Lab for Thursday 13 March 2008

Mutual inductance.

Make sure you read it through before starting the experiment, and follow each step carefully. It is straightforward in the end, but there are some preliminaries that must be taken care of first.

Homework 8 hints ...

I figure you want to get this out of the way before the break ...

Full-wave rectifiers:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/electronic/rectbr.html
http://www.eecs.tufts.edu/~dsculley/tutorial/diodes/diodes3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode_bridge

Diode protection:

http://www.coilgun.info/theory/inductivekickback.htm
The electronics bible

Audio crossover:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_crossover

Filters:

http://www.play-hookey.com/ac_theory/lo_pass_filters.html

and links within. play-hookey.com is great for learning about practical circuits.

Inductive and capacitive coupling:

http://www.thinksrs.com/downloads/PDFs/ApplicationNotes/AboutLIAs.pdf

Look at page 7, you should recognize the figures. The rest is a bit hardcore, and not directly relevant. I think you might find the first page or two interesting, though, if you have time to kill. I'm happy to explain what a 'lock-in amplifier' is if you are curious ... I use them daily.

Using the internet to do your homework is fair game, copying verbatim is not. Restate things in your own words, at the least. I picked the problems for a reason, namely, that I think they illustrate important concepts that you will find useful at some point. [1]

[1] For example, an MRI magnet is a giant inductive load, hence problem 10. Understanding audio electronics is nice, hence problems 1,2, 7-9. Problem 3 is something you put into practice every time you plug in your laptop or charge your ipod. Etc.

Lab for Tuesday 11 March

Today, we will investigate current and voltage in ac circuits.

Enjoy. Print one per group, that is enough. Note that you do not need to print any plots for this lab.

Homework 6 solutions

Finally, they are out. Excepting problems 9 and 10, which I did in class anyway.

Homework 8 is out

Here you go. Note that this is due the day after spring break. We will try to do plenty of these in class on Thursday ... most of them are qualitative, and do not require any calculation at all.

Lecture by Nobel Laureate Albert Fert

The 2007 Nobel laureate Albert Fert will be giving a public lecture tomorrow 7 March, at 1:30pm in Gallalee 227.

He will be talking about the present and future of "spintronics," electronics which relies on magnetically and electrically manipulating the spin of electrons rather than their charge for added functionality. Such stuff is in your hard disk, right now ...

The lecture is slated to last until 3pm, and there are refreshments afterwards ... not to often you get to see a Nobel prize winner, I encourage you to take the opportunity if you have time.

Homework 7 is out ...

... and here it is.

I hope to have homework 6 solutions posted by midweek.