk magnet, l is the thickness of the disk magnet and a
is the radius [4].

The term in brackets needs some mathematical detail in which we will not delve.
However it is important to tell that it is a geometrical term which is the result
of an integral depending upon the dimensions of the magnet and solved over the
distance at which we are measuring the eld.

For the sake of simplicity lets replace

( )
0 x + l=2 x l=2
√ √ (A-16)
2 (x + l=2)2 + a2 (x l=2)2 + a2
with the geometrical function f (x ), obtaining

B(x ) = Mf (x ): (A-17)

The goal is to nd the magnetization of the disk magnet using Equation A-17.

F Q 8. For this perform the following procedure.

1. Find the thickness of the disk magnet with vernier callipers.

2. Find the radius of the disk magnet.

3. Run Matlab.

4. Enter values of d , then type >> magnetic eld(d);

5. The programme prompts to enter radius and thickness where d is the dis-
tance from the magnet at which magnetic eld was measured.
184CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

6. The Matlab code returns the value of f (x ) that should be equal to BM(x ) .

7. Using the values of Bmeasured and f (x ), evaluate the value of M for each
distance using Equation A-17.

F Q 9. How has the error propagated in M ? Find the mean and error in M ?

F Q 10. What are the units of M ?

F Q 11. Curve t f (x ) and Bmeasured to a suitable tting function using least

square curve tting technique and evaluate the value of M .

13.9 Hard disk operation

Now we are going to simulate the operation of a hard disk. The experimental
setup consists of a AC motor which rotates a disk. There is also a switch and a
regulator, to control the speed, as shown in the schematic Figure 14.10. Magnets
are placed over the disk at xed positions.

There are two coils in an AC motor; a main winding and an auxiliary winding.
The capacitor inside the box is connected in series with the stator winding and in
parallel with the rotor winding, there is a di erence in phase provided when a AC
current passes through the capacitor, this di erence in phase allows a couple of
force to act on the axel which makes it rotate.

Soft Iron Bushing

core assembly

Coil

Axle

Figure 13.8: Shows dismantled motor of a fan. Main and auxiliary windings are
not visible as the are taped together.

There are two possible ways of placing a magnet, i.e., either place its north or
south facing upward. When the north is upward we call it 1 and when south is
upward we call it 0. As the disk rotates the magnetic ux linking the solenoid
13.9. HARD DISK OPERATION 185

with the Hall probe is changed with time. In order to see the induced EMF and
magnetic ux we use the solenoid and the Hall probe respectively in di erent
experiments.

Probe or solenoid
Probe Magnets
post

Side view

Capacitor

Top view
Starter
sequence
magnet

Regulator Switch

Figure 13.9: Setup of the hard disk experiment.

Observing induced EMF and changing magnetic ux using a

solenoid
EMF

Time

Figure 13.10: EMF induced in the solenoid as the magnet passes below the
solenoid.
186CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

Magnetic field

Time

Figure 13.11: Magnetic North as measured by the Hall probe.

F Q 12. Carry out the following procedure.

1. Make a solenoid approximately 8 cm in length. Note the number of turns.

You have been provided with enameled copper wire.

2. Align the solenoid with the magnetic eld of the magnets.

3. Turn ON the power supply, the motor starts and disk starts rotating.

4. Now run the \solenoid.vi" le.

5. Click on the Run button, the data starts acquiring.

6. Now, observe the waveform graphs.

7. Observe the EMF on the graph labeled as EMF.

8. Observe the magnetic ux on the graph labeled as Magnetic ux.

F Q 13. You will observe something similar to Figure 13.10. Explain the graphs
you observed. Is there a mathematical relation between the graphs you see?
(HINT: Use the concepts of di erentiation and integration.)

F Q 14. Now change the number of turns of solenoid and observe the induced
EMF. Draw the gures and note down your observations in your note books.

F Q 15. What are your major conclusions?

Observing magnetic eld using Hall Probe

Now instead of the solenoid we'll use the Hall probe as a magnetic eld transducer.
The voltage across the Hall chip is proportional to the magnetic ux. Depending
13.9. HARD DISK OPERATION 187

on the front ( at) or the back (round) surface or the direction of the eld, voltage
will either drop below or jump above the voltage when there is no eld present.
Figure 13.11 shows the corresponding ux from a typical experiment, magnet
facing North.

F Q 16. Now carry out the following procedure to observe the behavior of the
Hall Probe.

1. Place the Hall probe sensor close enough the magnets.

2. Turn ON the supply, the motor starts and disk starts rotating.

3. Now Run the \HallProbe.vi" le.

4. Click on the Run button, the data starts acquiring.

5. Now, observe the waveform graphs.

6. Observe the Hall voltage on the graph labeled as voltage.

F Q 17. Identify the south of the magnet.

F Q 18. Note down your observations and inferences in your note books.

F Q 19. What's the di erence you observe when using the Hall probe sensor
from the solenoid? Write it down in your note book.

F Q 20. How can we nd the EMF from your Hall voltage observations?
Sketch the curve of EMF.

F Q 21. Can you come up with a method to measure the speed of the motor?
Describe.

