Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments: A How-to Approach

Book Description

This book treats the experimental techniques and instrumentation most often used in nuclear and particle physics experiments as well as in various other experiments. It provides useful results and formulae, technical know-how and informative details. This second edition has been revised; sections on Cherenkov radiation and radiation protection have been updated and extended. Thanks to the author's long teaching experience, the material is presented in a very practical, hands-on way making the book a useful text and laboratory companion for students and experienced scientists alike.

Customer Reviews:

Concise overview for the nuclear experimentalist.......2000-08-23

Leo's book is a good, concise and concerning standard methods especially in nuclear spectroscopy up-to-date summary of the field. The basic physics ideas are introduced, although not too deeply discussed (but this is a book for the experimentalist, therefore no objections). It is a helpful companion in simple experimental considerations which come to an experimental nuclear spectroscopist every day: The color codes of resistors and the overview over the connectors in a CAMAC crate are examples for these features.

Elaborate references are given for each section that make it possible for the reader to find additional descriptions rather easily. Additional insight on dosimetry and radiation damage and some remarks on statistics make this book an interesting alternative to G.F. Knoll's "Radiation detection and measurement".

The emphasis of Leo's approach is surely (a) on a concise overview rather than an in-depth discussion and (b) on nuclear spectroscopy (gamma and particle detection at some MeV or so) rather than medium and large-scale high-energy physics experiments. Widely used components of high-energy physics equipment are, however, presented, but additional literature might be needed.

One final remark to my fellow reviewer Fabio: One example for a "statistical process" is e.g. the number of electron-hole pairs created in the detection of a charged particle or gamma ray. This process is truely statistical, i.e. it does not depend on things that the experimentator has at hand. The intrinsic resolution of a high-purity Germanium detector with respect to a, say, 3 MeV gamma ray cannot be changed (at least to a large extent). Have a look into Leo's book if you don't believe me!

Quite deep overview, but statistics..........1998-11-27

It's a good book: very good English, it treats quite everything from the point of view of CAUSES! It's full of precise references (good for the thesis!).

Expecially good topics: ionization and scintillation detectors; photomultipliers. Lacks: calorimetres and Cerenkov counters! For these topics I suggest: 'Particle Detectors' (many auth.), Cambridge University Press.

Just one thing about statistics: you have always to substitute this sentence:

''... because of the statistical nature of the process...''

with

Book Description

Will a magnet pick up a paper clip or a feather? The answer is, just the paper clip. Magnets only pick up things that contain bits of iron. In this new addition to the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, veteran author Franklyn Branley explains the properties and behavior of magnets. True Kelley's charming illustrations will entertain readers as they discover for themselves what makes a magnet. Hands-on activities include making a magnet and compass.

Customer Reviews:

Read it as a story or do the experiments.......2005-04-07

The good thing about this book is that it is interesting enough to read it (at bedtime, for example) without pausing to do the experiments or you can use it in conjunction with some great little experiments to learn more about magnets.

It is not extremely detailed, but my five-year-old son found it quite engaging and he was absolutely fascinated when the experiments worked "just the way the book said!" With the book's simple structure, I know it won't be too long before he is able to read it to himself, also. (It is around the second grade level, I would say.)

Nicely done for younger students.

The Science of Light: Projects and Experiments With Light And Color (Tabletop Scientist)

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The Science of Light: Projects and Experiments With Light And Color (Tabletop Scientist)
Steve Parker
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1403472912

The Science Of Sound: Projects and Experiments With Music And Sound Waves (Tabletop Scientist)

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The Science Of Sound: Projects and Experiments With Music And Sound Waves (Tabletop Scientist)
Steve Parker
Manufacturer: Heinemann
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1403472882

Physics Demonstrations: A Sourcebook for Teachers of Physics

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Very good
Must-have book for Physics instructors

Physics Demonstrations: A Sourcebook for Teachers of Physics
Julien Clinton Sprott
Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Physics, Fun, and Beyond: Electrifying Projects and Inventions from Recycled and Low-Cost Materials
Hands-On Physics Activities with Real-Life Applications: Easy-to-Use Labs and Demonstrations for Grades 8 - 12
Turning the World Inside Out and 174 Other Simple Physics Demonstrations
Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching
The Flying Circus of Physics

ASIN: 0299215806

Customer Reviews:

Very good.......2007-02-08

Excellent. Very sort demonstrations with simple explanations. The only missing subject are quantum effects.
It is a very important complementary material for teaching all level.

