Steve Liebling's Physics 201 Lab Class Spring 2003

Physics 201L: General Physics Lab I

Class Schedule: Sec 001: W 2:00 pm -- 3:55 pm Sec 002: Th 2:00 pm -- 3:55 pm
Professor: Steve Liebling Office: Technology Center TC-23
Office Hours: T 2:00 pm -- 4:00 pm; W & Th 4:00 pm -- 5:00 pm and by appt.
Phone: 287-8413 Classroom: Technology Center TC-4
Email: WWW Home Page: http://techcenter.southampton.liu.edu/steve

Course Objective: This course will teach you how to investigate physical phenomena scientifically. This involves taking accurate data, analyzing that data, and inferring conclusions from your results. These skills will be applicable to other technical fields such as biology and chemistry. In addition, the experiments themselves should help you firmly grasp concepts introduced in the theory class (PHY 201). Finally, you should also work towards better scientific writing.

Grading Policy:

Lab Writeups	80%
Final Exam	20%

Extra Credit: There will be no extra credit, extra credit papers, or alternatives to passing. Do the labs and take the final.

Missing Labs: There are no make-up labs. I will, however, drop your lowest lab grade.
If you are not physically present for a lab, you may not get the data from another student in the class to complete the lab. In other words, to get any credit for a lab you must be present for its execution. With that said, you get no credit for just showing up for the lab. You must turn in something to get any credit for being there.

Due Dates: Labs are due one week from the date of execution of the lab (unless otherwise stated). I will not accept any late labs. Any labs not in my box, under my door, or in my hand by midnight of the due date will not be accepted nor graded.

Use of Lab Equipment: Much of the lab equipment has been recently purchased. Because the market for lab equipment is small (as compared to general consumer electronics), the prices are high despite the fact that the equipment may not look fancy like a walkman might. Please treat the equipment carefully and put it back where you found it so as to ensure that it lasts many semesters.

Final: The final will cover significant digits, uncertainty, units, and material relevant to the various
labs that we do. Therefore, if you miss a lab, it will be to your benefit to obtain a copy of the lab description for the lab that you missed. It will be given the last week of classes (as a lab class, the registrar does not schedule a final for it).

Cheating: You will work in groups of various sizes for the different labs. However, your write-ups should be written entirely by yourself. I encourage you to discuss the lab, problems that you might have had, and sources of error.

Grading Abbreviations: The following notations might appear on your graded lab write-ups:

SD	error in significant digits
U	missing or incorrect units
L	missing or incorrect label
MB	make better or bigger graph
`?`	not clear if right or wrong; probably wrong
huh?	I don't understand what you wrote
NN	not necessary
NO	not correct
NO!	not correct and you should know better

Lab Write-ups:

use complete sentences
correct title of lab on top of first page
all pages securely stapled together; minus one point (out of ten) if not stapled
data put into tables with clear labels as to what the data are and their units
all values in the lab write-up without explicitly stated units are assumed not to have units
draw simple pictures to describe the setup, and tell what various labels are (e.g. masses m_i, or forces f_i)
demonstrate sample calculations
graphs must be on graph paper or done by computer; none on regular paper
if calculating the slope of a line, show what points were used to do so
with graphs containing a best fit curve/line, ensure data points themselves are clearly distinguishable

The lab period is 2 hours. Some labs will not require you to stay for the full period, while others will. The time required often depends on how attentive you are in all the labs concerning use of equipment and also how much time you have spent reading the lab before coming to perform the experiment. Also, many labs do not require much time to simply take the necessary experimental data. However, if you leave quickly after getting the data, you may find later that you do not know what to do with that data or that you've failed to measure something. Failure to properly process your data to extract a desired result will severely hurt your grade.

Sample Lab Reports:

·bad

·comments on bad

·better

·comments on better

Syllabus:

Week 1	Feb. 5	No Meeting
Week 2	Feb. 12	Measurement Uncertainty
Week 3	Feb. 19	Air Track 1: velocity and acceleration
Week 4	Feb. 26	Force Table
Week 5	Mar. 5	Simple Pendulum
Week 6	Mar. 12	Hooke's Law
Week 7	Mar. 19	Spring Break
Week 8	Mar. 26	Pulleys and Work
Week 9	April 2	Waves on a String
Week 10	April 9	Speed of Sound
Week 11	April 16	Passover/Good Friday
Week 12	April 23	Air Track 2: Collisions
Week 13	April 30	Review (An old final: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Week 14	May. 7	FINAL EXAM

Last updated Feb. 1, 2003.

Steve Liebling (home)