Data Reading and Writing Operation

This section illustrates how the data is read from a hard disk.

1. Place the magnets on the disk in some orientation, at the indicated posi-
tions. Such that it forms a letter. Your task is to identify what that letter
is?

2. Align the Hall probe with the magnetic eld of the magnets.
188CHAPTER 13. ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND READ-WRITE OPERATIONS IN MAGNETIC MEDIA

3. Turn ON the supply, the motor starts and disk starts rotating.

4. Now Run the \HallProbe.vi" le.

5. Click on the Run button, the data starts acquiring.

6. Now, observe the waveform graphs.

7. Observe the Hall voltage and the magnetic eld.

8. Run Matlab and load letterRead.m le.

9. The stored letter is displayed.

10. Compare your result with the Table 13.1.

F Q 22. Why do we need a starter sequence magnet ?

Q 23. Change the orientation of the magnets and display a letter of your
choice.
Bibliography

[1] Keith Gibbs, \Advanced physics, Second Eddition" (Cambridge, 1996)

[2] Robert Kingman, S. Clark Rowland, and Sabin Popescu, \An experimen-
tal observation of Faraday's law of induction", Amer. J. Phys. 70, 595-98
(2002).

[3] R.C. Nicklin, \Faraday's Law{ Quantitative experiments", Amer. J. Phys.

54, 422-28 (1986).
[4] Martin Connors, \Measurement and Analysis of the eld of disk magnets",
Phys. Teach. 40, 308-11 (2002).

[5] Brad Hinaus and Mick Veum, \The Hard Drive: An Experiment for Faradays
Law", Phys. Teach. 40, 339-41 (2002).

189
Chapter 14

Vibrations on a String and

Resonance

Umer Hassan and Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

How does our radio tune into di erent channels? Can a music maestro shatter
a crystal glass by beating the tabla with a particular frequency and pitch? How
does our ear distinguish between tones in the multitude of sounds we hear every
day? The answer to all of these questions lies in understanding the concept of
resonance. The idea was discovered by Galileo Galilei with his investigations of
pendulums beginning in 1602. The present experiment gives you an introduction
to the phenomenon of resonance, and the frequencies at which it occurs by
visualizing the stationary waves formed on a vibrating string. We hope you will
enjoy this exercise of exciting and detecting standing waves on a string.

KEYWORDS
Transverse wave
Longitudinal wave
Wave interference
Resonance
stationary
waves
Circular modes
normal modes

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 4 hours.

14.1 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment we will learn,

190
14.2. EXPERIMENTAL OBJECTIVES 191

1. the concept of wave,

2. the di erence between transverse and longitudinal waves,

3. the phenomenon of wave interference,

4. the concept of wave vector and wave number,

5. derivation of the wave speed, and

6. the formation of stationary waves.

14.2 Experimental Objectives

The experimental objectives for the experiment include,

1. exciting and detecting standing waves on a string,

2. being able to identify where resonance occurs,

3. distinguishing linear from nonlinear behaviors, and

4. correlating experimental plots with mathematical relationships.

14.3 Waves and their di erent types

What is a wave?

A wave is a disturbance or variation that transfers energy progressively from point

to point in a medium. It may take, for example, the form of an elastic deformation
or a variation of pressure, electric intensity, magnetic intensity, electric potential,
or temperature. A medium is a substance or material which carries the wave.The
medium through which wave propagates may experience some local oscillations as
the wave passes but the particles of the medium don't travel along with the wave.
Remember that waves involve the transport of energy without the transport of
matter. However, we all know that waves can also travel through vacuum.

Mechanical Waves

A mechanical wave is a wave which is not capable of transmitting its energy

through vacuum. Mechanical waves require a medium in order to transport their
192 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

energy from one location to another. Sound waves, water waves, and rope waves
are examples of mechanical waves. Mechanical waves can be categorized into the
following two main groups.

1. Longitudinal Waves
A longitudinal wave is a wave in which particles of the medium move in
a direction parallel to the direction which the wave moves. For example,
when a spring under tension is set oscillating back and forth at one end, a
longitudinal wave travels along the spring. It is composed of compressions
and rarefactions, and is shown in Figure 14.1.

Figure 14.1: Longitudinal wave in a helical spring.

2. Transverse Waves
A transverse wave is a wave in which particles of the medium move in a
direction perpendicular to the direction which the wave moves. For example,
when a string under tension is set oscillating back and forth at one end,
a transverse wave travels along the string; the disturbance moves along
the string but the string particles vibrate at right angles to the direction of
propagation of the disturbances, as shown in Figure 14.2. The waves on
a vibrating string are the type of transverse waves. These are the waves
we will encounter in the present experiment. We may recall that light or
electromagnetic waves are also transverse waves.

Y Direction of Propagation
v

Motion of Wave
Particle

Figure 14.2: Illustration of particle motion w.r.t to wave propagation in a trans-

verse wave.
14.4. WAVE INTERFERENCE AND RESONANCE 193

Sinusoidal or harmonic waves

The sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive

oscillation. Mathematically, it can be expressed as,

y (t ) = Asin(!t + ); (A-1)

where, A the amplitude, is the peak deviation of the function from its center
position. !, the angular frequency, speci es how many oscillations occur in a unit
time interval, in radians per second. It is given by ! = 2f , f being the frequency
of the wave.  is the phase, specifying where in its cycle the oscillation begins at
t = 0. These concepts are illustrated in Figure 14.3.