Must-have book for Physics instructors .......2006-04-11

Lots of classic demos plus some unusual ones. Each chapter includes explicit instructions, background material, safety warnings, and references. A terrific resource for science teachers (specifically in physics) at all levels, though most useful at the high school or college level.

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The Art of Experimental Physics
Daryl W. Preston , and Eric R. Dietz
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Experiments in Modern Physics, Second Edition
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences
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ASIN: 0471847488

Book Description

Fills the need for an experimental physics text. There are three main sections of the text. The first is an introduction that offers valuable insights into the importance of the human element in physics and traces the course of its historical development. This section also explains the objectives of the physics laboratory and the skills you must master to maintain a ``Notebook'' and analyze data, and presents a general discussion of spectroscopy experiments. The second section discusses the unique and valuable role of the computer in the laboratory and explains how to use it; software is included with the text. The final section contains over twenty experiments, providing students with a broad introduction into the use of a variety of instruments for carrying out many different measurements.

Janice VanCleave's Magnets: Mind-boggling Experiments You Can Turn Into Science Fair Projects

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Janice VanCleave's Magnets: Mind-boggling Experiments You Can Turn Into Science Fair Projects
Janice VanCleave
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471571067

Book Description

The perfect science fair idea books… Spectacular Science Projects Janice VanCleave's Magnets

How does a compass work?
What is a magnetic field?
How can you make a magnet with electricity?

Janice VanCleave's Magnets includes 20 simple and fun experiments that allow you to discover the answers to these and other fascinating questions about magnets, plus dozens of additional suggestions for developing your own science fair projects. Learn about magnetic poles using a bar magnet, paper, and string; about magnetic force fields with a compass, a pencil, and a sheet of paper; and much more. All experiments use inexpensive household materials and involve a minimum of preparation and clean up. Children ages 8-12 Also available in the Spectacular Science Projects Series: Janice VanCleave's Animals Janice VanCleave's Earthquakes Janice VanCleave's Electricity Janice VanCleave's Gravity Janice VanCleave's Machines Janice VanCleave's Molecules Janice VanCleave's Microscopes and Magnifying Lenses Janice VanCleave's Volcanoes Janice VanCleave's Weather

Clouds in a Glass of Beer: Simple Experiments in Atmospheric Physics

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Fascinating read for every science enthusiast
What I Learned About Atmosperic Physics
A very interesting book
Something for (almost) everyone
Quite fun, and clever

Clouds in a Glass of Beer: Simple Experiments in Atmospheric Physics
Craig F. Bohren
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?: More Experiments in Atmospheric Physics (Dover Science Books)
Color and Light in Nature
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Short Course in Cloud Physics, Third Edition (International Series in Natural Philosophy)

ASIN: 0486417387

Book Description

Memorable and thoroughly understandable science lessons, liberally sprinkled with humor, will fascinate beginning physics students as well as other readers in such chapters as "On a Clear Day You Can't See Forever," "Physics on a Manure Heap," "A Murder in Ceylon," and "Multiple Scattering at the Breakfast Table."

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating read for every science enthusiast.......2007-10-04

Craig F. Bohren writes science books with a delight that is infectious. There are few books like this where science and education are turned into an entertaining commentary. Bohren shows us that the things we see normally, in our day to day life, contain the science truths which can be used to teach concepts, useful for understanding and solving more complex problems.

The book is an amazing survey of simple experiments that can be done to understand the concepts relevant to the cloud physics and atmospheric phenomena. A fascinating introduction to formation of clouds, including role of salt particles in nucleation, relies on carefully observing the bubbles formed in a glass of beer. Surface tension is introduced by example of dew formed on bath mirror. Concepts related to evaporative cooling or mixing clouds or relative humidity, come with a baggage of simple experiments that debunk scientific myths and illustrate essential physics. A textbook on Atmospheric Thermodynamics, published by the same author, is an entertaining and more course friendly account of the same ideas. The science of clouds by Tricker is an equally delightful text on classroom demonstrations and cloud physics inherent in simple observations.

