ALPhA Share-a-Thon

Instructors of laboratories beyond the first year of instruction (“BFY labs”) are invited to participate in a share-a-thon/workshop after the end of the main program of the MIAAPT/EGLS-APS Fall Meeting. Experiments involving spectroscopy, acoustics, and catenaries will be shared:

Designer Spectrographs for Applications in the Advanced Undergraduate Instructional Lab

Presenter: Tim Grove, Purdue University at Fort Wayne

Tim will present 3D-printed, low-budget spectrographs (∼ US $200) that are specifically designed for different applications. The generalized design approach is well within the knowledge base of advanced undergraduate physics majors and can be applied to a wide range of applications including recording multiple doublets in the sodium spectrum. See: Am. J. Phys. 92, 221 (2024). 

Airborne Acoustics Labs 

Presenter: Ron Kumon, Kettering University

In this series of labs, students learn how to calibrate a microphone, use a spectrum analyzer, and make radial and directivity measurements of various sound sources including a boxed loudspeaker (monopole at low frequency), unboxed loudspeaker (dipole), and tuning fork (linear quadrupole) in an anechoic chamber. Students also learn about corresponding theoretical models as well as finite-element modeling of sound sources.

Vibration & Modal Testing Labs

Presenter: Ron Kumon, Kettering University

In a series of labs, students learn how to measure the vibrational modes of various systems beginning with a set of coupled masses on a string and an elastic string.  The students then learn to use a commercial software package and digitizer to perform modal testing on a thin bar using a force hammer and accelerometer.   Students also learn about theoretical models for transverse waves on a string and longitudinal, transverse, and torsional waves in a bar and perform finite-element modeling of a thin bar. For their final project, students perform modal testing and modeling of an object of their choosing.

Modeling Suspended Chains

Presenter: Chris Nakamura, Saginaw Valley State University

In this extremely low-cost experiment, students use ImageJ to collect data from photos of suspended chains and fit them to a catenary function.  Students learn curve-fitting and imaging while testing the catenary model of suspended, massive chains.