Customer Reviews

Building Scientific Apparatus

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is an invaluable reference source for anyone whose work requires them to become involved in unfamiliar (physical science related) technologies. Though it would certainly be useful to laboratory researchers, it is equally valuable for the scientist or engineer who needs to apply these disciplines. As a physicist involved in design of commercial instrumentation, I have often had to become involved in various disciplines which were outside of my area of formal training and this book has commonly been my point of entry into unfamiliar terrain. This isn't just a "how to do it" book, but also provides a solid grounding in the basic theory. Over the years I have used this book as a primer/refresher for: (a) vacuum technology; (b) light optics; (c) charged-particle optics; and (d) mechanical drawing. In each case, this book provided me with the fundamental concepts, equations, and techniques to become productive, often without access to any other source of expertise. Though I do, of course, employ other sources as my knowledge advances, I still find myself regularly referring back to this book.

I know of no other reference that manages to pack so much useful information into so few pages. And yet, it remains easy and enjoyable to read. Part of this may be due to the abundant drawings which have a certain charm of their own -- echoing the style of the famous C.S. Stong illustrations in the "Amateur Scientist" section of Scientific American.

This book is so good that I own two copies: one for my office at work and the second for reference at home.

This is a _great_ book! I buy a copy of this for every student who starts work for me--which I consider to be a fine investment. Practical, hands-on information is given on a huge variety of skills needed by those working in Physics labs. From glass blowing to vacuum systems, to instruction on attaching BNC connectors, it's all in here.

I would like to cast a somewhat dissenting view of this book. It is certainly a good place to start for information on various projects but comes up short on construction techniques. Perhaps an older source, Procedures in Experimental Physics (Lindsay Pubs), is better. Of course, it was written in 1938, so materials cited might be out of date, but the construction techniques aren't bad. I recently decided to build a good sized water tank (40" by 6" by 3") of acrylic and found nothing about construction tips. I was thinking of building something that probably required casting, and found a paltry two pages on the subject.

It would be good to see it updated every 5 years or so. I see the pub date is 1991. Things have changed a bit. It has a very good list of references, but with the advent of the web, it would be good to see some the reference material cite the web.

Have never seen a book which was able to pack so much practical information into so few pages, and able to explain complex concepts so simply.

If you have to work with any type of laboratory equipment you would be insane to NOT have this book on your shelf.

This book is extremely useful for all people working in a physics lab. It covers a lot of subjects at a level that you cannot find elsewhere, intermediate between a deep "academic" coverage and a simple handbook.

No one book will cover everything that an experimenter or instrument designer needs to know, but this book gets you started. It contains a wide range of information on a wide range of topics of interest to those who work in laboratories. Many of the topics are poorly addressed in more specialist books, or not at all. For anyone interested in scientific instrumentation or experimentation, this is a very useful collection of descriptions of real hardware, available materials, and practical techniques, and the explanations of basic principles are clear and readable. The number of fields covered is impressive.

Above all, this book starts you thinking.

I and several of my friends have used this book extensively over the past two years and cannot imagine a time when we had to get along without it. It is an invaluable guide to anyone building an experiment or a lab. And it is so well written that I often find myself browsing through it when I am bored and am looking for something interesting to do.

The authors have kept the material simple and have given an extensive list of references at the end of every chapter for those who wish to look-up a more detailed exposition on a topic. The thrust is always at simple ways of understanding the basic principles of common scientific instruments and experimental practices. We have learnt the basics of a Channeltron, an echelle grating, ultrahigh vacuum apparatus, signal recovery with phase sensitive detection and have calculated the relevant parameters of an atomic beam, all with the help of this book. We have discovered scientific apparatus, whose existence we would not have otherwise known, and have placed orders with the suppliers who are listed at the end of every chapter. Our only regret is that the addresses are mostly in the USA and since only the postal address is listed it takes a long time to contact them from this distance(India). We hope a future edition of this book will include things like the FAX No., e-mail address or a URL address of the suppliers.
The book is well illustrated with clear sketches. They bring out the basic principles of operation of many apparatus. We have designed and built experiments based on the ideas we have picked up from those sketches.

We have benefitted from this book in so many ways that I have often recommended it to our friends, colleagues and to our library as well. And now I am taking this opportunity to recommend it to anyone involved in instrumentation and experiments. Experience in building apparatus and a knowledge of the available technology, which can be harnessed to our purposes, are crucial to laboratory scientists and engineers and these are the very aspects that are very hard to pass on from person to person. The authors have very successfully put together their knowledge and experience into a concise, readable and well organised book.