Environmental Physics Laboratory

Students will be introduced to air quality issues (with a special focus on particulate matter and its properties). State-of-the -art experimental methodologies to study atmospheric and environmental physics phenomena are used by students in the laboratory. In addition, students are introduced to environmental data reduction, analysis and interpretation.

At the end of the course, students:
1.will gain basic knowledge on physical-chemical properties of atmospheric particulate matter and the ability of treating this item in the air quality context;
2. will be able to perform particulate matter collection on filters and to describe size-segregated sampling based on inertial impaction theory;
3. will be able to describe electronic chains to perform alfa and ED-XRF spectrometry;
4. will use specific software to perform spectral deconvolution;
5. will perform qualititative and quantitative XRF analysisi on thin samples;
6. will perform on-line alpha spectrometry to detect short-lived Radon decay products. Students will be able to analyse collected spectra and relate results to atmospheric dispersione conditions;
7. will realise a range-to-energy curve using an alpha spectrometer;
8. will perform off-line alpha spectrometry to detect long-lived Radon decay products in atmospheric aerosol samples. Students will be able to analyse results to retrieve particles residence time;
9. will be able to use a sound meter for environmental purposes and to plan a measurement campaign to assess indoor/outdoor sound levels.