Physics 221

Intermediate Laboratory


Class: TR 12:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., D-208-209.
Professor: G.P.Gilfoyle; Office: Gottwald Science Center, D-110 ; phone: 289-8255; electronic mail: ggilfoyl@richmond.edu; Office hours: MW 2:00-4:00 PM; TR 3:30-4:30 PM. Other times are by appointment.
Objective: To gain an understanding of experimental methods and analysis.
Safety: SAFETY FIRST! See the safety rules below. Always be very careful. If you are unsure ASK! If you are taking any medications or your motor skills are impaired for any other reason, do not perform the experiment and consult with me.
Textbooks: Experimentation: An Introduction to Measurement Theory and Experiment Design (required) by D.C. Baird, Principles of Physics by Serway and Jewett or some equivalent text (recommended), Modern Physics by Rex and Thornton (recommended) or Modern Physics by Harris (recommended). The course website is http://www.richmond.edu/~ggilfoyl/intermediate.html. Check this site for the latest information.
Prerequisites: Physics 132 or 133 or 134.
Course Work: Each class meeting will consist of some combination of lecture, demonstration, laboratory work, or student presentation (see SCHEDULE).
Attendance: Attendance at all classes is expected. An excused absence is one given by the dean, a doctor, or a department. An excusable absence is one that the instructor excuses for what he deems to be sufficient reason. A student is responsible for all work missed during an absence.
Grading: Grades will be computed on the following basis:


  Written/Oral experiment reports and homework 55%
  Project Paper 25%
  Project Introduction 5%
  Project Theory Section 5%
  $\rm I^2$(Initiative and Independence) 10%


Project: An independent project is required based on the skills developed during the semester and on available equipment. A final paper describing the project is also required. The paper presents the problem, it's physical significance, a discussion of the experimental apparatus, techniques used, and results and analysis.

Oral reports: Ten-minute presentations will be required describing the progress of each student's project (see SCHEDULE). See the article ``The Art of Talking About Science'' by L.Bragg in the journal Science, Vol 154, p. 1613 (1966) for advice.
Written reports: An experimental report will be required for each laboratory completed. The report will consist of one page of text with additional pages for relevant figures, plots, and appendices. See Chapter 7 in Experimentation: An Introduction to Measurement Theory and Experiment Design for a full discussion of good scientific writing. The grade of each report will include the quality of the measurements and analysis and the efficiency in completing the experiment. The report will be due at the start of the next laboratory meeting after completion of the data collection unless other arrangements are made. Check with me if you need more class time for the analysis. Unexcused, late, submissions will be reduced by one point if not handed in at the start of lab, another point if not handed in by the end of that day, and one point for each day late thereafter. Late submissions will be excused only at the discretion of the instructor. This is the greatest pitfall of this course. Students that fall behind have great difficulty catching up. Turn in your lab reports on time!
Laboratory Notebook: You must maintain a laboratory notebook. Nobel prizes and millions of dollars worth of patents have depended on laboratory notebooks, but more importantly your grade will depend, in part, on your lab notebook. The notebooks will be collected and graded at the end of the semester. The following question should serve as a good guideline for developing a good laboratory notebook. ``If I pick up this notebook in a year or two, is there enough information in it for me to reproduce the experiment?'' You may want to use a loose-leaf binder to keep notes, plots, and calculations. Use notebook dividers to identify the different experiments. I have found it useful to keep an electronic text log and print it out at the end of a class or work session. This practice has the great feature that it is searchable. The following points are recommended.

  1. Record the date, title, partner, and page number.
  2. Briefly write down the general purpose of the experiment, description of procedures, and descriptions of data. Record any observations even if you do not plan to use them.
  3. Make a rough sketch of the apparatus. Do not spend a lot of time on this and do it only when it would be of help. We all know what a hammer looks like, but we may not know exactly how you hooked up a complex detection circuit.
  4. Record all data in your lab notebook not on scrap pieces of paper! Do not erase data. You may indicate suspect data and your reasons, but do not erase it! You should indicate what is being measured and include units and uncertainty.

