B012553 - LABORATORY OF PHYSICS FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

Italian

I - Random and systematic errors. Average, standard deviation. Distributions. Relationships among measured quantities. Basic electrical instruments. Tests on simple DC and AC circuits. Density measurement of solids.
II - Ion Beam Analysis (PIXE, PIGE) and XRF: theory, measurements, data reduction.
C-14 dating via AMS: theory, measurements, data elaboration.
Laser-based techniques: cleaning, compositional analysis, demonstrations in the lab.
Reflectance spectrometry: principles, demonstrations fo

J.R. Taylor: An introduction to Error Analysis: the study of uncertainties in physical measurements
University Science Books

Further material is distributed by the teacher during the lectures

Knowledge acquired:
Basic instruments in a physics laboratory. Treatment of data and experimental uncertainties. Most important physical methodologies specifically relevant for the knowledge of Cultural heritage.
Competence acquired Correct behaviour while performing a physics experiment, appropriate interpretation of its results and acknowledgement of its validity and limitations. In the specific field of Cultural Heritage, competence in choosing the most suitable physics techniques for dating different materials and analyzing their composition, and the physical instrumentation for a cleaning procedure. Elaboration of raw data from an experiment, in particular related to information pertaining to items of artistic and archaeological interest.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Capacity to constructively interact with art historians, archaeologists and restorers, in order to correctly address them about the physical methodologies for an historical- archaeological study and for a conservation intervention.

Courses required: Mathematics, Physics

Courses recommended: Physical complements (strongly recommended)

Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48

Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 10

Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 40

no

Oral examination with questions and numerical exercises concerning the topics dealt with during the course; discussion of written experiment reports; use of simple instrumentation already used during the lab sessions in the course.

Module I
Experimental uncertainties. Random and systematic errors and their evaluation. Average, standard deviation and standard deviation of the average. Distribution of experimental results. Statistical tests of relationships among measured quantities. Basic electrical instruments (power supply, function generator, multimetre, oscilloscope). Tests on simple DC and AC circuits (capacitor discharge, voltage divider, RC circuits). Density measurement of solids (picnometre).

Module II
Determination of materials composition with Ion Beam Analysis (PIXE and PIGE) and XRF: theoretical recalls, experimental set-ups, measurements in the lab, data reduction.
Radiocarbon dating via Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: theoretical recalls of the methodologies, sample preparation, measurements in the lab, data interpretation and elaboration.
Laser-based techniques for cleaning and for compositional analysis: theoretical recalls and demonstrations in the lab.
Reflectance spectrometry for colorimetric measurements and material analysis: theoretical recalls and practical demonstrations.