Oscillations dominate in real life All electromagnetic energy, including visible light,
microwaves, radio waves, and X-rays, can be represented by a sine wave or a
combination of sine waves. At the lowest level, even matter oscillates like a wave.
This is the realm of quantum physics. Other examples include ocean waves, sound
waves, and tides. Given the ubiquitous nature of waves, the current experiment
sets to reveal some interesting properties. However, some more background
theory is required before we can start our experiment.

14.4 Wave Interference and Resonance

Interference of waves

Interference is the phenomenon occurring when two waves meet while traveling
along the same medium. Constructive interference is a type of interference which
occurs at any location along the medium where the two interfering waves have
a displacement in the same direction. In other words, when the crest or trough
of one wave passes through, or is super positioned upon, the crest or trough
respectively of another wave, the waves constructively interfere. When waves in-
terfere, amplitudes add. Figure 14.4 shows the two waves of di erent amplitudes
constructively interfering to give a resulting wave of increased amplitude.

Destructive interference is the type of interference which occurs at any location

along the medium where the two interfering waves have a displacement in the
opposite direction. When the crest of one wave passes through, or is super
positioned upon, the trough of another wave, we say that the waves destructively
194 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE
10

Amplitude
(a) 4

−2

−4

−6

−8

−10
0 2 4 6 8 10

Angular frequency, w (rad/sec)

10

4
Amplitude

0
(b)
−2

−4

−6

−8

−10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Angular frequency, w (rad/sec)

10

4
Amplitude

(c) 0

−2

−4

−6

−8

−10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Angular frequency, w (rad/sec)

Figure 14.3: Illustration of variation of amplitude, frequency and phase of har-

monic waves, (a) amplitude of one wave is twice the other, (b) frequency of one
wave is twice the other, and (c) one wave has a phase di erence of 2 with the
other.

interfere. We often say that when waves interfere, amplitudes add. During
destructive interference, since the positive amplitudes from one crest are added
to the negative amplitudes from the other trough, this addition can look like a
subtraction. Refer to Figure 14.5 for a demonstration of this concept.

If the phase di erence is close to 180 , the resultant amplitude is nearly zero.
When  is exactly 180 , the crest of one wave falls exactly on the valley of
14.4. WAVE INTERFERENCE AND RESONANCE 195

10 (a)
(b)
(c)

Amplitude
0

−5

−10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Angular frequency, w (rad/sec)

Figure 14.4: Constructive wave interference phenomenon, (a) a wave of 5 units

amplitude, (b) a wave of 7 units amplitude, and (c) resulting wave of 12 units
amplitude.

the other. The resultant amplitude is zero, corresponding to total destructive

interference.

6 (a)
(b)
(c)
4
Amplitude

−2

−4

−6

0 2 4 6 8 10

Angular frequency, w (rad/sec)

Figure 14.5: Destructive wave interference phenomenon, (a) a wave of 5 units

amplitude, (b) a wave of 4 units amplitude, and (c) resulting wave of 1 unit
amplitude.

F Q 1. Two waves travel in the same direction and interfere. Both have the
same wavelength, wave speed and an amplitude of 10 mm. There is a phase
di erence of 110 between them. (a) What is the resulting amplitude due to
wave interference? (b) How much should the phase di erence change so that the
resultant wave has an amplitude of 5 mm?
196 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

Standing or stationary waves

Standing waves are formed by the interference of two harmonic waves of the
same amplitude and frequency (and therefore same wavelength), but traveling in
opposite directions. Due to the interference of the two waves, there are certain
points called nodes at which the total wave is zero at all times. The distance
between two consecutive nodes is exactly half the wavelength. The points at the
middle between consecutive nodes are called anti-nodes. At the anti-nodes the
total wave oscillates with maximum amplitude, equal to twice the amplitude of
each wave. Anti-nodes are also half a wavelength apart as shown in Figure 14.6.
Boundaries

Antinode

Node
λ\2

Figure 14.6: Standing wave.

Behavior at the boundary

The behavior of a wave upon reaching the end of a medium is referred to as

boundary behavior. We consider two kinds of behaviors ar boundaries.

Re ection from a free end

If the boundary is not stationary and is vibrating or moving, it is called as a free

boundary. If a wave travels towards the free boundary, the last particle of the
wave can no longer interact with the rst particle of the free end. Since the
rope and boundary are no longer attached and interconnected, they will slide past
each other. So when a crest reaches the free end, the last particle of the wave
receives the same upward displacement; only now there is no adjoining particle to
pull downward upon the last particle of the wave to cause it to be inverted. The
result is that the re ected wave is not inverted. When an upward displaced wave
14.4. WAVE INTERFERENCE AND RESONANCE 197

is incident upon a free end, it returns as an upward displaced wave after re ection
and vive versa. Inversion is not observed in free end re ection, as shown in Figure
14.7.

