Laboratory Information

Laboratory work is an essential part of the introductory physics course. It will likely play an important role in your career as a scientist or
an engineer as well. Your time spent in the laboratory is a critical part of your training, for it is here that you learn to take measurements and observations of the real world. Careful measurements and observations play a critical role in determining if a particular scientific theory has any bearing on reality.

In the laboratory part of this course, you will learn to:

        use standard instruments such as multimeters and oscilloscopes effectively
        make reliable measurements, with no fear
        recognize and troubleshoot errant circuits
        present results more clearly through graphs and tables
        analyze data to reveal underlying relationships
        use computers for curve fitting and preparing graphs
        estimate experimental uncertainties and understand their consequences
        report reliable calculations with the appropriate number of significant figures
        keep an accurate and complete laboratory

The laboratory will be conducted using the group approach (groups of two or three).  In order for the group concept to work, everyone in the group must participate.  If a student is not participating, the TA should be informed so that the situation can be corrected.  It is important to prepare for lab by reading the lab manual beforehand.   There may be a short quiz given at the start of the lab to assess preparation.  

Reports will be typed with data presented in tables and plots using Excel or comparable program.

Attendence and completion of all of the assigned is required except for documented absences for university approved reasons. If one lab is missed, the course grade will drop one letter. If two or more labs are not completed, the course grade will be an F. Missed labs can be made-up by attending any other lab in the same week (discuss with your TA), or during the scheduled make-up periods.

Laboratory Writeup

Lab writeups for a particular week will be collected at the following week's lab. Your lab will be graded by the TA who runs your lab section. Any questions or concerns about the grading of particular lab reports should be directed at your TA.
 
All lab reports have to be typed, no special paper is required. You can share the data with your group members and discuss the results, but lab reports have to be written individually and you are expected to perform your own analysis. A good report should be concise and have the following format.

1. Title: Include the title of the lab, your name, your lab partner's name/names (please make sure spelling is correct), and your lab section number.
2. Introduction: Briefly describe why you are doing this lab, and what the objectives are.
3. Experiment: Describe the setup and operation of the experiements performed in this lab.
4. Results: Present measured results.
5. Analyses: Analyze the results and determine the conclusions your can draw from your data. Have you achieved your objectives? How accurate is your results, what are the error sources, how would you improve the experiment, etc. This is the most important part. Bad experimental data or results do not necessarily mean a bad grade. If you successfully point out what you did wrong, and how you would do things differently, you can still get a good grade.
6. Summary: Tell the readers a few (or maybe just one) important findings from this experiment. Try to write your summary in such a way that readers will still learn the essence of your results even if only this section is read.
   
   • Why include the summary? The majority of people who read any article or technical report that you publish in your career will not read the whole text from start to finish. They will read the abstract or summary first, and then maybe examine your graphs briefly. For that reason, it is an important skill to be able to highlight your most important results in a very concise statement.