Laboratory Notebook (continued):

5.
Perform calculations, as you go along. It is much easier to repeat experiments on the spot than to try and come back and do it later. You should compare with accepted values as early as possible by calculating a percent error or percent difference.
6.
If you reach a conclusion record it and substantiate it. If more analysis is needed, it is easier to do it on the spot. The lab notebook will not be graded on neatness, but it must be readable.

Honor Code:

As you are aware, the Honor Code applies to all types of assignments, including tests, papers, and the like. The Honor Code pledge which should be written and signed on all assignments. What does this mean as far as laboratory work? Lab notebook: For your lab notebook, you should make certain to preserve it as a record of what happened rather than what you think should have happened. For instance, do not correct what you later think was a mistake (`Opps! It must have been a 5 here not a 3-let me just change that.'). If necessary, add dated comments (preferably in a different pen color) to that effect (such as `I think I left the oscilloscope on its default settings but I might have played with the trigger button.'). Short writeups and lab reports: You will be working with a lab partner often during this course, and I encourage you to collaborate with other students in the class as well. You should feel free to discuss the material with anyone in the course or seniors who've taken the course or other faculty members. However, the writeups and lab reports that you hand in should be your own work and reflect your own understanding of the material. If you make use of other written materials, be sure to cite them appropriately. For the final project papers, that means citations which are complete, similar to those found in journal articles. If in doubt, ask questions!
Safety Rules:

The following rules should be observed at all times in the laboratory. You should also check the issues described in each lab writeup.

  1. Shoes are required at all times.

  2. Food and drink are not permitted in the lab at any time.

  3. Any tobacco use is forbidden in the lab at any time.

  4. Do not wear loose hair or clothing around moving equipment.

  5. Do not place equipment in the aisle or loiter in the aisle.

  6. Do not set equipment too close to the edge of the table.

Safety Rules (continued):

  1. Do not activate any circuit or apparatus that you are unfamiliar with until the instructor or lab assistant inspects it.

  2. Only use lasers, projectile launchers, pendulums, etc., for the instructional purposes for which they were intended.

  3. Never look directly into the beam of a laser or into the barrel of a projectile launcher.

  4. All trash and waste materials should be disposed in the proper container. Do not pour chemicals into the laboratory sinks.

  5. Never touch a possibly live circuit.

  6. Do not short the electrical leads on any equipment.

  7. Any equipment not in use should be turned off.

  8. Do not take apart any apparatus or piece of equipment.

  9. All damaged equipment and chemical spills should be immediately reported to the laboratory instructor.

  10. Never remove any computer components (especially the mouse or keyboard) unless the computer is turned off.

  11. Do not move or jostle a computer while the CPU is turned on.

  12. Do not place books or papers on the tops of computer monitors.

  13. Do not shutdown the computers or monitors unless instructed to do so by the lab instructor.

  14. Leave your lab station neat, clean and organized at the end of each lab period.

  15. Ensure that all laboratory doors are locked and closed at the conclusion of each lab.

Printing: We will be using all of the upper-level, physics, teaching-lab space. There are printers in each room with names GSCD208_PRT1 (in D208) and GSCD209_PRT1 (in D208).

Course Outline: The first three experiments will be done simultaneously by all students. Each one should take about two lab periods to complete and the lab report is due at the start of next lab meeting. You will select then from the list of experiments below. There is only enough equipment for one set-up for each of the experiments so they will be conducted in a round robin fashion. Each experiment should take 1-3 lab periods to complete. Overviews of each experiment are on the course webpage.


