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Aug 2003

Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 743-832

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Comment on “Physical and colloquial meanings of the term ‘work,’ ” by Kenneth S. Mendelson [Am. J. Phys. 71, 279–281 (2003)]

Robert C. Hilborn

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 743 | Cited 1 time

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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01.30.Vv Book reviews

Author’s response

Kenneth S. Mendelson

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 743

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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01.30.Vv Book reviews
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New Book Review Editor

Jan Tobochnik and Harvey Gould

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 744

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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01.10.Cr Announcements, news, and awards
01.30.Vv Book reviews
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Robert A. Millikan Award Lecture (August 2002): Global study of the role of the laboratory in physics education

Simon George

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 745

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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© 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.10.Cr Announcements, news, and awards
01.50.-i Educational aids
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Resource Letter: CC-1: Controlling chaos

Daniel J. Gauthier

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 750 | Cited 14 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on controlling chaos. Journal articles, books, and web pages are provided for the following: controlling chaos, controlling chaos with weak periodic perturbations, controlling chaos in electronic circuits, controlling spatiotemporal chaos, targeting trajectories of nonlinear dynamical systems, synchronizing chaos, communicating with chaos, applications of chaos control in physical systems, and applications of chaos control in biological systems. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
05.45.Gg Control of chaos, applications of chaos
05.45.Xt Synchronization; coupled oscillators
05.45.Vx Communication using chaos
01.30.Tt Bibliographies

Laser cooling and trapping visualized

E. J. D. Vredenbregt and K. A. H. van Leeuwen

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 760 | Cited 3 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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Laser cooling and trapping have become widely used in the atomic physics laboratory. A computer program is presented that simulates some of the most important techniques employed, including atomic beam collimation, Zeeman slowing, funneling, and magneto-optical trapping. Its application ranges from experiment design to illustration of course material. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.ht Instructional computer use
37.10.De Atom cooling methods
37.10.Gh Atom traps and guides
37.10.Vz Mechanical effects of light on atoms, molecules, and ions
32.60.+i Zeeman and Stark effects

A novel empirical study of the photoelectric effect in thin gold films

G. D. Earle, B. L. Copp, J. H. Klenzing, and R. L. Bishop

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 766 | Cited 1 time

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We describe a simple experiment designed to stimulate deeper understanding of the photoelectric effect, including the effects of thin metal films on both incident ultraviolet photons and liberated photoelectrons. Interpretation of the results teaches principles of critical thinking and curve-fitting that can benefit students throughout their scientific careers. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
73.61.At Metal and metallic alloys
72.40.+w Photoconduction and photovoltaic effects

Deflection of light to second order: A tool for illustrating principles of general relativity

Jeremiah Bodenner and Clifford M. Will

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 770 | Cited 16 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We calculate the deflection of light by a spherically symmetric body in general relativity, to second order in the quantity GM/dc2, where M is the mass of the body and d is a measure of the distance of closest approach of the ray. Using three different coordinate systems for the Schwarzschild metric we show that the answers for the deflection, while the same at order GM/dc2, differ at order (GM/dc2)2. We demonstrate that all three expressions are really the same by expressing them in terms of measurable, coordinate-independent quantities. These results provide concrete illustrations of the meaning of coordinates and coordinate invariance, which may be useful in teaching general relativity. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
04.20.-q Classical general relativity

The Roget Illusion, the anorthoscope and the persistence of vision

James L. Hunt

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 774

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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When a spoked wheel is observed rolling behind a picket fence, a striking pattern (the Roget Illusion) is observed that arises as a result of the motion and the persistence of vision. The mathematical description of the illusion is developed and an apparatus briefly described that demonstrates it. The inverse process of de-convoluting a distorted object utilizing motion and the persistence of vision is employed in a device called the “anorthoscope.” The analysis of this device is discussed and a simple instrument is shown. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
42.66.Si Psychophysics of vision, visual perception; binocular vision

Quasi-nonpropagating wave sources in one dimension

Bruce Denardo and Gregg L. Miller

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 778 | Cited 2 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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When a medium is driven by a spatially extended wave source, it is possible that no waves emanate from the driven region and a standing wave occurs inside the region. This case is a nonpropagating wave source. We report numerical observations and theory in one dimension, where the realistic effects of weak dissipation and weak nonuniformity are included. Each of the effects causes a small amount of propagation to occur so that the source becomes quasi-nonpropagating. The amplitude of the outgoing wave compared to the amplitude of the standing wave is substantially reduced for a uniform source compared to a two-point source of the same length, which suggests that the more evenly a source is spread over a fixed length, the less is the relative propagation. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
46.70.Hg Membranes, rods, and strings
47.35.-i Hydrodynamic waves

The evaporation of a drop of mercury

Thomas G. Winter

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 783 | Cited 8 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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The evaporative rates of two drops of mercury at room temperature are determined experimentally and theoretically. The resulting mercury vapor levels are estimated and measured, compared with the OSHA permissible exposure limit, and found to be small by comparison. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
47.55.D- Drops and bubbles
64.70.F- Liquid-vapor transitions

What happens to energy and momentum when two oppositely-moving wave pulses overlap?