Transmitted
Wave

Free
Boundary

Reflected
Wave

Figure 14.7: Re ected wave from free end doesn't gets inverted.

Re ection from a xed end

If a boundary is stationary i.e. not vibrating but xed and a wave is traveling
towards it, on reaching the boundary, two things occur.

1. A portion of the energy carried by the pulse is re ected and returns.

2. A portion of the energy carried by the pulse is transmitted to the boundary,

causing it to vibrate. But these vibrations are negligible, may contribute to
sound or heat and are not discussed here.

The re ected wave gets inverted. That is, if an upward displaced wave is incident
towards a xed end boundary, it will re ect and return as a downward displaced
wave and vice versa, as shown in Figure 14.8.

If there is continuous generation of transverse waves from one end and a trans-
mitted wave gets inverted after being re ected from other end which is xed, the
wave interference took place and we get a stationary wave as depicted in Fig-
ure 14.8. In our experiment we shall be forming standing waves by continuously
generating waves at one end and by keeping the other end xed.
198 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

Transmitted
Fixed Wave
Boundary

Reflected
Wave

Figure 14.8: Inversion take place from the xed boundary.

Resonance

The frequencies at which we get the stationary waves are the natural frequencies
of the oscillating system (in our case vibrating string). If we drive one end of
the string and when the frequency of the driving force matches with the natural
frequency of the string, standing wave is produced and the string begins to move
at large amplitude. This phenomenon is called as resonance.

14.5 Wave Speed

Basic de nitions

The wavelength  is the distance between two consecutive crests or troughs in

case of transverse wave. The period T of the wave is the time required for
any particular point on a wave to undergo one complete cycle of transverse or
longitudinal motion. The frequency f is the number of the wave cycles completed
in one second. The wave number k is the inverse of the wavelength and is
expressed as,
2
k= : (A-2)

Likewise, the angular frequency ! is,

2
! = T = 2f : (A-3)

The length L of the vibrating string in which standing waves are developed can
be expressed as integral multiples of half of the wavelength, i.e.,
n
L= 2 ; (A-4)

where n = 1,2,3,: : : is an integer. So,  can be written as,

2L
= n : (A-5)
14.5. WAVE SPEED 199

Substituting the value of  into Equation A-2, we get,

n
k= L: (A-6)

The wave speed v can be written as,

2 !
v =f=f k = k: (A-7)

Speed of wave on a string subject to tension

The speed of the waves on a string depends upon the mass of the string element
and the tension T under which the string is stretched. The mass of the string
element can be expressed in term of the linear mass density , which is the mass
per unit length.

v
δl

T T

θ R

Figure 14.9: A small portion of string under the action of forces.

Let's consider a small section of string of length l as shown in Figure 14.9.

Here v represents the wave speed and the direction in which the wave is traveling
is identi ed by the arrow. The element is part of an arc that is part of an an
approximate circle of radius R. The mass m of this element is l . The tension
T in the string is the tangential pull at each end of the segment. The horizontal
components cancel since they are equal and opposite to each other. However,
each of the vertical components is equal to T sin, so the the total vertical force
is 2T sin. Since  is very small, we can approximate sin  . Considering the
triangle shown in the Figure 14.9, we nd that, 2 = l n R. So, the net force F
acting on the string element can be written as,

l
F = 2T sin  2T  = T R : (A-8)
200 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

This is the force which is supplying the centripetal acceleration of the string
particles towards O. The centripetal force Fc acting on the mass m = l
moving in a circle of radius R with linear speed v is,
mv 2
Fc = R (A-9)

Equating the two forces, we get,

l mv 2
TR = R (A-10)
√
T
v = : (A-11)

Thus, the wave speed depends upon the tension and the linear mass density of
the string.

F Q 2. Show that Equation A-11 is dimensionally correct.

F Q 3. A transverse sinusoidal wave is generated at one end of long horizontal

string by a bar that moves the end up and down through a distance of 1:5 cm.The
motion is repeated at a rate of 130 times per second. If a string has a linear
density of 0:251 kg/m and is kept under a tension of 100 N, nd the amplitude,
frequency, speed and wavelength of the wave motion.

14.6 Experimental setup

Consider a stretched string that is xed from one end through a rigid support, is
strung over a pulley and a weight W is hung at the other end. The string can be
set under vibrations using a mechanical oscillator, which in our case is a speaker
(woofer) fed with a signal generator. Let L be the length between the wedge and
the oscillator as shown in Figure 14.10. If standing waves are established on
the string, then the wave vectors can be written as,

n
kn = L ; n = 1; 2; 3; : : : (A-12)

The relation between the angular frequency with the wave vector, is called the
dispersion relation and depends upon the e ective length and the tension. It can
be derived as follows,

Equating Equations A-11 and A-7, we obtain,

√
! T
k=  (A-13)
14.6. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP 201

Rigid Pulley
Support
Wedge Mechanical
Vibrator
W

Figure 14.10: The experimental setup. A string is stretched between a rigid

support and a mechanical vibrator, which in our case, is a speaker. Tension in
the string is introduced by a hanging mass.

