PHYSICS 405 COURSE DESCRIPTION
Fall, 2010
Lecture Room 3112
Physics Building
Laboratory 3210 Physics Building
Physics 405 is an
advanced undergraduate laboratory course for physics majors with experiments
from many fields of modern physics. Students have full access to the
experimental equipment and establish their own work schedules and procedures under
the guidance of faculty and staff. Emphasis is on independent experiment organization,
data acquisition, data analysis, and scientific report preparation. Each
student will give an oral presentation on one of the experiments during the
semester.
PREREQUISITE: Physics 375
LECTURES: Wednesday 12:00-1:00 PM,
Lecture Room 3112 Physics Building
COURSE WEB SITE:
http://elms.umd.edu then
select link for Physics 405.
INSTRUCTORS:
Professor Hassan Jawahery |
Phone: 301-405-6062 Office: 4310 Physics Building Email: jawahery@umd.edu |
|
Professor Michael Coplan |
Phone: 301-405-4858 Office:
4201 CSS Building Email:
coplan@umd.edu |
TEACHING ASSISTANT
Joyce Coppock |
Phone: |
Office: 3103 B Physics Building |
Email: jec@umd.edu |
LABORATORY
STAFF
Mr.
Allen Monroe |
Phone:
301-405-6002 |
Office: 3311 Physics Building |
Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. M-F |
Email: amonroe@physics.umd.edu |
|
Mr.
Thomas Baldwin |
Phone: 301-405-6004 |
Office: 3202 Physics Building |
Office Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. M-F |
Email: tbald@physics.umd.edu |
SCHEDULE:
Instructor and TA laboratory hours will
be announced in class and posted in the laboratory and on the course web site.
The laboratories are open Monday through
Thursday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and on Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. If arriving before doors are open, Mr. Monroe or Mr. Baldwin will
open the laboratory doors. The last person to leave a laboratory must
close the door. When returning to a laboratory, Mr. Monroe or Mr. Baldwin
will open the door again. Work must be finished at the end of the
laboratory period. If not finished taking data at 5:00 p.m. and signed up
for the following day, leave a note on the experiment so that it will not be
disassembled.
TEXT and MATERIALS:
Physics 405 Laboratory Manual
– Department of Physics, Fall 2008 edition.
This will be available electronically on the
Physics 405 web site. This version
is not available in print.
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for
the Physical Sciences, - Phillip R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson
(McGraw Hill, Inc., 2003, ISBN 0-07-247227-8) or
An Introduction to Error Analysis: The
Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurement
– John R. Taylor (University Science Books, 1997, ISBN 0-935702-75-X).
Two (2)
laboratory notebooks are required so that one is available for laboratory work
while the other is being graded. Notebooks should be 8.5" x 11"
or larger, should be bound, with numbered, quad-ruled pages. Pages must
be permanent and unperforated.
LECTURES:
There will
be a one-hour lecture from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in room, 1219 Physics
Building every Wednesday during the course of the semester. The lectures will
cover error analysis, laboratory measurement techniques, vacuum technology,
detectors, basic electronics, signal analysis and any other topics germane to
experimental physics. Students are responsible for understanding the material
presented in lecture and, when appropriate, including this material in notebook
reports and in the final formal report. If you miss a lecture you are
responsible for finding out from a classmate what was covered. During the
latter part of the course, the lecture period will be used for 12-minute
student presentations. Attendance at the
Wednesday presentations is mandatory. The presentation schedule will be posted
on the course website.
EXPERIMENTS:
In order to
pass the course, 6 units of work must be completed, which will typically consist
of four to six experiments. Completion is defined as
performing the laboratory work and turning a laboratory notebook for grading.
Failure to complete 6 units will result in failing the class. Each
student is required to work on the experiments independently. At the completion
of each experiment must be submitted to the instructors for grading. It is
necessary to have at least 2
laboratory notebooks in order so that one is available for laboratory work
while the other is being graded. The notebooks will be graded promptly so that
improvements can be made in subsequent experiments and reports. The notebook
reports are meant to be the notes and documentation of the work in the
laboratory, and are not meant to be the formal write-up.
(Please refer to the laboratory manual for more information on the notebooks.)
The first experiment must be a one-unit
experiment. (in order to total six units, it is therefore necessary to complete
at least one other one-unit experiment).
SCHEDULING EXPERIMENTS:
There is an online sign-up sheet that can be
accessed from any computer with an internet connection or from the computer in
Rm. 3210. The url is http://www.physics.umd.edu/cgi-script/courses/p405.pl. Prior to carrying out an experiment,
the preparatory questions at the start of the experiment must be
answered. The answers can be submitted electronically on the course
website or on a paper at the beginning of the class period. You
must have the preparatory questions examined and initialed by either the
instructor or the TA before beginning the experiment. Time
to perform the experiments must be formally scheduled. Time slots are available
in half-day periods. In order to save an experimental setup, two
consecutive periods must be reserved. When an experiment has been
completed and data taking finished the experiment must be dismantled.
DUE DATES FOR THE NOTEBOOK
REPORTS:
Notebook reports are due according to the
schedule shown in the syllabus. There is a 1-point
penalty per day for late reports.
FORMAL REPORT:
A formal report on
the 2nd experiment is required and expected to be turned in
according to the schedule below. The format of the formal report is given in
the laboratory manual and on Blackboard.
ORAL PRESENTATION:
Each student is required to give a 12-minute
presentation on an experiment. The talks will be followed by questions
from students, the TA and instructors.
