Physics Commons^™

Recording Of Geomagnetic Field Variations In An Orthogonal System, Chistian Schroeder

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Magnetic field variations in both magnitude and direction are known to occur due to such phenomena as atmospheric tides and solar activity. Magnetic storms caused by solar activity may bring about variations in excess of one percent of the magnitude of the earth's normal magnetic field; but in general the changes are slight and require sensitive instruments for their measurement.

The Absolute Excitation Functions For The I 127 (N,Y) I 128 And Na 23 (N,Y) And Na 24 Reactions, Richard L. Cubitt

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Radiative capture (n,y) cross sections, in addition to their theoretical interest, are of great practical importance to the technology of reactor design. A knowledge of the absolute excitation functions of the various materials employed in reactors permits calculation of the effect of these materials on the reactivity of a reactor, and also enables shielding calculations to be made.

Pulse Measurement Of The Velocity Of Light Using A Kerr Cell, Ralph Drake Mills

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The object of this research was to develop a technique that could measure the velocity of light indirectly, with some degree of accuracy; yet could be used to demonstrate the physical fact of this velocity of light to groups of students or interested observers.

Ua3/3/1 Proposed National Science Foundation Summer Institute, Ward Sumpter, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Proposal for National Science Foundation summer institute to be held at WKU during the summer of 1959.

A Cell-Center Distribution Function For Liquid Argon, Arthur M. Soellner

Masters Theses

"A theoretical expression for a cell-center distribution function was developed using a fundamental statistical mechanics approach. A free volume picture of the liquid was used with each atom located in a spherical cell formed by its nearest neighbors. Cell-center density distribution curves were obtained for liquid argon for temperatures of 84.4°K, 91.8°K, 126.7°K, 144.1°K, and 149.3°K and for argon gas at 149.3°K, and a comparison made with the experimental atomic distribution curves obtained by Eisenstein. For the first two temperatures a sharper, more definite structure was predicted by the cell model. For the remaining four temperatures, with the assumptions made, …

A Preliminary Search For Subionizers, Joseph B. Hughes

Masters Theses

"A number of physicists of recent years have been attempting to explain the basic nature of the universe in terms of particles. A few particles have been predicted theoretically, and some of these, along with many others have appeared experimentally, Searches for them have presented some interesting experimental problems and brought forth some invaluable experimental apparatus. One of these devices is the Wilson cloud chamber, with which this thesis is concerned.

Of the particles that have been discovered thus far, only the electron and the proton appear to be stable. The rest ultimately decay by the emission of photons and …

Rocky Mountain Spectroscopy Conference

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Program from the Rocky Mountain Spectroscopy Conference, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Spectroscopy Society. Held in Denver, Colorado, August 11-12, 1958.

On The Relation Between The Cosmic Ray Air Shower Spectrum And The Pulse Height Spectrum Of A Large Scintillator, Robert T. Barton

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

The purpose of this paper is to study other lateral distribution functions proposed by various authors, to select an alternative to the one used previously, to repeat the calculations of the required quantities using the alternative function, and to comment on the relative merits of the different choices. Since an empirical formula was used in the original work it seemed desirable to use a theoretical relation for comparison if a suitable one were available.

A Problem In Atmospheric Diffusion, Albert C. Giere

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This study concerns the diffusion of atmospheric ozone through a one dimensional region, given certain initial and boundary conditions. As shown in Figure 1 the region is bounded by the planes x= -a and x=b. The plane x=0 divides the region into two parts, Region I and Region II. The solution to this type of problem consists in giving the concentration as a function of the time for any point x in both regions. A general analytic solution is obtained by means of the Laplace transformation using coefficients of diffusion which differ in Regions I and II, but which are …

Structure Of Ch2, Gordon A. Gallup

Gordon Gallup Publications

Gray has criticized the calculation of the ground state multiplicity of the CH₂ fragment by the author. In answer, I would like to make two comments.
1. Regardless of the energies of ionization of a carbon atom, CH₂ may be considered as a system composed of two protons, a carbon kernel, and four electrons. The proper amount of configuration interaction should arise naturally and depend on relative energies of orbitals and overlap values. It appears that there is too much configuration interaction in the calculation in reference since the equilibrium angle arrived at is 160° instead of 140° …

A Rotating Ring Magnetometer Remote Position Indicator, Robert B. Foster Jr.

