Canned Data Physics Labs - A Way to Introduce Advanced Experiments

Experiments are usually done using apparatus. Also there are experiments that can also be done on a computer, called simulation experiments. In canned data experiments, the data is provided in the form of a picture, or a graph or a table, or simply data. The desired parameter/information is then extracted using various formulae. Due to some reason it may not be possible to perform the experiment (may be the cost of equipment high, or the experiment may pose health problems or so). But somebody else might have performed it, thus making the information/data available. This data (canned-data) can be provided to derive results and conclusions from it. In this way one can get quite good and useful insight of the physics behind the phenomena. Here we outline the details of a canned data experiment which may prove very useful at the undergraduate level.