New Pictures of The SPILL (April 2007)

The Samford Physics Instrumented Learning Laboratory
An Industrial Solution in the Christian Classroom

The Goal of The SPILL: Develop an exemplary physics laboratory environment for Samford University. This project is oriented towards first year physics laboratories and an advanced course on Computer-based instrumentation (CBI).

During the last 40 years computers have become a major component in the daily lives of most people. While such inventions as the internet, email and word processors have transformed, or at least greatly complicated our daily lives, the computer’s influence in the experimental science laboratory has revolutionized how science is done. In order to offer a reasonable educational laboratory experience, Physics laboratories must include the use of the computer, called computer-based instrumentation or CBI.

Click on an element to be taken directly to that part of the SPILL

TESSLab

The Test Executive System from Samford Laboratories

TESSLab: Most of the experiments conducted in The SPILL use an application built using LabVIEW called TESSLab. TESSLab stands for Test Executive System from Samford Laboratories. A Test Executive System or TES is a flexible program design. A TES is programmed with the basic capabilities of the laboratory, and then accompanied with by script that tells the program the order of execution of these functions. A useful analogy is to think of a computerized kitchen. If I take the basic capabilities needed to cook something, the oven, the measuring implements, and combine them with all the possible materials that I could use them on, and I computerized everything, I could imagine that my computerized kitchen could prepare a very large number of meals from a few implements and a few ingredients. All that would be needed is to add a series of instructions, or a recipe, that would direct the kitchen’s operations. This is essentially what a TES is for the laboratory. The different measurements and analysis that need to be made, are controllable by the TES. The script plays the part of the recipe and provides us with a flexible way to design experiments.

The SPILL BOX

(Click on Thumbnail to View Full Picture, use "Back" to Return.)

The SPILL box is a specially configured National Instruments CA-1000 enclosure. Through the use of  CA-1000 modules along with additional connectors and an internal power supply, the SPILL box is currently configured to complete over 16 computerized experiments for the first year undergraduate physics laboratory.

We have also won a national award for this interface! Please see further information about The SPILL box at my undergraduate research page.

Pasco Experiments

For most of our experiments mentioned in The SPILL Laboratory Manual, visit Pasco.com!

The SPILL Laboratory Manual

This laboratory manual includes 17 computerized and 9 non-computerized first-year physics experiments. These experiments were created to maximize the use of authenticity in the teaching laboratory.  To see a table of contents, Click Here!

The SPILL Laboratory

 
(Click on Thumbnail to View Full Picture, use "Back" to Return.)

In The SPILL laboratory we have 12 student stations and an instructor station. We only allow 2 students per station. Each station has multiple outlets, net access, a 1.7 GHz Pentium 4 with 256 MBytes of RAM and a 15" Flat Panel display. The instructor station has the same computer but has 512 MBytes of RAM, a 17" Flat Panel Display, a DVD ROM and a Zip Drive. The instructor's station is connected to an overhead LCD projector, projecting onto an 8 foot screen. After working with this laboratory for more than a year, we cannot think of a thing that we would change!

The First SPILL Experiments were held in January 1999!

(Click on Thumbnail to View Full Picture, use "Back" to Return.)

[ Back to Top ][ Back to Physics ]