The rate of mass loss is computed by numerically differentiating the mass as a function of time data, and the heat of vaporization is determined knowing the electrical power used to run the heater. The appropriate relations are derived and the experiment is performed several times for each gas. The refrigerator problem requires the derivation of an appropriate differential equation and its numerical solution on a computer to determine the temperature of a sample of copper the refrigerator is cooling as a function of temperature. A relation between the speed of sound in a gas and the ratio of the specific heats at constant pressure and volume, gas pressure and temperature is derived and used to compute the ratio of the specific heats. The value determined is compared to that expected from equipartition of energy in the kinetic theory of gasses.
Emphasis is place on a thorough estimation of the precision of the measurement.
The laws of reflection and refraction are validated experimentally. A double slit is constructed with known slit spacing and used in an appropriately design experiment to determine the wavelength of a helium-neon laser. The grating constant of a diffraction grating is determined in another experiment using the laser, now knowing the laser wavelength. Emphasis is placed on experimental design and setup, and the estimation of the precision of the experiment. Data giving the bulk magnetization of the system as a function of temperature are collected and used to explore the system's phases and phases changes.