Hence, for the bare string, the dispersion relation is given by,
√ √
T T 
! (k ) =   k = n   L: (A-14)

where is! is in radians. The equation clearly shows that that the frequency
modes ! (k ) are directly proportional to the wave vector. Thus the dispersion
relation for the string is linear.

A normal mode of an oscillating system is a pattern of motion in which all parts

of the system move sinusoidally with the same frequency and in phase. The
frequencies of the normal modes are known as its natural frequencies or reso-
nant frequencies. A normal mode is characterized by a mode number n, and is
numbered according to the number of half waves in the vibrational pattern. If
the vibrational pattern has one stationary wave, the mode number is 1, for two
stationary waves, the mode number is 2 and so on.

Our goal in this experiment is to locate the normal modes of the vibrating string.
We shall observe the formation of stationary waves on a vibrating string at res-
onance. The gist of the experiment is that the frequency ! will be varied until
a pattern of standing waves is observed. When this condition is achieved, there
will be an integer number of half-wavelengths formed on the string, which will
be vibrating with a large amplitude. This is precisely what a normal mode is!
We have excited a normal mode. The driving frequency is in resonance with a
normal mode frequency. We will note down the frequency ! and the number n
of half-wavelengths and will verify the relationship given in Equation (A-14).

Procedure

F Q 4. After receiving all the equipment, set up the apparatus according to

the illustration in Figure 14.10.
202 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

F Q 5. Carry out the following experimental procedure to nd the dispersion

relation for the string.

1. Determine the value of  of the string. (The density of the string is 8000
kg/m3 ). What is the uncertainty in the value?

2. Place a driver at any place at the string such that the e ective length is
1:5m.

3. Attach 1 kg weight with the other end of the string.

4. Now sweep the frequency slowly using the signal generator and nd the
frequencies at which the resonance occurs, i.e., where you observe the
maximum amplitude standing waves. Start with 1 Hz and increase the
frequency with an increment of 0:1 Hz.

5. Note down all the frequencies and plot a graph between frequency and the
number of the mode n. This is the desired dispersion relation.

F Q 6. Curve t the data to Equation A-14. What is your calculated value of

T /?

F Q 7. Change the string tension using di erent weights (1:2 kg and 1:4 kg)
and plot the dispersion relation for each case. Preferably, plot all your results
with varying weight on the same graph. Describe your observations.
F Q 8. Change the string length (1 m and 1:25 m) by changing the driver
position and plot the dispersion relation for each case. Preferably, plot all your
results with varying lengths on the same graph. You should be able to describe
your observations.

Circular modes in the vibrating string

The string is being driven in a vertical direction and therefore is expected to

vibrate in the vertical plane only. At or near resonance the string has vertical as
well as horizontal oscillations. This can be easily visualized by having a side and
top view of vibrating string. At this point each element of the string is moving
in a circle about the equilibrium position of the string. These oscillatory patterns
are called circular modes [3].

F Q 9. Is there any change in the string tension as the string vibrates?

14.6. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP 203

F Q 10. Can you identify the reason for occurrence of these circular modes?

F Q 11. Observe what is the e ect of decreasing the oscillator's amplitude on

the circular modes?

Resonance modes on a loaded string

Theory

The atoms in a crystalline structure are not at rest, they vibrates about their
mean positions under the in uence of some energy eld gradient. This vibrations
of the atoms are called lattice vibrations. The energy present in the lattice
vibrations can be looked as a series of superimposed sound or strain waves whose
frequency spectrum can be determined by the elastic properties of the crystal.
The quantum of energy of elastic wave is called phonon. The lattice vibrations
can be visualized as a system of identical atoms which are elastically coupled to
each other by strings as shown in Figure 14.11.

These lattice vibrations can be simulated experimentally by uniformly loading a

string with beads or small masses m with an interbead distance a, the resulting
dispersion relation would no longer be linear. We will 'simulate` the behavior of
the chain of the atoms by using a string loaded with rosary beads.

un-1 un un+1

n-1 n n+1 a

Figure 14.11: Monoatomic lattice vibrations. A simpli ed picture of a linear chain

of atoms.

Experiment

A uniformly loaded string with beads can be used to simulate vibrations in a mono
atomic crystalline lattice. Let the total number of beads be N which are uniformly
loaded with an inter bead distance (lattice constant) `a'. Then the wave vector
can be expressed as,

n
kn = (N + 1)a ; n = 1; 2; 3; : : : ; N: (A-15)
204 CHAPTER 14. VIBRATIONS ON A STRING AND RESONANCE

where L = (N + 1)a.

F Q 12. Carry out the following experimental procedure to nd the dispersion

relation for the bare string.

1. Measure the interbead distance.

2. Place a driver at the string such that the e ective length is 1:5m.

3. Attach a 1 kg weight with the other end of the string.

4. Now sweep the frequency slowly using signal generator and nd the fre-
quency modes at which resonance occurs, i.e., where you observe the max-
imum amplitude standing waves.

5. Note down all the frequencies and plot a graph between frequency and
number of mode n. This is the desired dispersion relation.

