ABSTRACT
Professional scientists must keep abreast of a daunting volume of new papers. So, all of us use shortcuts. Many experiments consist of varying one quantity, and measuring a second quantity. For example, one might observe a beam of electrons in a vacuum tube traveling in a circle under the influence of a magnetic field, and measure the radius of the circle as a function of the strength of the magnetic field. The idea of modeling the apparatus may be new. However, it’s just as important as the modeling of the physical system if students are to really understand their results. In fact, they have been doing apparatus modeling to some extent without thinking about it. The starting point for developing a model for each instrument in their apparatus is the manual or datasheet. Whenever possible, students should read the manual.