N. Gauthier

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 787 | Cited 4 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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The overlap of two wave pulses that are moving in opposite directions along the same line in a linear, nondissipative and nondispersive medium is used to discuss the compatibility of wave superposition and of energy–momentum conservation. What happens to the energy and to the momentum when the pulses overlap in such a situation is examined. The treatment is applicable to electromagnetic waves or to small-amplitude linear mechanical waves on an ideal string. It is argued that introductory-to-intermediate textbooks and the pedagogical literature have neglected these questions, particularly the one relating to the conservation of linear momentum. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
41.20.Jb Electromagnetic wave propagation; radiowave propagation

The drag force on an American football

Robert G. Watts and Gary Moore

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 791 | Cited 1 time

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We have measured the drag coefficient on an American football oriented so that its major axis is pointed directly into the wind. The football was suspended from the top of a wind tunnel by bicycle spokes attached to small bearings. The results are similar to the drag coefficients reported by Rouse (1946) for the case of an ellipsoid with major diameter/minor diameter similar to the length/diameter for the football. The drag coefficient for a spinning football is slightly lower than that for a nonspinning football. Both are in the range of 0.05–0.06, about half the value assumed by Brancazio (1985), about one-third that reported by Rae and Streit (2002) and far smaller than that reported by Cunningham and Dowell (1976). © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
47.27.-i Turbulent flows
47.50.-d Non-Newtonian fluid flows
01.55.+b General physics
47.60.-i Flow phenomena in quasi-one-dimensional systems
47.80.-v Instrumentation and measurement methods in fluid dynamics

Simple acoustic source radiation near a large wall

Michael J. Moloney

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 794 | Cited 3 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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An acoustic simple source is predicted to radiate twice as much sound near an infinite rigid wall as it does in free space. As the simple source becomes more distant from the wall, its radiated power is predicted to decrease in an oscillatory way toward the value it has in free space. This behavior can be observed indirectly by fitting a 10-s signal of decaying amplitude from a tuning fork resonator box at various distances from a large unobstructed wall. Each fit determines the damping constant β, which reflects power losses, including radiated acoustic power. In a plot of β versus distance from the wall, the oscillatory part of the damping constant closely matches the theoretical curve of total radiated power from a simple acoustic source near an infinite rigid wall. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
43.25.Cb Macrosonic propagation, finite amplitude sound; shock waves
43.25.Jh Reflection, refraction, interference, scattering, and diffraction of intense sound waves

Verifying the diode–capacitor circuit voltage decay

Edward H. Hellen

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 797 | Cited 4 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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The voltage on a capacitor discharging through a forward biased diode is calculated from basic equations and is found to be in good agreement with experimental measurements. In contrast to the exponential time decay for a RC circuit, the nonlinear characteristics of the diode result in a nonexponential decay for the diode–capacitor circuit. For a silicon diode the decay is predominantly a logarithmic function of time. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
84.30.Bv Circuit theory
84.32.Tt Capacitors

Gödel’s trip

István Ozsváth and Engelbert Schucking

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 801 | Cited 12 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We discuss the geometrical light cone structure in Gödel’s rigidly rotating cosmos and correct a picture in the standard literature. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
98.80.-k Cosmology

The critical temperature of two-dimensional and three-dimensional Ising models

B. Liu and M. Gitterman

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 806 | Cited 1 time

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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The critical temperatures of the Ising model can be obtained by considering the elementary cells of the corresponding lattice, namely the square lattice in two dimensions and the cube in three dimensions. The configurations in the statistical sum of a cell are divided into nondegenerate and degenerate cases. At the critical temperature of the infinite lattice the contributions of these two groups of configurations are assumed to be equal. This conjecture reproduces the exact Onsager result for two dimensions and the numerical result for the three-dimensional Ising lattices. Although this conjecture is not exact, it gives insight into the nature of the transitions. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
05.50.+q Lattice theory and statistics (Ising, Potts, etc.)
05.70.Jk Critical point phenomena

