Physics 111: Astronomy Lab
Revised Wednesday, September 11
This semester (Fall '96) we are trying out a laboratory course to accompany
PHYS 110. Since we are just piloting the lab this semester, we are only
offering one section, and enrollment is limited to 24.
There is a lab fee of $10.00
The (required) lab manual will cost about $5.00.
We have submitted the paperwork to get PHYS 111 approved for general
education credit. There is, of course, no guarantee that it will be approved,
but we hope to hear for sure by the end of October.
Meeting times
The lab will meet on Thursday afternoons at 3:30 - 5:20 pm,
usually in South Engineering 112.
The first meeting will be on Thursday, September 12
in South Engineering 308.
Who can take the lab
So far, the following people have signed up:
Rob Empey
Nathan Hansen
Kris Hummel
Jennifer Johnsgard
Brett Larson
Blair Martin
Michelle Monteith
Steve Pletan
Brad Westvig
Others are welcome. We can take up to 24 students in the lab.
My apologies to those who couldn't fit this into their schedules,
and especially to the three people who signed up for the original
Monday morning time and can't make Thursday afternoon. If this lab
works out, we'll try to get you in in a later semester.
What will be covered
Some of the labs will be regular dirty-hands experiments, others will use a
computer-simulated observatory. The tentative order of experiments is:
- Optics and telescopes
- Scale model of the solar system
- Impact cratering
- Inverse square law
- Rotation rate of Mercury
- Gravity
- Stellar distances via Cepheid variables
- Spectral class
- Photoelectric photometry of the Pleiades
- Hubble's law
Published by NDSU Department of Physics
Douglas A. Kurtze
E-mail: kurtze@plains.nodak.edu
Phone: (701) 231-7048
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