Syllabus

• Text: The manual, PHYSICS 251 - FALL , can be purchased at the Student Bookstore. Data Sheets will be distributed via computer.
• Calculator: Trigonometric and logarithmic functions are required. Statistics functions will be very useful, but are not required.
• Pens and a ruler: Pencils and erasers are not allowed in the teaching labs.
• PHY 251 on the Web : http//www.pa.msu.edu/courses/1998fall/phy251

Schedule

Laboratories will begin on 31^st August 1998 and run through 11^th December, 1998. There will be 13 experiments. The purpose of this course is to teach you how to make measurements of physical parameters and how to analyse and interpret them. Working in groups of two, you will make measurements, tabulate and plot your data, evaluate uncertainties on your measurements, analyse the results of your experiments, and answer the questions for each experiment which are given in the laboratory manual.

Preparation for the Lab Sessions

You will find it very helpful to prepare well, i.e. read and study the materials for the laboratories before you come to class. Being prepared before you come to your lab session will enable you to finish on time, enjoy the lab more and help you get a higher grade. During the first 10 minutes of every lab period (except for the first lab of the term) a closed book quiz will be given and collected. These quizzes are aimed at testing your readiness to perform that day's experiment. Only the material covered by the manual will be tested. Please arrive on time or you will miss the quiz and the credit for it. All the materials to be graded (your lab report including data sheets, graphs, answers to questions, etc.) must be completed during your lab period and handed in to the instructor before you leave the lab.

The lab report consists of a cover sheet with your name, your student number and section number. This cover sheet should also contain a short description of the purpose of this experiment and a conclusion based upon your observations and measurements. Both of these parts should be in your own words, do not just copy the manual!!

Laboratory reports will be graded by your instructor on a 10 point scale and will be handed back at the beginning of the next lab. The points will be distributed as follows: purpose (1 pts), data (including accuracy), graphs, and calculations (4-5 pts), answers to questions (2-3 pts) and conclusion (1-2 pts). Explain how you identified and tried to solve problems in the experiments, if there were any. If you see that your data was incorrect or your predictions of results were incorrect, explain why you were wrong. Avoid wordiness and excessive detail since no credit will be given for this. Sloppy, agrammatical and illegible reports will be penalized.

Quizzes will in generally have 4 questions and will be graded on a 4 point scale.

Before determining your final grade, the lowest lab report and lowest quiz grade will be dropped (see below). Your grade will be based on the total number of points for the remaining labs and quizzes, giving a maximum of 178 points. Since the instructors for the various sections do not necessarily grade identically, the scores for a given instructor's sections will be considered as a group for grading purposes. Each of these groups will receive approximately the same average grade in the course, so that there is no advantage to having one instructor rather than another. Within the group, the grades will be assigned strictly in order of points achieved. This grade will be assigned by a curve, not a "straight scale" (for which there is no uniform definition in any case). In the past the average for the course was about 2.6 to 2.8.

Labs missed for documented medical or other sound reasons may be made up by making arrangements with your instructor. No make-ups are allowed without an explanatory note. If you simply miss a lab without a reason, it will be counted as zero. Arrangements for a possible make-up should be initiated before the missed lab if possible, but in any case no later than 24 hours after you missed the lab. Arrangements for alternate attendance MUST be made during the preceding week if the reason for absence is a pre-scheduled event, such as field trips or religious holidays. Make-ups will involve APPROVED special attendance in a lab later in the week, if an open space is available. However experience has shown that grades of students who miss EVEN ONE LAB are lower than those who attend and complete all labs. You can reach your instructor by phone at his office or by sending an e-mail message.

Your instructor is in charge of all aspects of laboratory procedures. Please confer with your instructor first if you have a problem, since they can ordinarily solve most problems. The laboratory coordinator for this course is Dr. R. Moore. His office hours are Monday, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm. The office and phone numbers are: room 256D and tel: 432-0216. If you cannot make these office hours and would like to make an appointment, please send an e-mail to moore@pa.msu.edu. If you include a phone number, he will get back to you.

During this term and the coming terms computers will be used in the physics undergraduate labs. This is done for several reasons:

1. We want to remove lengthy and repetitive calculations from the labs, so that you can concentrate on the interpretation and analyses of the physics experiments performed.
2. We want to acquaint you with computers because they are modern tools used in nearly all fields of education and business.
3. We do NOT want to use the computer as a black box which does the experiment for you. It is a tool just like a voltmeter or an oscilloscope, except that it is more versatile.

There are five software tools you will use in the physics labs:

1. Microsoft Excel 5.0
   This is a spreadsheet program which you use to record/store your data. An empty spreadsheet is available at the start of each lab. The program allows you to do ALL calculations on your data. This tool removes all repetitive calculations from the lab, so you can concentrate on graphing and interpreting your data. However, the spreadsheet does not do ALL the calculations for you. In order to start the calculations you must perform at least one of them by hand. After you enter the correct formula into the spreadsheet for that particular quantity, the program will do all the other calculations for you.
2. Kaleidagraph
   This tool is a general plotting program. It takes its input from columns of data and allows you to either plot a histogram of the contents of one column and/or graph any column versus any other column. Although some of these things are possible in Excel, Kaleidagraph has a very user friendly interface for adjusting axes/labels/text/bins etc. in any of the graphs. The input for the graphs is copied/pasted from the Excel spreadsheet. Once you are satisfied with your graph (binning is correct, labels are clear, axes are labeled and have units), you should save the graph on disk. It can then either be printed separately or copied into your final lab report.
3. Microsoft Word 6.0
   Word is used as the standard wordprocessor for the lab. In the beginning, it should be used for writing your introduction and conclusion. Toward the end of the semester it is expected that you submit your completed report in Word. This will allow you to include the relevant parts of your spreadsheets, graphs, introduction, and conclusion.
4. Video Point
   This software allows you to collect coordinate data by clicking on locations of interest on video images with a mouse. You are able to study two dimensional motions by locating, displaying, and analyzing coordinate data obtained from sequences of digitized video frames.
5. Graphing Calculator
   This is a tool very similar to a graphics calculator, but much more flexible. It allows you to graph functions in a very convenient way and even print them out.

• Save your files in the folder "Student Results" and do this regularly!
• Save your files using your last name.
• Bring in your own floppy disk and save all your documents. This will help you in the following weeks. You can use old documents as an example or as a template for new ones. We do not back-up student data! If something happens to your work and it is destroyed, you will have to do the lab again. ....SAVE YOUR DATA OFTEN!!!
• All the necessary applications and folders with manuals and spreadsheets will be on the computer desktop screen when you start, so you should not have to search for items.

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Last updated on 28^th August, 1998 by Roger Moore