Experiments in Physics| Experiments in Physics |
In General > s.a. physics [inference].
* Experiment and observation:
Although observation, in the form of measurement and insight, is part of an
experiment, experiments differ from observations in that experimenters prescribe
the values of variables believed to be relevant.
@ Experimental foundations: Trigg 71;
Telegdi pr(90); Cook 94.
@ General references: Reimann & Gemmer PhyA(20-a2005 [reproducibility of macroscopic experiments].
@ Conceptual: Staley PhSc(02)jun [evidence and bias];
Deutsch a1508 [elimination of probabilistic concepts];
Patton HOPOS(11)-a1710 [historical];
Carcassi & Aidala a1807
[towards a general mathematical theory of experimental science];
Eckstein & Horodecki a1904 [conceptual, the experiment paradox];
Evans & Thébault a1910 [limits of experimental knowledge].
@ Other: Perl 95 [lectures and essays].
> Institutions:
see XX-century physics [BNL, SLAC].
Measurement
> s.a. statistics and error analysis; units.
* Idea: A series of yes/no
questions, e.g., a detector checks if a particle hit the i-th wire,
for all i.
* Conditions: It requires
having a notion of time, conventionally.
@ Texts: Roberts 79;
Klein 89.
@ Articles: Dunningham CP(06) [using quantum mechanics to improve precision];
Crease PT(11)mar
[connections between metrology, musicology, and politics in III century China];
Katagiri PTEP(20)-a1911 [in classical mechanics, Koopman-von Neumann formalism].
Specific Areas, Devices, and Quantities
* Spectrometer: Any instrument
that separates and allows the separate detection and measurement of different
energy components of a beam of particles or radiation;
> s.a. philosophy of science.
@ Cloud chamber, principle: Mott PRS(29);
in Heisenberg 30.
@ Other references: De Rújula a2005 [experiments done by Apollo missions].
> Quantities:
see magnetism; mass;
quantum measurement; rotation;
temperature.
> Gravitation and astrophysics:
see astronomy; gravitational and
quantum-gravity phenomenology; tests of general relativity.
> Particle physics and quantum theory:
see experimental particle physics; experiments in quantum mechanics;
parity [violation].
Important Experiments
> s.a. Eötvös Experiment; Michelson-Morley
Experiment; Pound-Rebka Experiment.
* Cavendish experiment: An
experiment that measured the horizontal gravitational force between test
bodies at distances up to a few meters in the lab using a torsion balance,
and observing its deflection or period;
> s.a. gravitational constant;
newtonian gravity.
* Millikan's oil-drop experiment:
1909, Measured e, and showed that charge is quantized; Charges on
minute oil drops produced by an atomizer are calculated from their terminal
velocities with and without an electric field, and the value of the electric field;
> s.a. gravitational-wave detection.
* Young's double-slit experiment:
1801, Showed that light is a wave [@ news pw(05)apr, and surface waves].
@ General: Crease 03.
@ Cavendish experiment: Brill gq/97-fs [in general relativity];
Rennekamp pt(15)mar [recreation in high school];
Taborda a2002 [apparatus].
@ Franck-Hertz experiment:
Rapior et al AJP(06)may.
@ Hertz 1888 experiment: Faccio et al AJP(06)nov [revisit].
@ Millikan's experiment:
Millikan PR(13)
+ focus Phy(2012);
Niaz BJPS(05) [history and assessment of controversy];
Perry PT(07)may;
focus Phy(12)jan
[measuring individual charges on plastic beads dispersed in a fluid];
Bishop et al TPT(19)sep [history].
"What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed
to our method of questioning" – W K Heisenberg
"Every great
experiment was built for the wrong reason" – C N Brown, Fermilab
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send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 23 jun 2020