Using computer algebra to investigate the motion of an electric charge in magnetic and electric dipole fields

George C. McGuire

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 809 | Cited 5 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We provide examples of how a computer algebra system can be used to investigate the motion of an electric charge in an electric or magnetic dipole field. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.ht Instructional computer use
41.20.Cv Electrostatics; Poisson and Laplace equations, boundary-value problems
03.50.De Classical electromagnetism, Maxwell equations

Generalization of the electrostatic potential function for an infinite charge distribution

G. Palma, R. Oyarzún, and U. Raff

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 813

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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The asymptotic conditions needed to define the electrostatic potential due to an infinite charge distribution are studied in detail. It is shown that if the charge distribution decreases faster than the square of the distance when ∣r∣ goes to infinity, the convolution integral defining the potential exists, goes to zero as ∣r∣ goes to infinity, and therefore allows the calculation of the electric potential function at any point in space, even if the total charge is infinite. We illustrate the calculation of the electric potential with a simple example of a spherically symmetric infinite charge distribution. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
41.20.Cv Electrostatics; Poisson and Laplace equations, boundary-value problems

Delta functions in spherical coordinates and how to avoid losing them: Fields of point charges and dipoles

S. M. Blinder

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 816 | Cited 5 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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In calculations involving the divergence, curl, or Laplacian operators in spherical polar coordinates, the radial delta function contributions are sometimes inadvertently lost. This loss can be avoided by the judicious introduction of a step function. We apply this trick to confirm some subtle details about the fields of point electric and magnetic dipoles. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.-i Educational aids
02.30.-f Function theory, analysis
41.20.Cv Electrostatics; Poisson and Laplace equations, boundary-value problems
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A classroom experiment to demonstrate ferroelectric hysteresis

M. Dawber, I. Farnan, and J. F. Scott

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 819 | Cited 5 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We have developed a classroom experiment suitable for undergraduate students in which they fabricate a ferroelectric capacitor from potassium nitrate and then observe the electrical behavior as the film is cooled through its transition temperature. The experiment can be carried out using a capacitance bridge that is simple to construct and inexpensive. The experiment gives students a hands-on experience with ferroelectric phenomena, a subject of considerable interest from both a fundamental and a technological standpoint. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
84.32.Tt Capacitors

Verification of Bohr’s frequency condition and Moseley’s law: An undergraduate laboratory experiment

S. B. Gudennavar, N. M. Badiger, S. R. Thontadarya, and B. Hanumaiah

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 822 | Cited 3 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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We describe an undergraduate laboratory experiment to verify Bohr’s frequency condition and Moseley’s law using a thin NaI(Tl) detector spectrometer and a weak 57Co source. The slope of the plot of Kα x-ray energy versus (Z−1)2 yields a value for the Rydberg constant, R=(1.19±0.01)×107 m−1, which is in fair agreement with the best literature value, R=10 973 731.534(13) m−1. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus
07.85.Fv X- and γ-ray sources, mirrors, gratings, and detectors
07.85.Nc X-ray and γ-ray spectrometers

A simple vibrating sample magnetometer for use in a materials physics course

Wesley Burgei, Michael J. Pechan, and Herbert Jaeger

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 825 | Cited 3 times

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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An inexpensive vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) has been developed for use in a materials physics course. An exercise using the VSM allows students to measure the magnetic properties of various materials and thus gain experience applicable to contemporary research on magnetic materials. This paper describes specific aspects of the construction of a VSM and presents measurements for two 5-mm-long Ni wires of different diameters and for floppy disk media. A 178-μm-diam Ni wire served as a calibration sample for the system; the results from a 51-μm-diam Ni wire set the limit of precision for this system at approximately 5×10−3 emu. © 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
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01.50.My Demonstration experiments and apparatus
07.55.Ge Magnetometers for magnetic field measurements
07.55.Jg Magnetometers for susceptibility, magnetic moment, and magnetization measurements
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From Nuclear Transmutation to Nuclear Fission, 1932–1939

Per F. Dahl, Author and James O’Connell, Reviewer

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 829

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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Abstract Unavailable
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01.30.Vv Book reviews
01.50.-i Educational aids
24.75.+i General properties of fission
25.85.Ca Spontaneous fission

The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos

Robert P. Kirshner, Author and Mark P. Silverman, Reviewer

American Journal of Physics -- August 2003 -- Volume 71, Issue 8, pp. 830

Online Publication Date: Jul 2003

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Abstract Unavailable
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01.30.Vv Book reviews
98.80.-k Cosmology
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