F Q 13. Explain the non linearities in the dispersion relation and any other
di erences from the bare string.
Bibliography

[1] S. Parmley, Tom Zobrist, T. Clough, A. Perez-Miller, M. Makela, and R.

Yu, \Vibrational properties of a loaded string", Amer. J. Phys. 63, 547-553
(1995).

[2] Resnick, Halliday, Krane, \Physics", Chapter 19, John Wiley & Sons, 1992.

[3] John A. Elliott, \Nonlinear resonance in vibrational strings", Amer. J. Phys.

50, 1148-1150 (1982).

205
Chapter 15

Natural Radioactivity and

Statistics

Sohaib Shamim, Hafsa Hassan and Muhammad Sabieh Anwar

The discovery of radioactivity was accidental but yet was one of the most as-
tonishing feats of the last few years of the nineteenth century. It has provided
experimental evidence in uencing many areas of modern physics, such as nuclear
and particle Physics. It can also be heralded as the rst evidence of the existence
of the nucleus- a long series of physics experiments and theoretical innovations
nally culminating in the discovery of the weak nuclear force. You have probably
studied the basics of radioactivity at school and must be familiar with alpha, beta
and gamma radiation, and some of their properties. You must have also heard of
the Geiger Counter and the Geiger-Muller (GM ) tube. In this experiment you will
get a chance to work with radioactive sources and radiation detection apparatus
and perform quantitative measurements of their properties.

KEYWORDS
Radioactivity
Background Radiation
Poisson Distribution
Normal/Gaussian
Distribution
Data Acquisition.

APPARATUS

206
15.1. APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 1 WEEK 207

Alpha source (strength 0.1Ci)
Beta source (strength 0.1Ci)
Gamma source
(strength 10.1Ci)
Aluminium absorbers
Lead absorbers
Geiger Counter.

Geiger Muller Tube
NI SCC-68 Module and data acquisition card.

15.1 APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 1 WEEK

15.2 Conceptual Objectives

In this experiment, we will,

1. learn how to handle radioactive material safely,

2. learn how to show the random statistical nature of radioactivity,

3. practice using Data Acquisition, LabVIEW and mathematical analysis using

MATLAB,

4. learn the practical use of the GM Tube and GM counter, and

5. investigate properties of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

15.3 Experimental Objectives

We will start this experiment with learning how to use the GM Tube, Geiger
Counter and data acquisition software with background radiation. We will then
demonstrate the random nature of radioactive decay by using the gamma source
and tting our results with the Poisson Distribution. In the following section,
we will investigate the penetration properties of the three sources, including the
e ect of lead absorbers on gamma radiation, and aluminium foil absorbers on
beta radiation, and then use our knowledge of the e ect of a magnetic eld on
the three radiations to identify unknown sources.
208 CHAPTER 15. NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND STATISTICS

15.4 Theoretical Introduction

Safety and Radioactivity

The potential dangers of radioactivity are well known, even if they are relatively
poorly understood. In this experiment, although we will be mostly dealing with
weak sources, it is important to know the precautionary steps that must be imper-
The Physlab
atively taken, and to have understanding of the dangers involved.
is authorized by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) for the
permissible use of radioactive sources for this experiment.
You will be using lead absorbers in this experiment. Lead is a poisonous substance,
not safe to be touched by bare hands, so ensure that you wear safety gloves while
handling lead.

No eating or drinking is permitted in a radioactivity experiment. Also, any loss of

a source can have serious consequences for the institution. The sources for this
experiment have been sealed and marked. These should be handed back safely
to the supervisor at the end of the experiment.

To get a quantitative idea of the numbers involved, we should study how radioac-
tivity is measured and what powers are considered dangerous. There are three
measures of radioactive risk that should be identi ed and measured [1].

1. The activity of sources is measured in terms of counts/second. 1 Becquerel

(Bq) = 1 count per second and 1 Curie (Ci) = 3:7 x 1010 Bq. The sources
in this experiment have activity of less than 1 Ci, i.e., a counting rate of
at the most 3:7 x 104 count per second.

2. The energy and type. Typically, energies released in nuclear decay are
measured in MeV. Some of this energy is absorbed before reaching you,
and some passes right through you, so only some of this energy can cause
biological damage. This will depends on the type of radiation, , or .

3. The lifetime of that source, or in our case, the exposure time, since that is
shorter. The biological damage is directly proportional to the duration of
exposure to the source.

Q 1. Suppose you absorb all the radioactivity from the most active and high
energy source over a period of 6 hrs. The count rate is 3:7  104 /s, maximum
energy is 1 MeV and your weight is approximately 100 kg. To illustrate the
15.4. THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION 209

range of exposures, calculate an upper limit to your exposure as a result of this

experiment, in units of Gy [1 Gy = 1 J/kg].

Q 2. Compare this calculation with the maximum permitted yearly dosage of

radiation workers, which is of the order 5x10 2 Gy.

