1. 1: Introduction to the lab
ENPh257: Thermodynamics
1: Introduction to the lab
© Chris Waltham, UBC Physics & Astronomy, 2018

2. ENPH257 LAB Purpose: Real experimental design sequence
Ask the question – what do you want to find out?
Design experiment by numerical simulation
Learn how to extract what you want to know from data that you can acquire
Create DAQ system capable of making those measurements
Apply same analysis to real data as for simulated data
Extract what you want to know with uncertainties
© Chris Waltham, UBC Physics & Astronomy, 2018

3. simulations
Seldom do we have the luxury of an experiment where we can simply read the desired measurement off a meter.
Or even off the slope or intercept of a graph drawn from meter readings.
Or even after plugging the meter reading into a single formula.
To extract the best possible result with credible uncertainties, experiments are designed by numerical simulation (the “model”), including all known phenomena that could affect the final result.
The results, real and simulated, are brought into agreement by fitting for the unknown quantity of interest. The fitting procedure can be mathematically sophisticated, or eyeballed (adequate for ENPH257).
Uncertainties can be obtained intuitively by varying the input parameters within known or guesstimated ranges. Again, this procedure can be mathematically sophisticated, or done by hand (adequate for ENPH257).
© Chris Waltham, UBC Physics & Astronomy, 2018

4. Simulating an experiment
© Chris Waltham, UBC Physics & Astronomy, 2018

5. The ENPH257 task http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~waltham/enph257/lab.pdf
(a) Observe and measure thermal waves in an aluminum rod by modulating the heating at one end. In particular, demonstrate that part of the rod can be cooling as another part is heating. (b) Compare each measurement to your own simulations and extract the conductivity and heat capacity of this aluminum alloy, plus heat loss parameters
© Chris Waltham, UBC Physics & Astronomy, 2018