· Course Description

Physics 261 is the laboratory part of Physics 260. This course carries one credit and the grade is folded in with the Physics 260 course grade. You must pass Physics 261 in order to pass the entire course. If you do not pass this part of the course you will be required to repeat the entire course (both 260 and 261). The scores for both courses will be combined and the grade for Physics 261 will be identical to that of Physics 260, as required by the Engineering College. Students under the CORE program requirements must take both the lecture and lab part of the course in the same semester in order to receive CORE credit.

You are required to purchase the current version of the laboratory manual: PHYSICS 261 Laboratory Manual (Fall 2006 edition). The labs meet for three hours a week. You must complete ALL of the labs, including TWO culminating labs in order to pass the course. You are expected to attend each class and will be allowed to make up labs only under exceptional circumstances.

The Physics 261 laboratory uses the Excel spreadsheet to analyze data while in the lab. You will therefore be expected to use the spreadsheet in the same manner as any other tool in the lab. You should already have been exposed to the spreadsheet in your engineering courses, but Experiment 0 offers a simple tutorial on error analysis and spreadsheets in general and on Excel specifically.

During the three hour laboratory period, you will have a brief introduction about the lab, perform the experiment, do your analysis and write-up and turn in your report. The experiment should take less than two hours to perform (including the introduction), but in order for you to complete your work in the allotted time you must read the lab write-up and answer the prelab questions before coming to class.

Our aim in this lab is to enhance the understanding of the laboratory experiments you perform while at the same time minimizing the amount of time spent on analysis and write-ups. In order for this to work we have placed more emphasis on preparation for actual laboratory work and prelab assignments. This means it is not necessary to do extensive write-ups. Overly long or padded lab reports will be penalized. Each week's lab includes a prelab assignment. The culminating labs are special labs where you will be given questions about a number of the experiments you performed during the semester. The list of possible questions is included in the manual and you should review the ones for each lab after you have completed that experiment. This will make the culminating lab much easier! More questions may be handed out during the semester.

· Faculty and Teaching Assistants

Name	Sections	Office	E-mail (@umd.edu)	Phone	Office hours
Prof. Min Ouyang	All	2334	mouyang	5-5985	Fri 9-11
Edward Behn	105, 106, 117	0104	ebehn	5-8577	Fri 12-2pm
Kristen Burson	102, 111, 119	1303B	kburson	5-6189	Mon 3-5pm
Liang Li	107, 112	0104	lyons86	5-8577	Tue 3-5pm
Joyce Coppock	109, 110, 113	4223	jec	5-6192	Tue 11-1pm
Joseph Grochowski	104, 114, 118	0104	jrgrocho	5-8577	Tue 1-2pm; Wed 2-3pm
Rashmish Mishra	101, 103, 108	4223	rashmish	5-6192	Mon 1-3pm
Andrea Taracchini	115, 116, 120	0104	ataracch	5-8577	Thu 11-1pm

· Time and Place

There are two different groups of lab sections for this semester with DIFFERENT lab agenda, so please remember your group number as well as section number. You will be in two different labs during the whole semester, so please find out room number for each project before coming to lab.

Group 1: Sections 0104, 0105, 0107, 0108, 0109, 0110, 0111, 0112, 0113, 0114, 0117, 0118

Following table shows schedule and teaching assistants for each section:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
8:00			0109 J.C.	0113 J.C.
9:00
10:00		0104 J.G.
11:00				0114 J.G.
12:00
13:00		0105 E.B.	0111 K.B.
14:00				0117 E.B.
15:00
16:00		0110 J.C.	0112 L.L.
17:00
18:00
19:00		0107 L.L.	0108 R.M.	0118 J.G.
20:00
21:00

Group 2: Sections 0101, 0102, 0103, 0106, 0115, 0116, 0119, 0120

Following table shows schedule and teaching assistants for each section:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
8:00	0101 R.M.
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00	0102 K.B.		0120 A.T.
13:00		0115 A.T.
14:00				0119 K.B.
15:00	0103 R.M.
16:00		0116 A.T.
17:00
18:00
19:00	0106 E.B.
20:00
21:00

*Attendance: You should make every effort to attend your regularly scheduled lab section, but if you must miss your section please contact the appropriate TA and request to attend another section, in advance if possible. We will try to accommodate such requests if space and equipment are available. Otherwise, you must sign up to perform the experiment during the designated make-up week. It is your responsibility to deliver your write-up to the TA for your registered section and to ensure that you receive credit for all lab reports.

*Late Arrival: Classes begin promptly on the hour and it is important to arrive on time to receive lab instructions and to have sufficient time to finish. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late you might not be allowed into the lab and would then have to make it up in another section or during the make-up week.

· Experiment Schedule (Preliminary): Note that Groups 1 & 2 have different lab agenda

* First Lab: For Group 1, the first lab (Exp.0) will be held the week of Sept. 2-Sept.5; For Group 2, the first lab will be in the week of Sept.8-Sept.12.

All students MUST perform Exp.0, the introduction to Data and Error Analysis with Spreadsheets.

