Open AccessThe Use of DC Glow Discharges as Undergraduate Educational Tools
Author(s) -
S. Wissel
Publication year - 2012
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/1053196
Subject(s) - impulse (physics) , physics , excitation , excited state , shock wave , plasma , gas filled tube , amplitude , perturbation (astronomy) , mechanics , atomic physics , dusty plasma , computational physics , acoustics , optics , classical mechanics , chemistry , quantum mechanics
Plasmas have a beguiling way of getting students excited and interested in physics. We argue that plasmas can and should be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum as both demonstrations and advanced investigations of electromagnetism and quantum effects. Our device, based on a direct current (DC) glow discharge tube, allows for a number of experiments into topics such as electrical breakdown, spectroscopy, magnetism, and electron temperature