Visualizing Double-Slit Interference on a Shoestring
Student misconceptions of the double-slit experiment are abundant. We have designed an exercise that helps to overcome them.
physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv subjects
Beth Parks
Publications and source records attributed to Beth Parks.
Why aren't more theories named after women?: Teaching women's history in physics
Barriers to women's education and employment in Europe and the U.S. in the nineteenth century made it unlikely that any women would be among the few physicists whose ideas are taught in high school and college courses. This paper explores the social settings in which three influential physicists worked--James Clerk Maxwell, Robert Millikan, and Albert Einstein--to better understand the limited opportunities available to women. By acknowledging and explaining why there weren't more women among these founding physicists, instructors may help students understand the barriers that still exist and feel more empowered to overcome them and pursue physics as a career.
physics.ed-ph↗
Linewidth of single photon transitions in Mn$_{12}$-acetate
We use time-domain terahertz spectroscopy to measure the position and linewidth of single photon transitions in Mn$_{12}$-acetate. This linewidth is compared to the linewidth measured in tunneling experiments. We conclude that local magnetic fields (due to dipole or hyperfine interactions) cannot be responsible for the observed linewidth, and suggest that the linewidth is due to variations in the anisotropy constants for different clusters. We also calculate a lower limit on the dipole field distribution that would be expected due to random orientations of clusters and find that collective effects must narrow this distribution in tunneling measurements.
cond-mat↗