The Van de Graaff Accelerator Facility

The WMU accelerator laboratory 6.0 million volt tandem Van de Graaff

The tandem Van de Graaff accelerator at Western Michigan University is used mainly for basic research, but it is also used for applications and undergraduate instruction.

• Basic research is presently being conducted in the fields of atomic collision physics, nuclear physics and materials modification.
  
• Accelerators can be used in a wide variety of practical applications. A few applications have been developed in our lab, and others may be developed in response to the specific needs of potential users.
• We have developed a three-hour undergraduate lab based on the Rutherford scattering experiment. This lab is performed each semester by the students in the third semester of the introductory calculus-based physics sequence.
  
• We have made this lab available to the small colleges in the Kalamazoo area as well.

Visit the accelerator lab section of the site to see more extensive information on the facility and the work performed there.