The Poisson Distribution

Since radioactivity is a random process and every decay is independent of the

other, we do not expect to get identical number of counts in equal intervals of
time. Rather, we obtain varying counts per second every time we repeat the
measurement. Mathematically, if something is randomly distributed over time
and it is a rare event, then the process can be modelled by a Poisson Distribution,
de ned by:

n exp( )
P (n ) = n! ; (A-1)

where P (n) is the probability of getting n counts in a particular counting interval

and  is the mean value. The standard deviation is the square root of the mean
p.

Q 3. The number of particles emitted each minute by a radioactive source

is recorded for a period of 10 hours and a total of 1800 counts are registered.
During how many 1-minute intervals should we expect to observe (a) no particles,
(b) 10 particles [2].

One of the main tasks of this experiment is to statistically verify that radioac-
tivity is a random process and follow a Poisson Distribution. To make accurate
measurements on low activity sources that we will be using in this experiment, we
will need to take into account background radiation rst. There are two major
sources of background radiation. First is from the natural radioactivity of rocks
and minerals on earth. The level from this source depends on the nature of under-
lying ground and will be higher, for instance, in areas close to granite rocks. The
second source is from cosmic radiations. These radiations interact with atoms in
the upper atmosphere and create a ux of muons, pions, electrons, neutrons and
X-rays. This ux depends on altitude and is of the order of one thousand charged
particles per square meter per second near sea level.
210 CHAPTER 15. NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND STATISTICS

Figure 15.1: Geiger Muller counter and tube.

15.5 The Apparatus

Geiger Muller (GM) Tube and Counter

The precision Geiger counter manufactured by Daedalon, takes input from the
GM tube (also from Daedalon), detects the radiation particles and feeds the
signal to the computer. The GM counter clicks every time a radiation particle is
detected. The GM tube works best when supplied with 900V. Below this value,
its eciency decreases and we risk losing our data but higher voltage levels can
also damage the GM tube.

The sources

The -source is the isotope of polonium, 210

84 Po, which decays with a half life of
133 days. Alpha particles are charged helium nuclei, and have a rest mass energy
of about 4000 MeV. These particles have a small kinetic energy when compared
with their rest mass energy. This in turn means that their speed is much smaller
compared to the speed of light. The small speeds and the large electric charge
cause the particles to be absorbed very rapidly as they pass through matter [1].

The -source is the isotope strontium 9038 Sr with a half-life of 28:6 years. It's
strength is about ten times that of the alpha source. Beta decay involves the
emission of two particles, a beta particle (electron or positron) and an undetected
neutrino (an antineutrino in case of an electron emission). Because the decay
15.6. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 211

energy is shared between the -particle and neutrino, there are a number of
possible energies for both the emitted -particle and the neutrino with the kinetic
energy of particles ranging from zero to 0.546 MeV, and the peak occuring at
around 0.25 MeV. The particles have energies close to the speed of light. This
combined with a small charge causes them to weakly interact with matter [1].

The -source is the isotope cobalt 60 27 Co, which decays with a half life of 5:26
years. It decays by the emission of two rays, with energies close to 1:2 MeV.
Before every decay, there is a decay with decay energy of 0:318 MeV, so a
single, relatively low energy electron is also emitted in each decay. rays of 1:2
MeV and below interact with matter primarily through the Compton E ect and
the photoelectric e ect, and have weaker interactions than and particles [1].

15.6 Experimental Method

Background Radiation

Q 4. Select the Volts mode of the Geiger Counter by using the MODE button,
and set the voltage to about 900 V. You should hear distinct clicks from the
counter. Open the Labview le Radiation and Statistics Expt located on the
desktop. First you are required to record background counts.

Q 5. Before you can start the program, you need to tell the program of the
settings you require for the experiment. Choose 300 second intervals for the
histogram bin and the sample length. This means that the program will record
the number of background clicks for 300 seconds. You are also required to save
the data to a le. You should save this le in your Z drive.

Q 6. Click on RUN. Once the acquisition is complete, you need to work out
the mean value of background radiation. On the front panel, you can see the
total number of counts recorded. Calculate the mean counts/second. Make a
note of this in your notebook.

Demonstrating Poisson Distribution with Gamma Radiation

You can now collect the radioactive sources from the instructor. For this part of
the experiment, you are required to use the -source.
212 CHAPTER 15. NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND STATISTICS

radiation
absorbing Computer
sheets
lead container GM counter
GM tube
PC

Figure 15.2: Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up used to nd the

absorbtion coecient of di erent materials.

Q 7. Place the -source such that the mean counts appearing on the Labview
program is about 10 counts/second. Record the distance from the GM counter
to the source in your notebooks.

Q 8. Now choose 10 second intervals for the histogram bin, 600 seconds (10
minutes) for the sample length. You are also required to enter a path and lename
for data to be saved. Make sure you also write down all this information in your
lab notebook.

Q 9. Now click RUN. As the program proceeds, you can see a Poisson Distri-
bution graph developing on your computer screen. The next task will be to nd
the mean and standard deviation of this distribution.

