Syllabus
Physics 405 - Advanced Physics Laboratory Experiments
Department of Physics University of Maryland
 

Instructor: Dr. Michael S. Fuhrer        

TA: Will Ray

Schedule: Instructor and TA lab hours are below.

The lab is open every day from 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM.  If you arrive before the door is open, ask Tom or Allen to open the lab for you.  If you are the last person to leave one of the lab rooms, please close the door.  If you are coming back, have Tom or Allen open the door again when you return.  You must be done for the day at 5:30 PM.  If you are not done taking data at 5:30 PM and you are signed up for the following day, leave a note on your experiment so that the staff won't disassemble it.

Laboratory Staff:

Prerequisite: Physics 375

Lecture:

Wednesday 12:00-100 PM, Lecture Room 3112 Physics

Office Hours:

To be determined by class vote, and by appointment

Text and Materials:

Physics 405 Laboratory Manual—Department of Physics

AND at least one of the following:

Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences - Phillip R. Bevington and D. K. Robinson (McGraw Hill, Inc., 1992);
An Introduction to Error Analysis – John R. Taylor (Oxford University Press, 1982).

You will need TWO lab notebooks.  You need two notebooks so that you can be working in one notebook while the other is being graded.  Acceptable lab notebooks should be 8.5" x 11" or larger, should be bound (with spiral or book binding), and have numbered, quad-ruled pages.  Pages should be permanent, not perforated for tear-out.

Lectures:

Until further notice (approximately the first half of the course) there will be a 1-hour lecture from 12:00 – 1:00 PM in room 3112 on Error Analysis and Laboratory Measurement Techniques. You will be responsible for understanding the material presented in lecture and, when appropriate, expected to include some of this material in your notebook reports and in your final formal report. If you miss a lecture you are responsible for finding out from a classmate what we did in class.  The lecture slot will be used for 15-minute presentations by students during the second half of the course.

Experiments:

It is required that all students complete the work for 6 units, which will typically consist of four to six experiments. Failure to complete all 6 units will result in failing the class. Each student is required to work on the experiments entirely by her/himself. At the completion of each experiment, students are expected to hand in the laboratory notebook for grading. This means that it will be necessary to have at least 2 laboratory notebooks in order to have one available while the other is being graded. Every attempt will be made to grade your experiments promptly so that you will be able to improve your next report before handing it in. The notebook reports are meant to be your notes and documentation of your work in the lab, and are not meant to be a formal writeup. (Please refer to the laboratory manual for more information on the notebook reports.)

Your first experiment must be a one-unit experiment. (in order to total six units, you must therefore complete at least one other one-unit experiment).  You may do either zero, one, or two two-unit experiments.  However, you may not do all three of experiments VII, VIII, and IX (these are too similar in their experimental methods). 

Scheduling Experiments:

There will be a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in Room 3210 on which students will, each week, designate the experiment that they will perform the following week. You may be signed up for only two days at a time; it is strongly suggested that these days be consecutive, so that your experimental setup may be saved. 

Prior to carrying out an experiment, you are required to complete the preparatory questions at the start of the experiment. Write the answer to the prep questions in your lab notebook.  You must have the prep questions examined and initialed by either the instructor or the TA before you begin the experiment.

Formal Report:

One of the 4 to 6 notebook reports is to be rewritten as a formal report and is to be turned in by Friday, December 12, 2003. Please refer to the laboratory manual and the information here for the format of the formal report.

Fifteen-minute talks:

Each student will be expected to give one 15-minute talk on an experiment of his or her choice.  The talks will be followed by questions from the instructor, the TA, and the other students.

Homework:

Several times during the semester a short set of homework problems will be assigned. The purpose of these assignments is to review and strengthen your understanding of the type of error analysis you will be performing in your laboratories. These assignments will be graded on an all or nothing scale, however you may attempt the assignment more than once.

Grading:

Excuses:

If you have a valid excuse for missing a due date for a notebook report or a 15 minute talk (e.g., you will be having an operation) see me to arrange what to do about it, beforehand if at all possible. Ex post facto (after the fact) excuses will require validation and may not be acceptable. You must speak to me. Your TA does not have the authority to excuse you from any required class activity.

Tips for Doing Well in 405:

Don't fall behind!

Read the lab manual carefully before attempting an experiment.

Answer the preparatory questions in your notebook and have them checked by the professor or TA before you begin the experiment.

Keep a complete log for the experiment including experimental diagrams of measurement configurations actually used to obtain data, results, estimates of various errors and limitations to the measurements, analysis used to obtain final results and a proper estimate of all errors including systematic errors as well as statistical errors.

Show clearly the reasoning that you used to arrive at various conclusions. If your experimental result does not agree with the known or accepted values, your reasoning may be the only clue that the TA or the instructor has as to where you, or the experimental apparatus, went wrong.

Important Dates:

Tentative Schedule:

Grading of Notebook Reports:

For the notebook reports you must do the following:

1. Write in a real lab notebook. 
2. Write in ink.
3. Staple/past/tape all graphs and analysis in notebook. Label axis.
4. Give a brief description of theory behind experiment.
5. Provide the actual circuit diagram you used to do the experiment (do not photocopy lab manual).
6. Provide a clear description of the procedure used to take data.
7. Provide the units of all numbers.
8. Provide and explain your estimate of the random and systematic errors in all important quantities effecting your final result. Must use proper error analysis techniques.
9. Pay attention to significant figures.
10. Analyze your data.
11. Quote your results with final total error (including systematic errors).
12. When appropriate, compare your answer to the expected value and discuss discrepancies.
13. Be sure you have answered all the questions asked for in the lab manual.
14. Be sure you have done all the experiments you were asked to do.


Approximate Grading Scheme for lab reports

Procedure 2 pts (includes prep questions)
Analysis of data 3 pts
Error analysis 3 pts
Everything else on above list 2 pts
Late reports -5 pts /week
No report F in whole class