Schedule Overview


Week Laboratory
1-2 Hydrogen Spectroscopy
2-3 Biot-Savart Law
3-4 Radioactivity
4-10 Round Robin Laboratories
11 Introductory Project talks and start of projects.
12-13 Individual Projects
14 Final project talks



Round-Robin Experiments

Fundamental Forces 1: G Fundamental Forces 2: Coulomb's Law
Fundamental Particles 1: The Charge/Mass Ratio of the Electron Fundamental Particles 2: The Charge of the Electron
Fundamental Constants - The Photoelectric Effect The Limits of Sight: Physical Optics
Measuring Atomic Separations The Adiabatic Gas Law
Dynamical Chaos in a Compound Pendulum Resonance and Radio: The LRC Circuit
Using Brownian Motion to Measure Atomic Properties Seeing is Believing: Geometric Optics
Modeling Air Friction Magnetic Force on a Current Loop
Interferometry Microwave Optics
Cosmic Rays and Muon Decay Detecting hidden nuclear materials





Physics 221 Tentative Schedule


Spring 2009


Date   Topic   Date   Topic
Jan 13 Hydrogen Spectroscopy   Mar 10 Round Robin Labs
  15 and Error Analysis     12 Project Topics due
             
  20       17 Round Robin Labs
  22 $\vec B$ Fields and Curve Fitting     19 Project Introductions due
             
  27       24 Round Robin Labs
  29       26 Project Theory section due
             
Feb 3 Radioactivity     31 Introductory Project Talks
  5 and Mathematical Models   Apr 2 Round Robin Labs
             
  10 Round Robin Labs     7 Independent
  12 Start (see Course Outline)     9 Projects
             
  17 Round Robin     14 Independent Projects
  19 Labs     16 Independent Projects
             
  24 Round Robin     21 Final Project
  26 Labs     23 Talks
          24 Final Papers due
Mar 3 Spring        
  5 Break      

Important Deadlines


Topics due Thursday, March 12
Introductions due Thursday, March 19
Theory section due Thursday, March 26
Final Papers Due Friday, April 24

Physics 221 Homework

Spring 2009


Like all physics courses one the best ways to understand the material is to work through the assigned problem sets. Some of the homeworks here will be collected and graded. They all develop the necessary skills to succeed in this course. The list below is a tentative one based on past experience. As always check the website for the latest information.


Date Topic Date Topic
Jan 13 Read Section 3.3 in Thornton and Rex; read Chap 1 in Baird; do introduction.nb notebook; get a notebook; read the syllabus. Mar 10 Spring Break
15 Read Chap 2 in Baird; do problems 1,2,5,8,12 and hand in on Tuesday; Hydrogen-lab analysis should be complete by next Tuesday. 12 Spring Break
20 Finish hydrogen lab analysis; Chap 2 in Baird, do problems 9-11, 13-14; Hand in 9-11. 17 Student Talks and Reports: Justin, Calina, and Adam.
22 Hand in Hydrogen Lab next lab; Read Chap 23 in Serway and Jewett. 19 Project Topics due; Talks: Colin, Ben, Ilya; Reports: Adam, Devin, Justin, and Colin.
27 Chap 3 in Baird, do problems 1-9. 24 Talks: Devin, Jordan.
29 Finish Biot-Savart analysis. 26 Talks: Nick, Matt/Garrett; Project Introductions due
Feb 3 Biot-Savart lab due on Thursday 31
5 Do fitting of radioactivity data. Apr 2 Talks: Matt; Project Theory section due next Tuesday.
10 Read and select first round robin lab.; Round-robin lab reading. 7 Talks: Nick, Justin, Devin.
12 Radioactivity lab and notebooks due next Tuesday. 9
17 Start Round-Robin Labs. 14 Talks: Ilya, Garrett, Justin
19 Continue Round-Robin Labs. 16 Talks: Nick, Alex, Ben
24 Continue Round-Robin Labs: Reports due next Tuesday: Colin, Devin, Alex, Cain; Talks next Tuesday: Colin, Devin, Alex or Cain 21 Talks: Matt, Colin, Calina, Jordan
26 No lab. 23 Talks: Cain, Adam, Devin
24 Final Papers due
Mar 3 Talks and Reports for Thursday: Cain/Alex, Colin, Deven
5 Research project topic; Talks and Reports for Tues, Mar 17: