Exercises in Practical Physics

Originally published in 1901, this book was intended for students of physics to become acquainted with the principles and methods of accurate measurement in laboratories. Aimed as a reference guide for undergraduates to develop and reinforce their understanding of elementary physics, the book is divided into six sections: preliminary, general physics, heat, sound, light, and magnetism and electricity. Within each of these sections, multiple experiments are contained and instructions are provided on how to carry out each experiment, whilst notes are also provided for teachers on how to measure and check accurately the results obtained. Multiple diagrams and tables are also included throughout to assist with learning. This book will be a valuable resource to students, teachers and researchers of physics and to anyone with an interest in the history of science education.

Preface; Preface to the fifth edition; Part I. Preliminary: 1. Treatment of observations; 2. Measurement of length; 3. Measurement of intervals of time; 4. Calibration of a spirit level; 5. Calibration of a graduated tube; Part II. General Physics: 6. The balance; 7. Accurate weighing with the balance; 8. Density of a solid; 9. Density of a liquid; 10. Moments of inertia; 11. Gravitational acceleration by reversible pendulum; 12. Young's modulus by the bending of beams; 13. Modulus of rigidity; 14. Viscosity; 15. Surface tension; Part III. Heat: 16. Coefficient of expansion of a solid; 17. Thermal expansion of a liquid; 18. Coefficient of increase of pressure of a gas with temperature; 19. Coefficient of expansion of a gas as constant pressure; 20. Effect of pressure on the boiling point of a liquid; 21. Laws of cooling; 22. Cooling correction in calorimetry; 23. Specific heat of quartz; 24. Latent heat of water; 25. Latent heat of steam; 26. Heat of solution of a salt; 27. The mechanical equivalent of heat; Part IV. Sound: 28. Frequency of a tuning fork by the syren; 29. The velocity of sound in air and other bodies by Kundt's method; 30. Study of vibrations of tuning forks by means of Lissajous' figures; Part V. Light: 31. Angles by the optical method; 32. The sextant; 33. Curvatures and powers of lenses; 34. Index of refraction by total reflection; 35. Resolving power of a lens; 36. The prism spectroscope; 37. Reduction of spectroscopic measurements to an absolute scale; 38. The spectrometer; 39. Refractive index and dispersion of a solid by the spectrometer; 40. Refractive index and dispersion of a liquid. Specific refractive powers; 41. Photometry; 42. Interference of light. The biprism; 43. Newton's rings; 44. Wave length of light by the diffraction grating; 45. Rotation of plane by polarisation; 46. Saccharimetry; Part VI. Magnetism and Electricity: 47. Horizontal components of magnetic fields; 48. Magnetic dip; 49. Magnetisation curves; 50. The water voltameter; 51. The copper voltameter; 52. Adjustment and standardisation of galvanometers; 53. The Post Office resistance bridge; 54. High resistances; 55. Low resistances; 56. The resistance of a galvanometer; 57. The resistance of a cell; 58. Comparison of resistance standards; 59. Change of resistance with temperature; 60. The resistance of electrolytes; 61. Construction of a standard cell; 62. Electromotive forces; 63. The potentiometer method of measuring currents; 64. Thermo-electric circuits; 65. The mechanical equivalent of heat by the electric method; 66. Induction of electric currents; 67. Standardisation of a ballistic galvanometer; 68. The self-inductance of a coil; 69. Comparison of self and mutual inductances; 70. Leakage and absorption in condensers; 71. Comparison of condensers; 72. The capacitance of a condenser; 73. High resistance by condenser; 74. The characteristic curves of a triode tube; 75. The quadrant electrometer; 76. Ionisation currents by electrometer; Appendix. Details of dimensions of apparatus; Index.