Williamson, J., Vokes, M., McDaid, C. et al. (1 more author) (2022) Razors and lasers : an undergraduate experiment to determine thermal expansion coefficients using single slit diffraction measurements. Physics Education, 57 (1). 015002. ISSN 0031-9120
Abstract
Single slit diffraction and the thermal expansion of materials are common components of an undergraduate physics course, though these topics are often taught independently in both lectures and laboratory based courses. Higher levels of cognitive domains can be achieved by building on these established topics and combining them into a single experiment that also introduces new tools and techniques for data handling and analysis. Here we describe an experiment where the thermal expansion of a metal bar shifts an attached razor blade such that the separation between this blade and another fixed blade decreases. This decrease in blade separation allows for changes in the peak separation for single slit diffraction to be measured and the expansion coefficient of three metal bars (copper, steel and aluminium) is determined to good agreement with accepted values. The use of multiple peak fitting allows students to develop more sophisticated analysis techniques that are applicable beyond this experiment and are transferable to different areas of experimental physics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
Keywords: | experimental design; thermal expansion; diffraction; teaching laboratory |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Oct 2021 07:50 |
Last Modified: | 20 Oct 2021 07:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1361-6552/ac27f7 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:179418 |