Ramatoulie Bah
Shayla R. Brooks
Dana Brown
Linwood Creekmore
Torreon N. Creekmore
Vincent Augustus Davis
Peter Eley
Danielle Graves
Paula Harrell
Golar Newby
Elizabeth Rascoe
Carl W. Seward
Eunice Smith
Rodney Stewart
Nelson Veale
Jordan Williams

Ramatoulie Bah
email: rbah@mail.ecsu.edu

Mentor: Dr. Jackie Krim, Professor
Internship: REU in Physics, North Carolina State University
Title: Quartz Crystal Oscillations in Liquids: Quantitative Comparison of Theory and Experiment

Even though numerous experiments have been done on dipping Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM’s) in liquids, experimental results still vary from the stated theory. This theory, which was developed by Kanazawa and co-workers, stated that quartz crystals do oscillate in a stable manner when they come into contact with liquids, and the frequency shift is equal to a certain formula.
In this experiment, a Quartz Crystal was used in the determination of frequency shift when immersed into liquids and when in contact with one surface of the QCM relative to air. The quartz crystal, which oscillates at its resonant frequency, is dipped into liquid, and as it comes into contact with the liquid, the overall stability was reduced, yielding a frequency shift. Of concern here was the development of a relation between measured frequency shift values (after the QCM has come into contact with the liquid) and theoretical values. My experimental results do not necessarily tally with theoretical values.