In this paper we describe a simple apparatus and data analysis method that allows students to construct a device for measuring the heat capacity as well as program its operation, acquire data, and perform real-time data analysis during several two-hour sessions in an undergraduate physics instrumentation laboratory.
The heat capacity apparatus has its origins in a sophomore-level physics course at Miami University. The combined lecture and laboratory are on electronic instrumentation for physics measurements. Students learn to use operational amplifiers, instrumentation amplifiers, transistors, simple digital circuits, specialized transducers, and computerized data acquisition. The laboratory emphasizes physics measurements for which the students first construct the electronics, program the data acquisition, and often build much of the physical apparatus. The lecture supports the laboratory and will have discussed the necessary thermal physics background before the students do the heat capacity measurements. The experiment described here could also be used outside of the...