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Many phases of present-day experimental physics require remote indicating devices where data must be transmitted either by wire or radio to a distant point. For example, when atmospheric parameters are measured by means of sounding balloons, it would be desirable to use a lightweight device which would accurately convert measured information into electrical data in a form which would allow easy transmission to a receiving station.

Hydrodynamical Theory Of Spontaneous Fission With Applications To Mendelevium, William Douglas Foland

Masters Theses

This thesis will consider in some detail the calculation of some of the quantities considered by the papers reviewed in Chapter I. The objective of the thesis is the prediction of spontaneous-fission half-lives for nuclei with high atomic numbers.

5. Newton, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section VIII: The Development of Modern Science

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born and educated in England. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and there found the inspiration for his prodigious work that was to synthesize and extend the labors of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and others beyond the wildest dreams of any of them. Newton was the intellectual giant who set the direction of the physical sciences on the paths they were to follow undeviatingly into the twentieth century. [excerpt]

Xx. Meaning In The Physical Sciences, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

The twentieth century has seen two major revolutions in our theories of physics concerning nature, and these have made us change many of our concepts about the terms in which nature can be described. The new theories born in these revolutions are the theory of relativity and of quantum mechanics. The biological sciences had their revolutions in the nineteenth century, and while remarkable progress has been made since, nothing comparable to that upheaval has occurred in this century. Of the two massive changes in the concepts of the physical sciences, we can discuss but one here. [excerpt]

1. The Problem, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

Newton's laws of motion and their associated definitions encountered their first difficulty near the middle of the nineteenth century.

Newton had designed his theory to describe the behavior of matter in space and time by inventing a relationship between the force on a body and the resulting change in motion of the body. Such a description of nature came to be called mechanical, and a large part of physicists' efforts were directed toward reducing all aspects of physics to mechanics. These efforts were rewarded magnificently in the fields of heat, electricity, and sound, in addition to astronomy and other more …

2. The Theory Of Special Relativity, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XX: Meaning in the Physical Sciences

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published his first work on relativity in 1905, the same year in which he published remarkable papers on Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect. At the time he did this work, he was a patent examiner in the Swiss Patent Office. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921 "for his services to the theory of physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." He became a professor of physics at several German universities, and in 1916, he took a position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin.

As the …

Simple Themistor Bridge For Absorbed Radiation Measurement, Jack G. Dodd

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Semi-Conducting Properties Of Gray Tin As A Laboratory Introduction To Solid State Physics, Glenn F. Powers, Gene E. Louallen, Robert M. Rickett

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Iterative Solutions Of Kirkwood's Integral For Liquid Argon, Eugene D. Fabricius

Masters Theses

"A liquid or a dense gas may be regarded either as a very imperfect gas in which multiple collisions are frequent or as a distorted crystal in which the long range order has been lost. The crystal-like approach has not led to formal solutions, but it has led to several approximate treatments which can be used to give numerical results.

The two main types of approaches which have been used are: the cell theories, in which the liquid is regarded as a distorted crystal with one molecule located at or near each lattice point; and the hole theories, in which …

An Application Of Cathodic Sputtering To The Etching Of Metallographic Specimens, Robert Ruch

Masters Theses

"The U. S. Bureau of Mines at Rolla, Missouri has for some years been conducting research on manganese-copper alloys. The study of the physical metallurgy of these alloys -- dissimilar metal couples -- has always been complicated by the difficulty of satisfactorily etching this material. It was felt that by introducing a new etching technique, cathodic bombardment, satisfactory etching might be accomplished. On this basis the following research program was proposed:

1) To survey the present state of art of cathodic etching, etching by means of cathodic sputtering;

2) To design and construct suitable equipment for the experimental study of …

A Study Of Background In A Long Sensitive Time Wilson Cloud Chamber, Donald A. Rinker

Masters Theses

"A long-sensitive time Wilson Cloud Chamber has been built and tested. A usable sensitive time of 2.5 seconds has been achieved by the use of a system of five expansion valves, the first three of which are used to obtain the sensitive time and the final two to continue the expansion at a supersaturation slightly less than critical in order to allow all droplets formed to grow in size and fall into the liquid. This system of continued expansion, coupled with delayed recompression, has been proved to reduce the background density in the chamber to an average operating value of …

An Improved Long Sensitive Time Wilson Cloud Chamber, Clarence W. Mettenburg

Masters Theses

"The discovery of numerous new particles in recent years such as mesons and hyperons causes one to speculate about the possible existence of still other particle types….

