Lab web site: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/ISP209L/
Prof. Simon Billinge, 4268 BPS Office Hours: by appointment, 4268 BPS
Phone: 355-9200 x 2202 Email: billinge@pa.msu.edu
Section 1: Monday 09:10 AM - 12:00 PM Instructors: J. Clifford
Section 2: Monday 12:40 PM - 03:30 PM Instructors: Prof Billinge, Dr. E. Bozin and Dr. P. Juhas
Section 3: Monday 04:10 PM - 07:00 PM Instructors: J. Clifford
This two-credit laboratory provides hands-on experience to discover and reinforce basic physical phenomena. The heart of the course consists of a series of experiments in the areas of optics, mechanical systems, and electro-magnetics. The teaching team consists of three senior (Drs. Billinge, Bozin and Juhas) and a graduate (Jacob Clifford) instructor. We hope that your experience in the lab is going to be a pleasant one as we work through these experiments together.
Procedures
· Labs are held in 302 North Kedzie
on Monday. Prior to each lab, you are required to take a10 minute quiz. Each
lab will begin with the quiz, followed by a short introductory lecture.
· Working in groups of 2 or 3 you will then perform
measurements and tabulate your data in using the appropriate pages from the ISP
209L Course Pack. The scheduled labs are
listed on the reverse side. You will be part of a different assigned group
every week.
· After conducting the
experiment and tabulating the data, each student will independently analyze and
present the results, and answer the questions.
You are encouraged to seek help from the instructor and from other
students. However, the work you turn in
should be your own.
· All material used to determine
grades (data sheets, graphs, questions, etc) will be prepared by each student
during the lab period and submitted for grading before leaving the lab. Because
the lab must be immediately reset for the following section, students must turn
in their work promptly at the end of their period. There will be no
exceptions to this policy so please begin your write-ups early enough
that you can finish them before the end of class.
· There will be a lab exam in
the last week of class. The exam will include quiz questions, questions derived
from the pre-lab lectures, and questions from the labs themselves.
Hardware
· Required Course Pack: ISP209L Course Pack. It was
originally prepared by Prof. Stuart Tessmer. It costs
~$5 and is available exclusively at the
Student Book Store (SBS) on
·
Required Tools: Pencil, Calculator with trigonometric functions, logarithmic
functions and scientific notation.
You should read through and understand the lab before coming to class. Quizzes will be conducted prior to each experiment during the first 10 minutes of the lab. The quizzes are closed book and will be based on material related to the lab scheduled for that day. The quizzes will be collected all together 10 minutes after the start of class and won’t be accepted after this time, so please don’t be late so you have the best chance to complete the quiz.
You are expected to read
through the scheduled lab procedures in advance of each class. This is needed
for the lab to make sense as you work through the details. The main purpose of
the quiz is to give you extra incentive to read about each lab in advance. For
further assistance in preparing, additional reading material relevant for many
of the labs can be found in Prof. Stump’s ISP209 Course Pack. The material from
Prof. Stump’s class is not required.
ABSENCE / LATE POLICY
The labs are tightly
scheduled and there will be no opportunities to make up a missed
lab under any circumstances. If you have to miss a lab for a
legitimate reason, you should inform Prof. Billinge by email (
GRADING POLICY
The quizzes count for 3 points. The lab reports will be graded on a 0 to 7 point scale. The total number of points possible for each lab class will be 10. The first lab will be graded and returned but will not count towards your final grade. This is a learning example that helps you to understand our expectations for the write-up. In addition you can drop one of the remaining (lab+quiz) scores. Summary: there are 11 labs, the compound (lab+quiz) score from the first lab and one other (the lowest) can be dropped. The final grade will therefore be based on the 9 highest compound scores from labs 2 – 11.
Your grade will depend on
your Class Percentage with the total quiz+lab score
weighted by 0.80 and the lab exam weighted by 0.20. To give a formula, let's
call QL=(quiz+lab total)/90
and LE=(lab exam percentage)/100. Your Class Percentage is then Class
Percentage = 100*
|
Class Percentage |
Grade |
|
90.00-100 |
4.0 |
|
85.00-89.99 |
3.5 |
|
80.00-84.99 |
3.0 |
|
75.00-79.99 |
2.5 |
|
70.00-74.99 |
2.0 |
|
65.00-69.99 |
1.5 |
|
50.00-64.99 |
1.0 |
|
00.00-49.99 |
0.0 |
TO DO WELL IN THIS COURSE
Since
the labs are fairly straightforward, if you give it an honest effort doing all
the quizzes and attending all the labs you will get a strong quiz+lab score. Typically it is also necessary to do well
on the lab exam to get a 3.5 or a 4.0. The advice to do well on the lab exam is
to spend time carefully reading and understanding the basic ideas of each lab
in advance. In addition to making the lab run more smoothly, it will be more
likely that the key ideas are clear. You will then be better prepared when
reviewing the material for the lab exam.
|
Date |
Lab# |
Topics |
Additional |
|
Aug 27 |
~ |
No Lab today |
~ |
|
Sep 4 |
Labor Day |
No Lab today |
~ |
|
Sep 10 |
1 |
Dice-probability vs average |
Please check back later |
|
Sep 17 |
2 |
Free fall measurement of g |
Please check back later |
|
Sep 24 |
3 |
Threshold of hearing |
Please check back later |
|
Oct 1 |
4 |
Energy, Cycle power |
Please check back later |
|
Oct 8 |
5 |
Rolling cylinders |
Please check back later |
|
Oct 15 |
6 |
Simple circuits |
Please check back later |
|
Oct 22 |
7 |
Oscilloscope-wave forms |
Please check back later |
|
Oct 29 |
8 |
Reflection, Refraction |
Please check back later |
|
Nov 5 |
9 |
Single slit diffraction |
Please check back later |
|
Nov 12 |
10 |
Two slit interference |
Please check back later |
|
Nov 19 |
11 |
Radioactivity |
Please check back later |
|
Nov 26 |
12 |
No Lab today |
~ |
|
Dec 3 |
13 |
Lab Exam |
~ |
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