* Be alert to announcements: Acts of God or Man may require adjustment of the lab schedule (unfortunately… J)

Group 1: (Sections 0104, 0105, 0107, 0108, 0109, 0110, 0111, 0112, 0113, 0114, 0117, 0118)

Week	Dates	Room	Activity	Notes
1	Sept.2-Sept.5	3310	Exp.0: Introduction to Data and Error Analysis	Required
2	Sept.8-Sept.12	3219	Exp.1: Introduction to Error Analysis
3	Sept.15-Sept.19	3310	Exp.2: The Pendulum
4	Sept.22-Sept.26	3219	Exp.3: Forced Harmonic Motion
5	Sept.29-Oct.3	3310	Exp.4: The Vibrating String
6	Oct.6-Oct.10	3219	Make-up and Discussion	Optional
7	Oct.13-Oct.17	3310	First Culminating Lab	Covering Exps.1-4
8	Oct.20-Oct.24	3219	Exp.5: Position, Velocity and Acceleration
9	Oct.27-Oct.31	3310	Exp.6: Centripetal Force and Acceleration
10	Nov.3-Nov.7	3219	Exp.7: The Ideal Gas Law and Absolute Zero Temperature
11	Nov.10-Nov.14	3310	Exp.8: Equipotentials and Fields
12	Nov.17-Nov.21	3219	Make-up and Discussion	Optional
13	Nov.24-Nov.28		No Labs	Thanksgiving Week
14	Dec.1-Dec.5	3310	Second Culminating Lab	Covering Exps.5-8
15	Dec.8-Dec.12		No Labs

Group 2: (Sections 0101, 0102, 0103, 0106, 0115, 0116, 0119, 0120)

Week	Dates	Room	Activity	Notes
1	Sept.2-Sept.5		No Labs
2	Sept.8-Sept.12	3310	Exp.0: Introduction to Data and Error Analysis	Required
3	Sept.15-Sept.19	3219	Exp.1: Introduction to Error Analysis
4	Sept.22-Sept.26	3310	Exp.2: The Pendulum
5	Sept.29-Oct.3	3219	Exp.3: Forced Harmonic Motion
6	Oct.6-Oct.10	3310	Exp.4: The Vibrating String
7	Oct.13-Oct.17	3219	Make-up and Discussion	Optional
8	Oct.20-Oct.24	3310	First Culminating Lab	Covering Exps.1-4
9	Oct.27-Oct.31	3219	Exp.5: Position, Velocity and Acceleration
10	Nov.3-Nov.7	3310	Exp.6: Centripetal Force and Acceleration
11	Nov.10-Nov.14	3219	Exp.7: The Ideal Gas Law and Absolute Zero Temperature
12	Nov.17-Nov.21	3310	Exp.8: Equipotentials and Fields
13	Nov.24-Nov.28		No Labs	Thanksgiving Week
14	Dec.1-Dec.5	3219	Make-up and Discussion	Optional
15	Dec.8-Dec.12	3310	Second Culminating Lab	Covering Exps.5-8

· Grading Policies

The course grade of Physics 261 will be determined as follows:

70% for the eight regular labs;

30% for the two culminating labs;

* Scoring on the each regular lab:

Prelab Questions: 20% (0, 10%, 20%)

Data: 40%

Analysis: 25%

Postlab Questions: 15%

* Tips for getting good score:

Prelab Questions: the prelab questions MUST be answered and submitted through online Blackboard Academic Suite system (https://elms.umd.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp) before coming to lab and will be checked at the beginning of each lab. The prelab questions will be graded in units of 10% as follows: no attempt, 0%; feeble attempt, 10%; sincere attempt, full 20% even if partially incorrect. If you need/prefer to paper submission it is your responsibility to get permission from your TA and make sure you are credited for all prelabs.

Data and Analysis: you will work with lab partners and will share data with them. However, you will be responsible for doing your own analysis and write-up. Each person in the group will also be required to demonstrate proficiency with the spreadsheet. You will be tested on this basic skill during the lab sessions. If by the end of the second lab, you cannot demonstrate to your TA the ability to do simple tasks on the spreadsheet, your grade will be progressively reduced each week until you can. The point is: you must learn to use the spreadsheet.

Culminating Labs: culminating labs are special labs where you will be given questions about some of the labs you performed during the semester. The list of possible questions is included in the lab manual and you should review the ones for each lab after you have completed that experiment. This will make the culminating lab much easier! More questions may be handed out during the semester. The two culminating labs comprise a total of 30% of your course grade.

Missed Lab: missing a lab and not making it up will result in failure of the course. You must do and write up all labs. If you have missed a lab for an excused reason (illness, religious holiday, etc) try if possible to attend another lab that same week. Most TAs will be accommodating. If this fails, you may, with permission of the Professor, perform the lab during the make-up week for that lab. Make sure that your write-up gets to the TA of your regularly scheduled section (put your name, section number and time it meets on all sheets). Let your regular TA know when and with whom you carried out a make-up lab. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are credited for all lab reports.

Lab reports: You MUST turn your complete lab report (including data, analysis and answers to postlab questions) by uploading a single Excel spreadsheet file to online Blackboard Academic Suite system (https://elms.umd.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp) before leaving lab. You can save file for many times but you can submit only for one time. Once you submit your lab report you can not make any change. No credit will be given for late lab report.

· Course Announcements

Aug.28, 2008: Welcome everyone! The first thing I would like to remind you here is that there are two different groups of lab sections for this semester. These two groups have different lab schedule, so please find out your lab section as well as group numbers. For Group 1, your first lab starts in the first week of semester (Sept.2-Sept.5). For Group 2, your first lab starts in the second week of semester (Sept. 8-Sept.12). You can find lab agenda for both groups in this syllabus. Your first lab (Exp.0) is the Introduction to Data and Error Analysis with Spreadsheet. You MUST do Exp.0, if you want to proceed with the rest of the course.