HOMEWORK:
During the semester homework problems will be
assigned. The purpose of these problems is to review and strengthen understanding
of error analysis that will be used in the interpretation of data, as well as
provide experience with common experimental topics.
GRADES:
Notebooks (20 per unit) |
60% |
Homework |
10% |
Formal report |
15% |
12-minute talk |
15% |
|
|
Total |
100% |
VALID EXCUSES:
If you have
a valid excuse for missing a due date for a notebook report or a 12-minute
presentation (e.g. a medical emergency) see one of the instructors to make
alternate arrangements, beforehand if at all possible. Ex post facto (after the fact) excuses will require validation and
may not be acceptable. You must speak to one of the instructors. The TA
does not have the authority to make alternate arrangements.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
(CHEATING):
Academic dishonesty is a serious offense that may
result in suspension or expulsion from the university. In addition to any other
action taken, the normal sanction is a grade of "XF", denoting
"failure due to academic dishonesty," and will normally be recorded
on the transcript of the offending student. Students are required to perform
all experiments, analysis, and write-ups independently. The experiments may be
discussed with other students but each
student must work independently..
TIPS FOR DOING WELL:
Read the laboratory manual carefully before beginning
an experiment.
Answer the pre-laboratory questions in your notebook and have them
checked by the professor or TA before beginning the experiment.
Keep a complete log for
the experiment including equipment diagrams, measurement configurations,
results, estimates of errors and limitations to the measurements, analysis used
to obtain final results and a proper estimate of all errors including
systematic as well as statistical errors.
Show clearly the reasoning used to arrive at conclusions.
If the experimental result does not agree with the known or accepted value,
documented reasoning may be the only means for determining what went
wrong. Additional information, a
list of experiments, and more detailed help can be found at the course website.
Good
time management is essential for success in this class. Don't fall
behind! Don't wait until the last day to do an experiment!
IMPORTANT DATES:
First meeting: Wednesday, September 1; Introduction to the lab |
Labor Day: Monday, September 6 |
First Class Lecture: Wednesday, September 8 |
Last Day for Schedule Adjustment: Monday, September 13 |
Last Day to Drop with a "W": Monday, November 8 |
Thanksgiving Recess: Thursday, November 25 and Friday,
November 26 |
Final Report Due: Friday, December 10 |
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (subject
to revision)
Dates |
Lecture |
Reading |
Due Dates |
9/1 |
Introduction,
Experiments |
Laboratory
Manual |
|
9/8 |
Lecture 1,
Radiation Safety |
|
Unit
#1 Prelab(*) |
9/15 |
Lecture
2: Statistics: Random and Systematic Errors |
Bevington
Ch. 1-2
, Taylor Ch. 3,4,5,10,11 |
Homework #1 |
9/22 |
Lecture
3, Electronics |
Building
Scientific Apparatus,
Ch. 6 |
Unit
#1 Notebook Homework
#2 |
9/29 |
Lecture
4, Vacuum Technology |
Building
Scientific Apparatus,
Ch. 3 |
Homework
#3 |
10/6 |
Lecture
5, Detectors |
Building
Scientific Apparatus,
Ch. 7 |
Unit
#2 Notebook Homework
#4 |
10/13 |
Tour
of campus reactor |
|
Homework #5 |
10/20 |
Feedback |
|
Unit #3 Notebook Paper
on 2nd experiment |
10/27 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
|
11/3 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Unit
#4 Notebook |
11/10 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
|
11/17 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Unit
#5 Notebook |
11/24 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
|
12/1 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Unit
#6 Notebook |
12/8 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
*All subsequent
pre-laboratory questions must be completed and checked (initialed) by the TA or
an instructor before laboratory work can start. The laboratory notebook due
dates correspond to one-unit laboratories. You will have twice as long to
complete two-unit laboratories. Reports are due at 12:00 noon on Wednesdays.
NOTEBOOKS:
Laboratory
notebooks must include a complete description of the way the experiment was
performed and the way the data were analyzed. Another person should be able to
take the notebook and duplicate the experiment. Below is a list of the
essential elements of the notebook report:
á Notebook reports written in ink in a laboratory
notebook with quad-ruled, numbered pages. Mistakes are not to be erased,
scratched over or covered with White-Out. A single line is to be drawn through
mistakes.
á All graphs stapled, pasted or taped in the
notebook. Graph axes labeled. Formulas, derivations, and discussions necessary
to understand the graphs included.
á A brief description of theory of the experiment
followed by a clear description of the procedure used to take data. Schematic
diagrams of the experimental arrangement along with circuit diagrams of
electronics.
á Units for all numbers with appropriate
significant figures.
á Estimates of random and systematic errors and
the justification for the estimates.
á Analysis
of the data using proper error analysis and a description of the analysis
methods. If Mathematica is used, include the analysis steps in addition
to the Mathematica notebook included in the laboratory notebook.
á Comparison of statistical error with random
error (reduced c2).
á Final results with total error (including
systematic errors), comparison of the final results with expected values and a
discussion of discrepancies.
á Answers to all questions in the Laboratory
Manual including discussion questions.
á All parts of the experiments completed.
GRADING:
Procedure (including preparatory
questions) 3 points
Raw data (including
tables, plots) 5 points
Analysis (including
errors and final results) 8 points
Remaining topics listed
above 4 points
One point will
be subtracted from any report grade for each day late. Failure to submit all
reports will result in an F for the course.
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Fall 2010
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