A cloud chamber seems to be a most suitable means of detecting particles ionizing less than the minimum ionization of the electron because it is capable of detecting almost all the ions produced. The cloud chamber makes it possible to study not only a wide range of ionization but also many fine details of track structure which would go unnoticed by other means of detection….

With the information and experience gained by the …

Liesegang Rings, Robert Edward Young

Masters Theses

"Although the discovery of the "Liesegang Rings" phenomenon was made sometime before 1855 little was done in the way of study or experimentation until 1896 when R. E. Liesegang discovered that if a crystal or strong solution of silver nitrate is added to a gelatin gel containing dilute potassium chromate, the resulting precipitate of silver chromate is not continuous, as might be expected, but forms a discontinuous periodic pattern. This pattern follows a geometric progression law, x_n = akⁿ, where x_n is the position of the n^th ring, and a and k are constants. K …

Investigation Of The Geometric Effects Connected With The U-Effect-Iii, Anthony Edward Hoffman

Masters Theses

"Statement of Problem: The investigation reported herein is of the dependence of the voltage output due to the U-Effect-III upon the geometry of the tube. The geometry of the tube is defined to include the inner diameter of the tube as well as the size and number of the mercury and electrolyte drops. The previous experimental study of the effect did not include an investigation of the effects of the geometry of the tube, as defined above, on the voltage output. It seems that information as to the dependence of the output voltage on the geometry of the tube would …

Physics, Chapter 7: Work And Energy, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

An extremely important concept that has been developed in physics is that of the work done on a body by the action of some external agent which exerts a force on this body and produces motion. For example, whenever someone lifts a body, he does work by exerting a force upward on it and moving it upward. Whenever a steam locomotive pulls a train, a series of processes takes place in the steam engine of the locomotive which enables it to exert a force on the train and move it in the direction of the force. The term work, as …

Physics, Contents, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

Table of contents

Physics, Chapter 30: Magnetic Fields Of Currents, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

The first evidence for the existence of a magnetic field around an electric current was observed in 1820 by Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851). He found that a wire carrying current caused a freely pivoted compass needle in its vicinity to be deflected. If the current in a long straight wire is directed from C to D, as shown in Figure 30-1, a compass needle below it, whose initial orientation is shown in dotted lines, will have its north pole deflected to the left and its south pole deflected to the right. If the current in the wire is reversed and …

Physics, Chapter 13: Properties Of Matter, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

When a system is subjected to external forces, it generally undergoes a change in size or shape or both. We have thus far touched very lightly on such changes; for example, we have considered the change in length of an elastic spring and the change in volume of a gas when such systems were subjected to varying pressures. The changes produced in a system by the action of external forces depend upon the physical properties of the material of which the system is composed. A study of the properties of matter leads to information which is of practical value to …

Physics, Chapter 1: Fundamental Quantities, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

Physics is a fundamental science dealing with matter and energy. By convention, the subject matter of physics has been divided into such topics as mechanics, heat, sound, light, and electricity. In addition to these general classifications, present-day physics includes atomic physics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics, chemical physics, biophysics, and many other subdivisions. It is impossible to include all aspects of physics in a single definition or paragraph, and to distinguish physics clearly from its nearest neighbors, the other physical sciences-astronomy., chemistry, and geology.

Physics, Chapter 14: Temperature, Henry Semat, Robert Katz

Robert Katz Publications

Temperature is one of the fundamental concepts of physics. We are all able to recognize that some bodies are hotter than others, but our temperature sense is qualitative rather than quantitative and is capable of only a limited range. The sense of touch can frequently be used to distinguish between hotter and colder objects, provided that these lie in a temperature range consistent with the stability of human tissue. Even within this range the sense of touch is often unreliable as a measure of temperature.

The metal bracket holding a wooden rail may feel much colder to the touch than …