Course description: PHYS 107 - Light, Perception, Photography and Visual Phenomena Laboratory. Two hours of laboratory per week. Credit cannot be used towards the minimum requirements for a major in physics or astronomy. PHYS 107 is the laboratory that accompanies PHYS 106. Laboratory experiments include geometrical optics (lenses, cameras, eye), optical instruments, photography, perception, color phenomena, and wave phenomena.
Corequisite: PHYS 106.
Required Text: Physics 107 Lab Manual
Meeting CORE requirements: Please note that you must also be enrolled in Physics 106 in order to receive credit for a CORE physical sciences laboratory course. This is important, so make sure that you are enrolled in both Physics 106 and Physics 107.
Instructor: Professor Fred Wellstood. Dr. Wellstood is a Professor of Physics and an Associate Chair of the Physics Department. He usually can be found in either his administrative office (Room 1120 Physics) or his research office (Room 0356 Physics, in the Center for Superconductivity Research, in the Physics Building). Please feel free to stop by at any time.
Phone: 301-405-7649
e-mail: well@squid.umd.edu
Teaching Assistants:
Kenneth Griggs, kaGriggs@glue.umd.edu,
3121 Physics, 301-405-6197
Lubna Rana, lubna@physics.umd.edu,
4105 Physics, 301-405-6011
Section Time Teaching Assistant Room
0101 Tu 9:00am-10:50am Lubna Rana PHY 3214
0201 Tu 2:00pm- 3:50pm Kenneth Griggs PHY 3214
0301 W 9:00am-10:50am Lubna Rana PHY 3214
0501 W 12:00pm- 1:50pm Kenneth Griggs PHY 3214
0701 Th 10:00am-11:50am Lubna Rana PHY 3214
0801 Th 2:00pm- 3:50pm Kenneth Griggs PHY 3214
- Prelabs are due when you walk into the lab.
- Quizzes are picked up as you enter the lab and are due five minutes after
the start of class.
- All lab reports are due at the end of class. It is required that you personally
hand the report to your instructor before leaving the classroom. Your instructor
will then check off your name so that in the unlikely event that your report
is lost, we have a record that you turned it in. It is your duty to make sure
that your instructor has checked off your name before leaving the classroom.
Late lab reports will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Lab Write-Up
At the end of each lab period, each student must turn in a write-up of their
lab work. The questions that you must answer are imbedded in the text that describes
how the lab is to be done. Each of your answers must be written out in full
sentences and be self-contained. It should not be necessary for the grader to
refer to the lab manual in order to determine what it is you are trying to answer
or explain. Answering a question with just a number or just "yes"
or "no" is never enough to receive full credit. The text is broken
up into topics, T1, T2, T3, etc. Be very careful, as you read the lab, that
you find all the questions, and that you answer them fully, completely, and
neatly. You should provide your own paper on which to write up the lab. Include
the experiment number, date, and your lab partner's name on your write-up. For
each lab, include a brief summary of your work and conclusions as the final
section of your lab report. Use proper grammar and spelling.
Grading: Prelab 2 points each - 18 points total
Quizzes 2 points each - 18 points total
Lab reports: 10 points each - 110 points total
TOTAL 146 points
- I prefer to use standard grading for this course (i.e. 90%-100% is an A, etc.)
since everyone understands it. However, in some past semesters, lenient grading
or variations among the graders has required use of a modest curve. A curve
will only be employed if the average grade in sections graded by different graders
differs by more than 10%, or if standard grading results in fewer than 20% or
more than 40% A's in the class as a whole.
- Be sure to complete all eleven labs! Failure to complete a lab will decrease
your final score by about one letter grade for each lab that you miss, independent
of any class curve. Each of the labs carries the same weight in your final score.
General Advice
Don't forget that the prelab is due when you walk in the lab.
Classes at Maryland start right on the hour and students are expected to be
in the lab when the period begins. Don't be late. You will need to complete
your quiz in the first five minutes of class and then your instructor will say
a little bit about the lab in the next five or ten minutes. If you miss the
quiz and the introduction, then you may have to attend a later section or make
up the lab.
When you are working on an experiment, by all means have fun, but try to keep
focused on your work. You have two hours to finish up and, although that leaves
some time for playing and making mistakes, you'll find that it's not a lot of
time.
Save all of your old prelabs, quizzes and lab reports until at least you have
received your official grade in the class. Mistakes (missing scores) can happen,
and the best defense is keeping your work.
Making up labs
If you miss a lab, you should try to make it up the same week by going to another
section. It is up to the TA to admit you to the section, subject to the availability
of space. If you cannot make up a lab in the same week, then you must schedule
to make up the lab during one of the two scheduled make-up times (see schedule
below). If you miss one of the first 5 experiments, you must make it up during
the first makeup week.
Important Dates (preliminary)
Sept. 3-6 First week of classes, no labs
Sept. 9-13 Experiment 1: Camera Obscura
Sept. 16-20 Experiment 2: Pinhole Camera
Sept. 23-27 Experiment 3: Wave Properties - Slinky
Sept 30- Oct 4 Experiment 4: Light: Reflection, Mirrors and Images
Oct. 7-11 Experiment 5: Light: Refraction
Oct. 14-18 Make-Up Lab Week
Oct. 21-25 Experiment 6: Images: Shaped Surfaces, Simple Lenses
Oct. 28-Nov. 1 Experiment 7: More Simple Lenses
Nov. 4-8 Experiment 8: The Camera and the Human Eye
Nov. 11-15 Experiment 9: Polarized Light
Nov. 18-22 Experiment 10: Light: Interference
Nov. 25-29 Thanksgiving week - no labs
Dec. 2-6 Experiment 11: Diffraction Gratings, Color, and Holography
Dec. 9-12 Make-Up Lab Week
Dec. 13 LAST DAY OF CLASSES