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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Photonic Non-Destructive Measurement Methods For Investigating The Evolution Of Polar Firn And Ice, Daniel James Breton
Photonic Non-Destructive Measurement Methods For Investigating The Evolution Of Polar Firn And Ice, Daniel James Breton
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
When snow falls on glaciers or ice sheets, it persists for many tens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of years before becoming ice. The granular material in between fresh snow and glacial ice is known as firn and is generally 50 to 100 m thick over polar ice sheets. The compaction mechanism of firn into ice (called densification) has important glaciological ramifications in determination of ice sheet stability and related sea level rise effects via remote sensing altimetry. Firn densification is also important for correctly interpreting ice core paleoclimate records, especially those analyzing gases trapped in air bubbles within the glacial …
Electronic Transport Properties Of Ruthenium And Ruthenium Dioxide Thin Films, Michael M. Steeves
Electronic Transport Properties Of Ruthenium And Ruthenium Dioxide Thin Films, Michael M. Steeves
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Resistivities (ρ) and Hall coefficients (RH) of polycrystalline Ru and RuO2 thin films were measured from 293 to 600 K in vacuum, O2, and CO. Differing nanostructures and textures were sputtered at normal, confocal, and glancing incidences to 20 - 300 nm thickness. For Ru in planar or nanorod morphologies, defects have negligible effect on RH, which is similar to RH in bulk metal. Models of effective thickness are derived for the nanorod morphology. For Ru and RuO2 films, decreases in ρ on first heating are caused by defect annealing; subsequent …
Identifying And Addressing Specific Student Difficulties In Advanced Thermal Physics, Trevor I. Smith
Identifying And Addressing Specific Student Difficulties In Advanced Thermal Physics, Trevor I. Smith
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
As part of an ongoing multi-university research study on student understanding of concepts in thermal physics at the upper division, I identified several student difficulties with topics related to heat engines (especially the Carnot cycle), as well as difficulties related to the Boltzmann factor. In an effort to address these difficulties, I developed two guided-inquiry worksheet activities (a.k.a. tutorials) for use in advanced undergraduate thermal physics courses. Both tutorials seek to improve student understanding of the utility and physical background of a particular mathematical expression. One tutorial focuses on a derivation of Carnot's theorem regarding the limit on thermodynamic efficiency, …