Friday, May 12, 2006

World's Smartest Physics Student- Exposed

Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

Abstract: The exponential dependence of resistivity on temperature in germanium is found to be a great big lie. My careful theoretical modeling and painstaking experimentation reveal 1) that my equipment is crap, as are all the available texts on the subject and 2) that this whole exercise was a complete waste of my time.

In order to control the temperature of the germanium, I attached the
crystal to a copper rod, the upper end of which was attached to a heating coil
and the lower end of which was dipped in a thermos of liquid nitrogen. Midway
through the project, the thermos began leaking. That's right: I pay a cool ten
grand a quarter to come here, and yet they can't spare the five bucks to ensure
that I have a working thermos.

Banking on my hopes that whoever grades this will just look at the
pictures, I drew an exponential through my noise. I believe the apparent
legitimacy is enhanced by the fact that I used a complicated computer program to
make the fit.

Follow the link to read the rest.

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