Bohren tackles many concepts of light scattering which are quite difficult to grasp initially or say teach to young students, in a brilliant series of examples about what we observe in our daily life. Be it a discussion about "blue moon" or colors of sea or rainbows, Bohren takes the essential ideas and expresses them with his characteristic wit and brilliance. He supplies you with a tangible set of experiments to illustrate the concepts further. Bohren's treatise on Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (coauthored with Huffman) is most definitely the resource for looking at detailed physics and mathematics associated with scattering. The classic text by van de Hulst "Light Scattering by Small Particles" is a useful supplement for those interested in theory of small particle scattering.

Bohren has written another book titled: "What Light through Yonder Window Breaks" with some more hand-on experiments about Atmospheric Physics. "Clouds in the Glass of Beer" and its sequel are two books that every atmospheric physics student must read and own. The books are throughly enjoyable for anyone even remotely interested in everyday science. No equations involved! No education beyond high school required! Only for fun loving scientists, who believe that true understanding comes when a difficult concept can be explained by simple analogies and in simple language. Highly recommended.

What I Learned About Atmosperic Physics.......2006-01-04

The book, Clouds in a Glass of Beer, Simple Experiments in Atmospheric Physics by Craig Bohren is a very in depth read for a very avid reader or scientist. This book is split up into twenty-two chapters about atmospheric science. A few examples about some of the chapters included in this book are; the explanation of the mystery of the elusive blue moon, why black clouds form, and the fantastic phenomenon that is the rainbow and many other different details. One of the chapters I really enjoyed reading about was chapter three, which talked about the mechanics and utilization of the sippy duck. Before reading this book, I had no understanding of these ducks and how they work. But now I know pretty much everything there is to know about them. In another chapter later on, Bohren conducts yet another experiment about the misinterpretation of the laws of pressure. What he does is place a can in a shallow pan of water, and then adds hot water inside the can. For this experiment to be successful, the can should cave inward and contract. The main reason why I enjoyed this chapter is because the experiment took no skill or much time at all, and it was an interesting way to explain atmospheric pressure. Other than the well planned put chapters in this book, there was one that went into way too much detail about explaining the greenhouse effect. I do agree that it was highly detailed fact wise but he just went a little much into detail. One segment of the book I really enjoyed was when he talked about the rare occurrences of either a blue moon, or the green flash. It really excited me to get up and actually try to see one of these one day. If you like rare occurrences, than you'll love this book. Overall, Bohren is a very in depth writer and people who enjoy physics will benefit from reading this book.

A very interesting book.......2005-12-29

Clouds in a Glass of Beer is not a book for everyone. If you do not have a vast understanding of atmospheric science and physics, you will not enjoy reading this book. In essence, this book is 22 different experiments with an explanation on how each experiment works. If you do find enjoyment in reading about the atmosphere, however, you will enjoy this book.
The first experiment is, as you probably guessed, why clouds form in a glass of beer when salt is added. The passage goes on to explain why and how the clouds form, why a cloud comes out of a freshly opened bottle of beer, and the behavior of the bubbles. It is interesting to see all of the scientific forces behind this action, even though it may become hard to understand at times.
The next experiment is how to make a cloud form in a bottle. This is done by filling the bottom with water and a tube, sucking a little bit of the air out through the tube, letting some smoke in, blowing air into the jar, putting your finger on the end and releasing it quickly. If the bottle is painted black, the cloud should be easier to see.
One experiment I found very entertaining was how to keep fog from forming on a mirror. It consisted of smearing an extremely small amount of dish washing detergent on the glass and trying to fog the mirror to proved that it worked. The soap forces all the fog droplets to create a thin layer of water.
Many of the experiments in this book are quite interesting. This book answers why a rainbow could form in the winter, the requirements for a blue moon, and why you can't see forever on a clear day. If you have a great understanding of science, this book will, without a doubt, amuse you.

