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Is physics a lab science

In this post, we’ll be talking about physics labs, and verifying if it is science or not, in addition to knowing what topics are taught in physics labs and their relation to traditional physics courses.

is physics a lab science

Yes, physics is the lab science, physics students do a lot of lab experiments from high school to college,  if you choose to study engineering or physics major you will have 3 classes of lab physics to complete.

Physics is a subject divided into parts:

  1.  theoretical part
  2.  experimental applied part
  • Theoretical parts don’t involve a lot of experimentation,  for instance, if you study quantum mechanics, or relativity physics you would not be required to do a test or experiment you would spend most of the time-solving mathematics physics equations and Working on new theories, this part has a lot of imagination.
  • The applied or experimental part involves a lot of tests and experimentation, in this case, you have to do a lot of experiments in different physics topics like mechanics, electricity, magnetism, or even optics.

In the next paragraph we will discover the principal experiment physics students make in high school and college.

1 – Examples of physics experiments done in high school

2 – The experiments were done in college

The experiments done in college require a high technology machines a specific Laboratory not like high school labs, in college you will be doing some experiments like:

The experiment in college or Limitless depends on each physics Subject to study.

Is physics lab hard

If you are studying physics in high school, lab courses are Elementary and not difficult. They are fun for students who love to work by hand and discover physics basics laws, but when we talk about college physics Labs courses, courses get harder a little bit. There are some easy courses like General Physics labs and some other challenging physics Labs courses like physics lab 2 and physics Lab 3 In addition to cosmology and Astronomy lab courses.

In physics Labs you have theses 4 following principal courses:

  1. General Physics Laboratory 
  2. Physics I Laboratory
  3. Physics II Laboratory
  4. Physics III Laboratory

1 – General Physics Laboratory

 The General laboratory Physics course is not a difficult course. You will be required to have solid basics in the algebra-based Physics course. If you have a good background in Algebra 2 course, it is way enough to study General Physics laboratory without any struggles,  like trigonometry, solving first and second-degree equations, and plotting graphs.

In general Physics laboratory you would be studying  and experimenting on these topics: 

  • Creating Motion Graphs
  • One-Dimensional Motion–Velocity as a Function of Time and Distance at Constant Acceleration
  • Projectile Motion
  • Newton’s Second Law
  • Atwood’s Machine
  • Static and Kinetic Friction
  • Centripetal Force
  • Conservation of Energy for an Object on an Inclined Plane
  • Conservation of Momentum and Impulse-Momentum Theorem
  • Torque and Rotational Inertia
  • Conservation of Angular Momentum
  • Translational Static Equilibrium— Force Table
  • Rotational Static Equilibrium – Forces on a Strut
  • Young’s Modulus– Elasticity in Length
  • Archimedes’ Principle and Density
  • Linear Expansion Coefficient
  • Specific Heat
  • Heat of Fusion of Ice
  • Mechanical Equivalent of Heat
  • Simple Harmonic Motion
  • Transverse Standing Waves on a String
  • Longitudinal Standing Waves in a Sound Tube
  • Electrical Equivalent of Heat
  • Ohm’s Law – Current, Voltage, and Resistance Measurements
  • Thin Lenses
  • Grating Diffraction

2 – Physics I Laboratory

The Physics laboratory is almost similar to the General Physics laboratory of math. It doesn’t require some difficult calculus equations to solve, you only have to be good at algebra 2 to pass this course. In physics 1 laboratory you will have the following subjects to experiment on.

  • Translational Static Equilibrium – Force Table
  • One-Dimensional Motion–Velocity as a Function of Time and Distance at Constant Acceleration
  • Projectile Motion
  • Newton’s Second Law
  • Static and Kinetic Frictions
  • Work and Energy
  • Conservation of Energy in Spring-Mass System
  • Conservation of Momentum and Impulse-Momentum Theorem
  • Uniform Circular Motion
  • Moment of Inertia and Energy in Rotational Motion
  • Torque and Rotational Inertia
  • Rotational Static Equilibrium – Forces on a Strut
  • Archimedes’ Principle and Density

3 – Physics II Laboratory

In physics, in the Laboratory you would be focusing more on electricity out and electromagnetism experimenting with electronics and electrical systems and knowing the basics of electricity, and building some electromagnetics circuits like LC and RL. 

 If you are interested in majoring in electrical engineering it would be a good idea to take a lab Physics course because you take electrical engineering majors. It’s not difficult as long as you have  Good Foundations in Algebra 2.

These are the subject that you’re going to take in physics at Laboratory:

  • Introduction to MATLAB
  • Electrostatics – Electric Charge and Force
  • Electric Field by Point Charges
  • Numerical Verification of Gauss’ Law
  • Electric Potential and Electric Field
  • Parallel Plate Capacitor
  • Ohm’s Law – Current, Voltage, and Resistance Measurements
  • RC Circuits
  • Measurement of e/m for an Electron
  • Magnetic Field of Helmholtz Coils
  • Faraday’s Law
  • RL Circuits
  • LC Circuits

4 – Physics III Laboratory

Physics III Laboratory It’s a little bit more difficult than the previous Physics laboratory courses, And pendulum experiments, but It would be a good idea to prepare for this before because most engineering Majors are required to complete physics 3 Laboratory.

  • Introduction to MATLAB 
  • Simple Harmonic Motion
  • Physical Pendulum with Small Amplitude
  • Physical Pendulum with Large Amplitudes
  • Transverse Standing Waves on a String
  • Longitudinal Standing Waves in a Sound Tube
  • Refraction, Reflection and Dispersion of Light
  • Polarization of Light
  • Diffraction Pattern of Light with a Single-Slit
  • Diffraction Pattern of Light with a Double-Slit
  • Grating Diffraction
  • Photoelectric Effect
  • Emission Spectrum of Hydrogen Atom
  • Electron Diffraction – Wave-Particle Duality
  • Semiconductor Diode Characteristics

Conclusion

There are some additional Physics laboratory courses made for specialized applications or majors like astronomy and cosmology Laboratory course earth in space Laboratory. You could find more details about the link.

resources https://centers.njit.edu/introphysics/physics-lab-course-syllabus/