20548 Spectroscopy of Minerals
Credits: 3 advanced seminar credits in Geology or in Physics
Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Fundamentals of Physics (or Fundamentals of Physics I + Fundamentals of Physics II), and Secrets of the Earth (or Introduction to Earth Sciences). Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.
Recommended: General Chemistry1 (or General Chemistry I + General Chemistry II, for Biology Students; or General Chemistry I + General Chemistry II), Modern Physics, Laboratory: Physics II
The course is based on Spectroscopic Methods in Mineralogy, edited by A. Beran & E. Libowitzky (Eötvös University Press, 2004) and on a reader edited by Shlomo Shoval, Yoram Kirsh and Michael Gaft.
Mineral physics is the basis of modern Mineralogy and a developed academic and applied scientific field. The course acquaints students with accepted research methods in mineral physics and its theoretical background. Within the framework of the course, students prepare a practical project using accepted research methods in the study of minerals.
The first part of the course is theoretical and provides a theoretical background for various research methods in mineral physics. The second part of the course is practical and includes the preparation of a seminar paper based on an individual research project that includes various research methods such as infrared spectroscopy and visible and ultra-violet light spectroscopy. The project includes a review of the theoretical and experimental literature, data analysis and an appraisal. Students perform experiments using luminescence and Raman spectrometers, an x-ray diffractometer, and an atomic absorption spectrometer. In preparing the projects, students utilize a computerized data bank and modern spectral analysis software programs.
1or General Chemistry (20477 or 20487), which is no longer offered.