Applied Physics Instruction Laboratories


There are five introductory educational laboratories used by Applied Physics students at Kettering University. These laboratories provide hands-on application of concepts taught in lecture courses, as well as preparing students by giving them experience using laboratory equipment and developing data collection and analysis skills required for research in Kettering University's various advanced physics laboratories.

Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope

Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope

This exceptional laboratory is jointly run by the Applied Physics and Industrial Engineering programs. It houses a state of the art electron microscope capable of 100,000x magnification with 3.5nm resolution with a wide range of environments, allowing for many applications for materials research and characterization.

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Newtonian Mechanics Laboratory

Newtonian Mechanics Laboratory

The Newtonian Mechanics Laboratory is an educational laboratory which accompanies the lecture course PHYS-110, Physics I: Mechanics.  One of the highlights of this introductory laboratory is the use of the  World-in-Motion video motion analysis software package. This software allows students to make a short video of a moving system, download the video to an AVI movie on the computer, and analyze the physical motion of the system. The software enables students to make plots of displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, momentum, kinetic and potential energies, and custom plots for further analysis.

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Electricity & Magnetism Laboratory

Electricity & Magnetism Laboratory

 The Electricity & Magnetism Laboratory is an educational laboratory which accompanies the lecture course PHYS-220, Physics II: Electricity & Magnetism. In this laboratory students are exposed to the use of voltmeters, ammeters, oscilloscopes, power supplies, and other electrical equipment used to measure electric and magnetic phenomena.

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Modern Physics Laboratory

Modern Physics Laboratory

The Modern Physics Laboratory is an educational laboratory which accompanies the lecture course PHYS-360, Modern Physics. Student using this laboratory explore measurements of the speed of light, the photoelectric effect, atomic line spectra, band gaps of LEDs, electron diffraction, radioactive half-life, xray diffraction, and the e/m ratio for electrons.
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Waves Laboratory

Waves Laboratory

The Waves Laboratory is an educational laboratory which accompanies the lecture course PHYS-220, Physics III: Waves. Students spend approximately 2 hours each week performing exercises which illustrate and expand upon some of the concepts taught in lecture. Laboratory exercises include:

  • Simple Harmonic Motion
  • The Simple Pendulum
  • Standing Waves on a Wire
  • Resonance Tube
  • Optical Ray Tracing
  • Lenses
  • Mirrors and Multiple Lens Systems
  • Thin Film Interference: Newton's Rings
  • Michelson Interferometer
  • Single and Double Slit Diffraction
  • Atomic Spectra of Hydrogen
In this laboratory students gain familiarity with fundamental phenomena of waves, including the vibratory motion of mass-spring systems, pendula, standing wave patterns on strings and in tubes, ray tracing and the optical behavior of lenses and mirrors, and interference effects of light waves.
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