Q 10. Once the experiment is complete, open MATLAB. You can import
all the data in Radiation.txt by typing nukedat in MATLAB prompt. You can
calculate the total number of counts, mean, and standard deviation by using the
following commands:

Desired variable Matlab command

Total number of counts sum(counts)
Mean value of counts/second mean(counts)
Standard Deviation of counts/second std(counts)

Note the answers to all the variables in your notebooks.

Q 11. Now we will try to generate a theoretical Poisson Distribution with

the calculated variables. Use Eq(A-1) and the variables just computed above to
generate a theoretical Poisson Distribution in Matlab.

Q 12. On the same graph plot the histogram for the experimental data.

Q 13. Comment on the two sets of data.

15.6. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 213

Properties of nuclear radiation

You are provided with a thick paper, aluminium and lead absorbers. You are
required to choose suitable absorbers to investigate penetration of , and
-sources. Click the large mode button on the Front Panel to switch to the
absorption mode.
Q 14. Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 15.2. Place the detector on a
marked paper for better measurements of distance d .

Q 15. Because there are other sources present in the neighborhood, there is
likely to be some `noise' signals from these sources. How would you eliminate
this e ect?

Q 16. Comment on your results for the -source.

Q 17. For the and -sources, choose a suitable value of d that gives you
around 10 counts per second and plot your data tting it to the following equation,

I = I0 e n (A-2)

where I0 , and I , represent the initial and nal intensity of the sources,  and n
represent the absorbtion coecient and number of absorbers of the material.

Q 18. Calculate the value of  and the corresponding error in it. What are
the units?

E ects of Magnetic Fields on Beta Radiations

In this part you will pass the particles through a magnetic eld. The eld should
cause the particles to curve around in a circular path. We will use this information
to determine the velocity of -particles.

Q 19. Setup the apparatus as shown in Figure 15.3. The Helmholtz coil
produces a magnetic eld into the plane of the paper. The -source should be
placed very close to the Helmholtz coil. Suggest why is this so.

Q 20. Rotate the GM tube with the help of available protractor to carry out
a 180 scan for the detected particles. Vary the angle by approximately 30 after

every reading.

Q 21. Plot a graph of angle versus count rate.

214 CHAPTER 15. NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND STATISTICS

180
de
Helmholtz coil gr
ee Computer
s
GM counter

sca
lead container

n
beta particles
GM tube
PC
B-field

Figure 15.3: Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up used to nd the e ect
of magnetic eld on Beta Radiations.

Q 22. The magnetic eld for the Helmholtz coil is approximately 80 mT. Use
this information to determine the minimum, maximum and most probable velocity
of -particles.

15.7 Experience Questions

1. We can also use the gamma source to demonstrate how the counts recorded
change with distance (when we were ignoring any absorption). Why would
the alpha or Beta source be unsuitable for this purpose?

2. We investigated the e ect of absorbers with di erent sources. Try to ex-

plain why the di erent placement of the same absorber gives di erent re-
sults. There is a simple mathematical explanation for it. Discuss this with
the supervisor.

3. Suppose you are given a black box with an unknown number of lead sheets
(each of same, certain thickness) inside it. Can you suggest how you could
determine the exact number of lead sheets present, using what you have
learnt in this experiment so far?

4. Can you think of an experiment to determine the nature of background

radiation, i.e, whether its mainly alpha, beta or gamma? (Hint: You can
make good use of the absorbers.)
15.8. IDEA EXPERIMENTS 215

15.8 Idea Experiments

1. We used only typical absorbers like Aluminium, air and lead. Try investi-
gating the e ects of the di erent radiations by absorbers of paper, plastic,
wood, other metals etc.

2. Poisson Distribution was used to show the random nature of radioactivity.

Another important characteristic of Radioactivity is that it is spontaneous.
Can you think of an experiment which can show the spontaneity of radia-
tion?

3. We can argue that for no absorption, the counts recorded fall with distance
as 1=r 2 . This is because the radiation from a point source spreads spher-
ically in all direction - a concept that you will learn in your Electricity and
Magnetism course next semester.Do you think this would still be the case
if our sources could not be approximated as point sources? Suppose you
carried out lsq curve tting with MATLAB and discover that you do not get
a 1=r 2 relation with distance. What can you conclude about your source?

4. Do you think the angle of the absorber sheet with the line perpendicular to
the source and detector makes a di erence in the counts recorded? Try it
out.

5. For demonstrating the Poisson Distribution, we simply plotted the theo-

retical Poisson plot on top of our experimental data histogram. In fact,
there are mathematical ways of checking whether a given distribution satis-
factorily ts Poisson (or in general, any given) distribution. Search the 2
(Chi squared) goodness of t tests, and explain how you can use it to check
whether your experimental data actually follows a Poisson Distribution. You
can also discuss this with the supervisor.

6. It can also be shown that the errors in the means of bins recorded (take the
mean of all the means recorded, the error is each mean's deviation from the
overall mean) follow a Normal Distribution, given that the number of mean
bin counts that you are using is large (over 50). Can you suggest how you
could carry out this experiment, using the LabVIEW software given?
Bibliography

[1] Oxford Practical Course, Radiaoctivity and Statistics , GP01 January

2007, Oxford, UK

[2] M. L. Boas, Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences (Wiley), 3rd ed.

216