FALL 2004 schedule
Phys 281-001    M  3:25-5:15

office hours:  according to schedule on my office door or by appointment.

• General Description
• Attendance
• Lab Report Format
• Laboratory Requirements
• Lab Schedule
• Grading Scale
• Laboratory Manual

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

281 Principles of Physics Laboratory–Electricity and Magnetism (1)

Laboratory to accompany Physics 231. Experimentation investigate basic electronic circuitry and electromagnetic induction, with emphasis given to error analysis. Every semester. Two hours per week. Corequisite: Physics 232 or approval of the head of the department.

MANUAL: The descriptions of the experiments is published on this web site

ATTENDANCE

Attendance at all laboratory sessions is required. If you miss a session, you will get zero for this lab. I may make exceptions and give you a make up session if I am convinced that you were ill, had a death in the family, or were involved in a similar emergency. If you are late to a lab session for more than 10 minutes, you are not allowed to perform the experiment and you will get zero for this lab, unless other arrangement has been made. Students are responsible for all information that is given in class. 

LAB REPORT FORMAT

Why Write Reports?

Reports are a primary means of communication between engineers and other professionals, so being able to write reports that clearly convey technical information is essential to the professional life of an engineer. The report's organization shows the reader how well the writer understands the

material and how much thought has been put into it. In writing the report, keep in mind the type of reader and the purpose of the report.

Additional help on writing reports can be found :

Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists, Leo Finkelstein, Jr., McGraw-Hill.

http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/~writing/docum.htm - study this site, it has a lot of good information for you

Your lab report is the original documented record of all the work you have performed regarding to each lab experiment. YOUR LAB REPORT SHOULD CONTAIN:

1. Title of experiment
2. Date performed
3. Your name, Partner(s) (if any)
4. The goals of the experiment
5. Theoretical background
6. Sketch of the experimental set-up
7.  Experimental procedure
8. Experimental data
9. Calculations/ graphs/ results
10.  Conclusions: obtained results, comparison with known parameters, discussion of errors and sources of errors.

Parts from 1 to 7 must be handwritten, parts 9 and 10 must be typed. The parts of the lab must be stapled in the proper order. Presentation of your report is important.

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, SEE LABORATORY REQUIREMENTS

LABORATORY REQUIREMENTS

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE LABORATORY SESSION

You should study the description of the experiment and start to write your lab report BEFORE the lab session. Print the front page for a given experiment and fill it out. Parts 1 through 7 of your lab report (pre-lab) must be written up (write by hand, do not type!!)  before the lab session and turned in during the first 5 minutes of the lab session. It will be graded together with the rest of your lab report. It is worth 20% of your lab grade. Late pre-labs are not accepted, unless prior arrangements have been made. Please make a copy for yourself, you will need it during your lab session.

LABORATORY SESSION

During the laboratory session in class you should record all work you have performed. All activities, experimental data, results, etc., should be recorded as they occur, in ink. No erasures should be made. A single line through the "wrong material" is sufficient, with any corrections or change noted above or beside it. This will allow for the recover of information which, later, may be prove to be valuable. Your lab results should be RECORDED IN DUPLICATE. You can use "Laboratory research notebook" or "Computational notebook", which are available at the UTC Bookstore (Identifying number is 43-645 or 54-641). Before leaving the class, you should tear out the yellow (carbon) copies and leave them with your instructor who will keep them until the end of the semester as a proof that you have performed this experiment. Attach a Xerox copy of the white page to your lab report.

HOW TO FINISH YOUR LAB REPORT

At home you need to perform the analysis of your experimental data. Make necessary calculations (do not forget to write down an example of your calculations), draw graphs, obtain results, round them properly, estimate experimental errors. The most important part of your lab report is CONCLUSION where you need to evaluate the obtained results, compare them with known parameters, discuss the errors and sources of errors. Make sure that you understand the difference between errors and mistakes. The experimental errors are unavoidable and they can be and should be evaluated from the measurements uncertainties. Human mistakes are NOT errors, they should be avoided. They cannot be used to explain the results  of your experiments. Do not include them in the sources of errors. Each GRAPH, attached to appropriate place in your report must have the following: Title; Properly labeled coordinate axes WITH UNITS; Clearly marked data points with error bars; Analysis/equation that best fits your data.

If you have forgotten how to round the results, estimate experimental errors, make graphs, perform analysis of the curves, you may ask you instructor or Mr. Jack Pitkin, laboratory preparator, for help materials available in the laboratory. You should work on your lab reports individually. If you receive help from anyone else, place their name(s) under yours on the front page. If I find that two students copied their lab reports from each other and did not acknowledge the received help, the lab report will be returned ungraded, and no one student will receive credit for this lab. You need to turn in your lab report by the due date (see the schedule). No lab reports will be accepted if they are late, unless other arrangements have been made. No lab reports will be accepted after the due date of the last lab report. Your reports will be returned after grading - please keep them carefully. 

TENTATIVE LAB SCHEDULE - Fall 2004

 

Date	Experiment	Report due
		by 9 a.m. of
20-Sep	Temperature dependence of resistance	23-Sep
27-Sep	Ohm's Law	30-Sep
4-Oct	Resistors in series and parallel	7-Oct
11-Oct	Impedance matching	14-Oct
18-Oct	R.C. Circuits	21-Oct
1-Nov	Oscilloscope	4-Nov
8-Nov	I - V Curves of diodes	11-Nov
15-Nov	Diodes Power supply	18-Nov
22-Nov	Magnetic field and induction	29-Nov
29-Nov	AC reactance of C and L	2-Dec
6-Dec	Final Exam

TENTATIVE GRADING SCALE for each lab report
 

The grades for each lab report will be added to produce the 80% of final grade for the course.

Final exam - 20% of the course

If you are a student with a disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) and think that you might need special assistance or a special accommodations in this class or any other class, call the Office for Students with Disabilities/College Access Program at 425-4006 or come by the office - 110 Frist Hall.

Updated August 10, 2004