Measurement of the Boltzmann constant by Einstein. Problem of the 5-th Experimental Physics Olympiad. Sofia 9 December 2017
(29.12.2017)Zusammenfassung
Several consecutive experiments with specifically built set-up are described.
Performing of the consecutive experimental tasks enables possibility to
determine Boltzmann's constant \$k\_B\$. The fluctuations of the voltage \$U(t)\$ of
series of capacitors connected in parallel with a constant resistance are
measured. The voltage is amplified 1\~million times \$Y=10^6\$. The amplified
voltage \$YU(t)\$ is applied to a device, which give the voltage mean squared in
time \$U\_2=łeft<(Y U(t))^2\right>/U\_0\$. This voltage \$U\_2\$ is measured with a
multimeter. A series of measurements gives the possibility to determine the
Boltzmann's constant from the equipartition theorem
\$Cłeft<U^2\right>=k\_BT\$. In order to determine the set-up constant
\$U\_0\$ a series of problems connected with Ohm's law are given that are
addressed to the senior students. For the junior high school students, the
basic problem is to analyse the analog mean squaring. The students works are
graded in four age groups S, M, L, XL. The last age group contains problems
that are for university students (XL category) and include theoretical research
of the set-up as an engineering device. This problem is given at the Fifth
Experimental Physics Olympiad "Day of the Electron", on December 2017 in Sofia,
organized by the Sofia Branch of the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria with the
cooperation of the Physics Faculty of Sofia University and the Society of
Physicists of the Republic of Macedonia, Strumica.