An Interview With Penny Van Esterik, MA, PhD, as Interviewed by Paige Hall Smith, MSPH, PhD

Edwin H. Hall, in the year 1879, devised an experiment that could be used to identify the polarity of the predominant charge carriers in a conducting material. From a historical perspective, this experiment was the first to demonstrate that the charge carriers in most metals are negative.

Atoms and molecules interact with each other through intermolecular forces. These electrostatic forces arise from attractive or repulsive interactions between particles with permanent, partial, or temporary charges. The intermolecular forces between neutral atoms and molecules are ion–dipole, dipole–dipole, and dispersion forces, collectively known as van der Waals forces.

Van de Graaff generators (or Van de Graaffs) are devices used to demonstrate high voltage due to static electricity that can also be used for research. Robert Van de Graaff first built one in 1931 (based on original suggestions by Lord Kelvin) for use in nuclear physics research.
Van de Graaff uses both smooth and pointed surfaces, conductors, and insulators to generate large static charges and, hence, large voltages. A substantial excess charge can be deposited on the sphere because it moves...

The ideal gas law is an approximation that works well at high temperatures and low pressures. The van der Waals equation of state (named after the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals, 1837−1923) improves it by considering two factors.
First, the attractive forces between molecules, which are stronger at higher densities and reduce the pressure, are considered by adding to the pressure a term equal to the square of the molar density multiplied by a positive coefficient a. Second, the volume...

Thus far, the ideal gas law, PV = nRT, has been applied to a variety of different types of problems, ranging from reaction stoichiometry and empirical and molecular formula problems to determining the density and molar mass of a gas. However, the behavior of a gas is often non-ideal, meaning that the observed relationships between its pressure, volume, and temperature are not accurately described by the gas laws.

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it.