In recitations, you will:
- work through an extended multi-part problem often with a biological context;
- work in groups of three or four;
- be applying the principles you read in the class readings and lecture.
In the labs, you will:
- learn physics relevant to microscopic and living systems;
- use 21st century physics tools and software;
- deal with data-rich environments; and
- learn how to design your own experiment and interpret data.
The laboratories are held in a community lab style that will allow you to work together in groups of 4 students on experiments. More information on the community lab style, including information on how the labs will be graded can be found at this LABS LINK.
Laboratories will cover 6 experiments, five of them lasting 2 weeks, one lasting 1 week. At the end of each experiment you will work in the lab to finish a laboratory report and present your findings (and ideas for followup experiments) to the other laboratory working groups.
There will be pre-readings for some laboratories that you will be able to access through WebAssign just like the regular readings.
The recitation sections will be group problem solving. Typically, you will work through an extended multi-part problem, often with a biological context. The TA will help you but will not tell you exactly how to solve the problems set before you!
Attendance at every lab is required. If you anticipate missing a lab session, try to arrange ahead of time to attend another lab section for that session (for a 1-week lab) or for the entire lab unit (for a 2-week lab). If it is not possible to attend a different lab session, contact your TA as soon as you are aware of your impending absence. Only those with a VALID WRITTEN EXCUSE for missing a lab will be allowed to do a makeup activity at the end of the semester (that will take at least two hours and may involve doing another lab or evaluating data). If you do not have a valid written excuse, you will get a zero for the week that you missed. You may make up a maximum of one excused absence. If you miss more than one week (have more than one 'zero', i.e., if you miss more than one lab session), you may receive an incomplete or a failing grade for the entire class.
| Week of | Recitation | Lab Topic | Pre-Lab Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/23 | No recitation | No lab | No readings |
| 1/30 | How a kinesin walks | Introduction to lab and surveys | |
| 2/6 | Entropy and diffusion | Lab 6-1: Modeling fluid flow: How do channel geometries and arrangements affect fluid flow? |
Peer Review & Grading |
2/13 |
Insane in the membrane, part 1: Oil and water | Lab
6-2: Modeling fluid flow: Explaining fluid dynamics and the H-P equation |
Lab 6.2* Technical Introduction to Error Propagation |
| 2/20 | Insane in the membrane, part 2: Lipid bilayers | Lab 7-1: Electric Forces in a Fluid: How do charged objects in a fluid interact with each other and respond to external electric fields? |
Lab 7.1* |
| 2/27 | Salting out and denaturing DNA | Lab 7-2: Electric Forces in a Fluid: Electrophoresis and charge screening in fluids |
Lab 7.2* Electrokinetics and Colloid Behavior & The Double Layer |
| 3/6 | Intro to Circuits | Lab 8-1: Signal Transmission Along Nerve Axons: What affects the distance over which an electric signal is transmitted and the speed of transmission? |
Lab 8.1* |
| 3/13 | What is "free" about free energy? | Lab
8-2: Signal Transmission Along Nerve Axons: Testing models of signal transmission along nerve axons |
|
| 3/27 | Intro to light | Lab 9-1: Geometric Optics: How can microscopes magnify objects? |
|
| 4/3 | |||
| 4/10 | Diatomic vibrations | Lab
9-2: Geometric Optics: Exploring light and lenses |
|
| 4/17 | Spectroscopy: How does light interact with matter? | Lab
10-1: Light spectra and implications for living systems, How
can measurements of light spectra provide insights into the nature of
matter and the characteristics of living systems? |
Lab 10.1* |
| 4/24 | Seeing Inside the Body | Lab
10-2: Light spectra and implications for living systems: Spectroscopy
– Exploring Emission, Absorption and Evolutionary Adaptation |
|
| 5/1 | Photosynthesis | Lab
11: Complex absorption and emission in molecules: Spectroscopy and Fluorescence in Chlorophyll |
|
| 5/8 | Why do we see in the visible? | Makeup lab, Closing Surveys, Finishing Peer Grading | * = there is WebAssign reading HW due before you start lab |
