General Physics Laboratory I – Summer 2000
(173.111)
Professor: M. Franz TA: A. Tilak
Office: Bloomberg 313 Office: Bloomberg 355
Telephone: (410) 516-5266 Telephone: (410) 516-5061
E-Mail: franz@pha.jhu.edu E-Mail: tilak@pha.jhu.edu
Office hours: M-F 11:30-12:30pm Office hours: M-F 4:00-5:00pm
and by appointment and by appointment
Course Description and Objectives
The General Physics Laboratory is designed to give students backgrounds in experimental techniques and to reinforce instruction in physical principles in the companion courses. Materials are chosen from both physical and biological sciences. These techniques and principles are quite general and applicable to aspects of all sciences.
This is a one-credit hour class that will meet 11 times during the semester. Each meeting of the class focuses on a particular project described in the lab manual. Each project is designed to incorporate a new lesson on measurement, data, error, or graphical analysis in addition to illustrating a physical principle of the companion courses. The ordering of the projects broadly follows the progress in the General Physics Lecture course 171.101.
Project descriptions in Laboratory Experiments in Physics I are not meant to be recipes for performing an experiment, rather they should be viewed as general guidelines. That is, goals for each project are spelled out, but decisions regarding the specific procedures to be followed to attain these goals often must be made by the student and his or her partner.
Adequate preparation before class is therefore key to success in the laboratory. This preparation has three components: studying the project description in the lab manual and the relevant sections in the companion course textbook (referenced in the project description); performing the experiment described in the lab manual and other problems assigned by the TA; and bringing to class the problem solutions and a concise write-up of the objectives for the project and a tentative procedure to be followed.
People and Administrative Logistics
Laboratory Manager: Mr. Bill Ruff, 410-516-8780, ruff@pha.jhu.edu
General Physics Administrator: Dr. Steve Wonnell, 410-516-4696, wonnell@pha.jhu.edu
Location: 165 Bloomberg Center, Partition A
Lab Sessions: M-F 1:00 – 3:50pm
(see attached schedule of meetings)
Required Texts :
Laboratory Experiments in Physics I, Fall 1999 (Printing Service in Garland Hall)
An Introduction to Error Analysis, by J.R.Taylor, 2nd Edition (Book Store)
Required Lab Notebook:
No. 43-591, or 43-644, or 43-648 (Available in Book Store).
Number of Experiments for the semester: 10
Number of problem sets on error analysis: 3
Each student, paired with a lab partner, will be assigned to one section under the supervision of one TA with lab hours occurring in one of the eight time periods each week. This assignment will remain for the remainder of the semester.
Your TA will provide you with the sequence of the 10 experiments and other information.
You are required to have read the required material and completed any problems associated with that experiment before coming to the lab.
The lab will be closed at 3:50pm. Before leaving the lab, make sure you know which experiment you will do next week and that you have the material necessary to prepare yourself.
Problems assigned the week before are to be handed in at the beginning of the lab period.
Each experiment must be performed with your lab partner within the assigned section in the designated time period. All activities of the experiment, data taking, analysis, and writing the lab report are to be completed during the three-hour period. It is essential that you come to the lab on time.
Each student is required to write an individual lab report in the lab notebook, although the two lab partners may share the same data of measurements.
The labs notebooks are not to be taken out of the General Physics Lab. They remain in Bloomberg 165 to be graded by the TA.
The experiment for a particular week may not be in synchronization with the lecture part of General Physics. If the subject matter has not been covered by the lectures, the student should read the General Physics textbook to gain the necessary knowledge.
For some laboratory sessions, the student has the choice of performing one of two experiments for that week.
Grading policy: All 10 experiments are weighted equally. For each experiment, grade is determined by the following components of your written report and your performance in lab:
10% Problem assignments for that lab, if assigned
20% Purpose and Procedures of the experiment
20% Data
30% Analysis
20% Discussion and conclusions.
Three sets of problems from Taylor’s book on error analysis are due at the beginning of class according to the following schedule:
|
Problem Set |
Due Date |
Problems |
|
1 |
2nd Meeting |
Taylor Chapter 2, Problems 2.4, 2.6, 2.16, 2.24(a) |
|
2 |
3rd Meeting |
Taylor Chapter 4, Problems 4.2, 4.16, 4.24 |
|
3 |
4th Meeting |
Taylor Chapter 3, Problems 3.2, 3.22(a), 3.30(a,b) |
13. Each Problem Set has the same weight as 1/2 of one experiment.
Each student must have an e-mail address to be given to your TA. You must check your e-mail messages frequently to receive additional information about this course and your section.
Please see the registrar for drop/add and section changes.
Summer 2000 Meeting Calendar
General Physics Lab 173.111
|
M |
T |
W |
Th |
F |
|
May 29
|
30 1st Meeting |
31
|
June 1 2nd Meeting |
2 3rd Meeting |
|
5 |
6 4th Meeting |
7
|
8 5th Meeting |
9
|
|
12 6thMeeting |
13 |
14 7th Meeting |
15
|
16 8th Meeting |
|
19
|
20 9th Meeting |
21
|
22 10th Meeting |
23
|
|
26
|
27 11th Meeting |
28
|
29
|
30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Experiment Schedule
1st Meeting: Introduction to the General Physics Labs
(no experiments)
2nd Meeting: Experiment 1, Statistical Distribution of Data in Length Measurements
3rd Meeting: Experiment 2, Reaction Time
4th Meeting: Experiment 3, Projectile Motion and the Ballistic Pendulum
(3rd Problem Set due at Beginning of Meeting)
5th Meeting: Experiment 4, Uniform Circular Motion: Centripetal Force
6th Meeting: Experiment 5, Linear Air Track
7th Meeting: Experiment 6, Rigid Body Rotation
8th Meeting: Experiment 7, The Gyroscope
9th Meeting: Experiment 12, Elasticity: Hooke's Law and Young's Modulus
10th Meeting: Experiment 8, Velocity of Sound in Air
11th Meeting: Experiment 10, The Temperature Coefficient of Linear Expansion
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR LAB WRITE-UPS
173.111 General Physics Laboratory
_____________________________________________________________
Title Section:
This section should include the title of the lab, the date, and your partner’s name.
Purpose:
Provide a concise description of your objectives for the experiment.
Procedure:
This is not to copy the entire lab manual, but to give a short description of how you actually performed the experiment. Include any specific techniques that weren’t explicitly stated in the manual. A simple sketch of the experimental apparatus may also be included in this section.
Data:
All data collected during the lab should be clearly presented in a table format when appropriate. Label the columns, and provide units and error estimates for all of your measurements. When appropriate, include graphs in this section (refer to the handout on graphing).
Analysis:
This section describes your final results. Show the equations used to obtain the final information, and provide a thorough error analysis. Compare your experimental values to the expected results, when appropriate. This section should include descriptions explaining what the values mean in the context of the experiment.
Discussions and Conclusions:
Discuss your results. Did you achieve the objectives of the experiment? How big was your error, and did the expected value fall within the bounds of uncertainty? What other sources of systematic and random error were not accounted for by your error analysis? Suggest ways the experiment could have been improved or expanded.
* Please note that the TA of each section may have slightly different expectations of lab format, and what should be included in each section.
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