Something for (almost) everyone.......2004-10-03

Craig Bohren is a first-rate atmospheric scientist with an unusual knack for being able to explain difficult concepts to general audiences. Sure, some of the explanations can get complicated so most readers will have to pause and think or reread sections occasionally to understand. However, Dr. Bohren uses figures and analogies rather than equations to explain physical processes. The book does not assume any particular scientific background and should be accessible to almost anyone willing to put in a little bit of mental effort. The book is less than 200 pages so the effort feels like a pleasant jog rather than a marathon. What's more, the author's fascination with the world around him and mostly interesting anecdotes inspire and entice the reader all the way. The author manages to do all this without dumbing down the science in any way. The subtitle suggests that the main purpose of the book is to provide educators with handy demonstrations of atmospheric physics. While the book certainly does this, it is not a recipe book in any sense. What one sees during the demonstrations is described well enough that the reader does not actually need to do them to follow what is going on. Moreover, the underlying science is well described and related to things most people see regularly in the sky around them. I have no plans to assemble these demonstrations but enjoyed the book immensely nonetheless. I am sure many others with an interest in the atmosphere will as well.

[The following autobiographical information is to help you evaluate this review. I hold a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, having done my thesis work on some issues regarding airborne particulate matter. I am an assistant professor in environmental engineering at a major US research university, where I teach and regularly publish peer-reviewed research papers on air pollution. While I do not claim to be as expert as Dr. Bohren on the topic of atmospheric optics (few people can), I feel qualified to evaluate this book both technically and otherwise.]

Quite fun, and clever.......2003-02-13

This is not a chummy kitchen science experiment book. The science is serious and some principles obtuse. I studied this sort of thing in college and found some of it tough going, though I do think I came away with a lucid understanding for the effort.

The author rambles a bit, mixing exposition and reminisces. This is not a terrible thing, but may not be what you expect. Some of the experiments are elegant and clever, and impressed my 6 year-old considerably. The author's bent is towards optical phenomena, such as why the sky is blue, more than the meteorological, though there's plenty in there.

Book Description

Intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this book is a practical guide to the use of probability and statistics in experimental physics. The emphasis is on applications and understanding, on theorems and techniques actually used in research. The text is not a comprehensive text in probability and statistics; proofs are sometimes omitted if they do not contribute to intuition in understanding the theorem. The problems, some with worked solutions, introduce the student to the use of computers; occasional reference is made to routines available in the CERN library, but other systems, such as Maple, can also be used. Topics covered include: basic concepts; definitions; some simple results independent of specific distributions; discrete distributions; the normal and other continuous distributions; generating and characteristic functions; the Monte Carlo method and computer simulations; multi-dimensional distributions; the central limit theorem; inverse probability and confidence belts; estimation methods; curve fitting and likelihood ratios; interpolating functions; fitting data with constraints; robust estimation methods. This second edition introduces a new method for dealing with small samples, such as may arise in search experiments, when the data are of low probability. It also includes a new chapter on queuing problems (including a simple, but useful buffer length example). In addition new sections discuss over- and under-coverage using confidence belts, the extended maximum-likelihood method, the use of confidence belts for discrete distributions, estimation of correlation coefficients, and the effective variance method for fitting y = f(x) when both x and y have measurement errors. A complete Solutions Manual is available.

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An introduction to the hydrodynamics of explosions

Detonation: Theory and Experiment
Wildon Fickett , and William C. Davis
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Explosives Engineering
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ASIN: 0486414566

Book Description

Comprehensive review of detonation explores the "simple theory" and experimental tests of the theory; flow in a reactive medium; steady detonation; the nonsteady solution; and the structure of the detonation front. Many simple cases are worked out for illustration.

Customer Reviews:

An introduction to the hydrodynamics of explosions.......2007-03-28

This book presents an introductory overview, both theoretical and observational, of the hydrodynamics of detonation. A working knowledge of the physics of compressible/supersonic flows is assumed by the authors and is necessary before approaching the material in this book. As the back cover states, detonation is the form of combustion `in which energy transfer is by mass flow in strong compression waves'. The authors start by deriving simple equations for shocks and then extending to formalism to include the release of chemical energy and changes in adiabatic index behind the shock (the so-called Zeldovich - von Neumann - Doering model). Even in simple cases this can become a virtually intractable problem. The authors make every attempt to compare theory with experiments, and point out when (and sometimes why) they diverge. More advanced topics discussed at length in the book include non-steady solutions and micro-structure behind the shock. This is an advanced/specialized book geared toward taking an advanced student (physicist/chemist/engineer) who already has a working knowledge of compressible flows to doing research in detonation. There is a heavy emphasis on practical interpretation in this book, the authors don't get bogged down with too much analytic analysis that often obsfuscates basic ideas. There are also lots of good black and white pictures to illustrate important points.

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