Canonical Experiments in Physics

Scientific Background and Historical Contexts
Erscheinungsjahr 2027
ISBN: 978-3-662-74147-4
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Science: Philosophy, History and Education

This book offers a deeper understanding of canonical experiments in physics in 14 case studies and provides background information on the design of and the performance with the apparatus, as well as the respective historical context.

Special Features:

It discusses how exactly these experiments were conducted and the physical reasons behind the choice of instruments used. It also explains why the respective researchers carried out these experiments and how their results came to be accepted. While a number of these experiments and their basic principles appear to be familiar, this book provides the background necessary to understand the challenges that arise when experimenting and which can also make experimental work so appealing. It illustrates why researchers conduct research, what motivates them, and how scientific practices change over time. The case studies brought together here thus contribute to understanding physics not as a fixed body of knowledge, but as a culturally influenced, human-driven process. Two additional chapters address the educational potential of these case studies.

The Content:

Hooke's law - Newton's prismatic color decomposition - Coulomb's law - Young's double slit experiment - Ohm's law - The measurement of the speed of light by Fizeau or Foucault - Joule's determination of the mechanical heat equivalent - Spectral analysis according to Bunsen and Kirchhoff - Wilson's cloud chamber - The Franck-Hertz Experiment - Millikan's determination of elementary charge - The Geiger-Müller counter tube - Cosmic background radiation

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of physics is helpful but not required.

Target audience:

The book is particularly suitable for students (both academic and teaching) as well as teachers at universities and colleges.

The Editor:

Peter Heering is professor of physics, its didactics and its history at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. In his research, he deals with the analysis of historical experimental practices, which he examines using the replication method, with the history of science education, and with the implementation of historical content in science education.

Translated with AI assistance, selectively expanded and fully revised by the authors in collaboration with Don Metz.

Zielgruppe

Lower undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Heering, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Lehrerausbildung, Unterricht & Didaktik Allgemeine Didaktik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Mechanik
• Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Canonical Experiments in Physics and Their Role in Physics Education.- Hooke’s Law.- The Prismatic Color Decomposition by Isaac Newton.- Coulomb's Law and the Coulomb Torsion Balance.- In a New Light: Young's Double-Slit Experiment.- The Wires of Georg Simon Ohm.- The First Terrestrial Measurements of the Speed of Light: Fizeau and Foucault.- The Determination of the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat by James Prescott Joule.- The Spectroscopic Research of Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen.- The Visualization of the Tracks of Ionizing Radiation Using the Expansion Cloud Chamber by Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.- The Franck-Hertz Experiment.- Millikan, the Oil-Drop Experiments and the Elementary Charge.- The Geiger Müller-counter.- The Discovery of Cosmic Background Radiation by Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson.- A Role for Canonical Experiments.

Über Autor(innen)

Peter Heering is professor of physics, its didactics and its history at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. In his research, he deals with the analysis of historical experimental practices, which he examines using the replication method, with the history of science education, and with the implementation of historical content in science education.