PHY 104L: Heat and Thermodynamics Lab (IV)

1 credits | Prerequisites: PHY 101L

Course rationale

This is a fundamental lab course associated with the theory course PHY 104. It is a mandatory course for students who want to graduate in physics. The lab emphasizes psychomotor skills in collecting physical data and cognitive skills in analyzing the data to get meaningful answers. Following the theory course, the lab offers experiments in heat transfer and thermodynamics.

Course content

H1: Specific heat capacity of water: investigating the rise in temperature of the water as a function of the energy supplied and calculating the specific heat capacity of liquid. H2: Specific heat capacity of solid bodies: determining the heat capacity and specific heat capacity of the weights and aluminum cuboid. H3: Specific heat capacity of liquid: Determining specific heat capacity of liquid by method of mixture. H4: Thermal conduction in solid bodies: investigating the conduction of heat in various metals and calculating the rate of energy transfer through the metals. H5: Heating different liquids: determining temperature rises in different liquids and computing the unknown specific heat capacity of a given liquid. H6: Newton’s law of cooling: computing the specific heat of a liquid by the method of cooling. H7: Radiation correction: determining the specific heat of a solid by the method of mixture with radiation correction. H8: thermal coefficient: determining the coefficient of thermal conductivity of metal using Searle’s apparatus. H9: thermal conductivity: determining the thermal the conductivity of a bad conductor by Lees and Charlton’s method

Course objectives

  1. Use physical apparatus to measure the thermal properties of matter using the law of thermodynamics.
  2. Demonstrate the heat capacity and specific heat capacity of liquid and solid objects.
  3. Comprehend the laws of thermodynamics by heating different materials.
  4. Apply Newton’s law of cooling to determine specific heat.
  5. Create teams and work together to perform measurements in physics and engineering.

References

  1. Physics Laboratory Manual for PHY 101 (to be provided in class).
  2. Practical Physics for Hons & Degree students by Giasuddin Ahmad & Md. Shahabuddin
  3. University Physics (ed. 15) by Hugh Young and Robert Freedman.