DIREDAWA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
LABORATORY MANUAL FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS IV
WRITTEN BY: MEGERSA KASIM
ABEBE TUGUMA

EDITTED BY:GEBEYEHU OUMER

JULY,2015
DIREDAWA ETHIOPIA
 CONTENTS

• Introduction 5
• EXPERMENT -1 8
• STUDY OF PROPERTIES OF GEIGER–MULLER TUBE 8
• EXIPERMENT-1B 11
• DETERMINATION OF DEAD TIME FOR GM-TUBE11
• EXPERMENT-2 14
• GAMMA RADIATION: INVERSE SQUARE LAW 14
• EXPERMENT-3 17
• ABSORPTION/ ATTENUATION / OF GAMMA AND BETA RAYS (EFFICIENCY FOR BETA COUNTING) 17
• EXPERMENT-3B 24
• ATTENUATION OF GAMMA IN CO AND AL ABSORBER 24
• EXIPERMENT-3C 24
• ABSORBTION OF BETA IN POLYETHYLENE 24
• EXPERMENT-3D 25
• EFFICIENCY OF GM TUBE FOR BETA COUNTING 25
• EXIPERMENT-4 27
• COUNTING STATSTICS 27
• EXIPERIMENT-4A 28
• STATISTICS OF NUCLEAR COUNTING (POISSON STATISTICS) 28
• EXPERIMENT-5 37
• DETERMINATION OF SPECIFIC CHARGE OF THE ELECTRON 37
• EXPERIMENT-6 46
• PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT 46
• EXPERIMENT-7 57
• HALL EFFECT 57
• EXPERIMENT-8 65
• BOHR THEORY OF HYDROGEN—THE RYDBERG CONSTANT 65
 INTRODUCTION

• The laboratory provides a unique opportunity to

validate physical theories in a quantitative manner.
Laboratory experience demonstrates the limitations
in the application of physical theories to real
physical situations.
• It teaches the role that experimental uncertainty
plays in physical measurements and introduces
ways to minimize experimental uncertainty.
• In general, the purpose of these laboratory
exercises is both to demonstrate some physical
principle and to teach techniques of careful
measurement.
 Data taking procedures
• Original data should always be recorded directly in the
data tables provided.
• Avoid the habit of recording the original data on
scratch sheets and transferring them to the data
tables later.
• When working in a group, all partners should
contribute to the actual process of taking the
measurements.
• If time and other considerations permit, each partner
should perform a separate set of measurements as a
check on the procedure.
• Each partner should record data separately even if
only one set of data is taken by the group.
 Siginificant figure
• Siginificant figures means the number of digits known in
some number.
• The number of significant figures does not necessarily
equal the total digits in the number because zeros are
used as place keepers when digits are not known.
• For example, in the number 123 there are three
significant figures.
• In the number 1230, although there are four digits in the
number, there are only three significant figures because
the zero is assumed to be merely keeping a place.
• Similarly, the numbers 0.123 and 0.0123 both have only
three significant figures.
Determining the number of siginificant figures

•  The most significant digit is the leftmost nonzero digit. In

other words, zeros at the left are never significant.
•  In numbers that contain no decimal point, the rightmost
nonzero digit is the least significant digit.
•  In numbers that contain a decimal point, the rightmost
digit is the least significant digit, regardless of whether it is
zero or nonzero.
•  The number of significant digits is found by counting the
places from the most significant to the least significant digit.
 Linear least square fits
• Often measurements are taken by changing one variable (call it
x) and measuring how a second variable (call it y) changes as a
function of the first variable.
• In many cases of interest it is assumed that there exists a linear
relationship between the two variables. In mathematical terms
one can say that the variables obey an equation of the form
• y = mx+ b
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
(1)
• where m and b are constants. This also implies that if a graph is
made with x as the horizontal axis and y as the vertical axis, it
will be a straight line with m equal to the slope (defined as
dy/dx) and b equal to the y intercept (the value of y at x= 0).
• The above Equestion is how to best verify that the data do
indeed obey Equation 1. One way is to make agraph of the
data, and then try to draw the best straight line possible
through the data points.
• This will give a qualitative answer to the question, but it is
possible to give a quantitative answer to the question by
the process described below.
• The measurements are repeated measurements in the
sense that they are to be considered together in the
attempt to determine to what extent the data obey the
Equation .
• It is possible to generalize the idea of minimizing the sum of squares of the deviations
described earlier for the mean and standard deviation to the present case.
• The result of the generalization to two-variable linear data is called a linear least
squares fit to the data. It is also sometimes referred to as a linear regression.
• The aim of the process is to determine the values of m and b that produce the best
straight-line fit to the data. Any choice of values for m and b will produce a straight line,
with values of y determined by the choice of x.
• For any such straight line (determined by a given m and b) there will be a deviation
between each of the measured y’s and the y’s from the straight-line fit at the value of
the measured x’s.
• The least squares fit is that m and b for which the sum of the squares of these
deviations is a minimum.
• Statistical theory states that the appropriate values of m and b that will produce this
minimum sum of squares of the deviations are given by the following equations:
•

•
• For any such straight line (determined by a given m and
b) there will be a deviation between each of the
measured y’s and the y’s from the straight-line fit at the
value of the measured x’s.
• The least squares fit is that m and b for which the sum
of the squares of these deviations is a minimum.
• Statistical theory states that the appropriate values of
m and b that will produce this minimum sum of squares
of the deviations are given by the following equations:
•