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Syllabus
Physics 405 - Advanced Physics Laboratory
Department of Physics University of Maryland
Instructor: Dr. Wendell T. Hill, III
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Office: 2120 IPST |
Lab Hours: Tu 10-11; W 1-3; Th 2-3 |
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Phone: 301-405-4813 |
(Additional office hours by appointment – phone or email) |
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Email: wth@umd.edu |
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TA: TJ (Mulyardi Tjoa)
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Office: Physics 3103B |
Lab Hours: Th 13:00 - 15:00 |
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Phone: 301-405-6189 |
(Additional office hours by appointment – phone or email) |
Email: mtjoa@umd.edu |
Schedule: Instructor and TA lab hours are below.
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
Opens 9:00 AM
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Opens 9:00 AM
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Opens 9:00 AM
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Opens 9:00 AM
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Opens 9:00 AM
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9-10 | |||||
10-11 | |||||
11-12 | WH |
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12-13 | Lecture | ||||
1-2 | WH | TJ |
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2-3 | WH | WH | TJ | ||
3-4 | |||||
4-5 | |||||
Closes 5:00 PM
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Closes 5:00 PM
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Closes 5:00 PM
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Closes 5:00 PM
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Closes 4:00 PM
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The lab is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM and on Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. If you arrive before the door is open, ask Tom or Allen to open the lab for you. If you are the last person to leave one of the lab rooms, please close the door. If you are coming back, have Tom or Allen open the door again when you return. You must be done for the day at the time the lab closes. If you are not done taking data at 5:00 PM and you are signed up for the following day, leave a note on your experiment so that a staff member does not disassemble your experiment.
Laboratory Staff:
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Allen Monroe |
Office: 3311 Physics |
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Phone: x56002 |
Office Hour: 8AM-3PM M-F |
Email: amonroe@physics.umd.edu |
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Tom Baldwin |
Office: 3202 Physics |
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Phone: x56004 |
Office Hour: 9:00AM-5:30PM M-F |
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Email: tbald@physics.umd.edu |
Prerequisite: Physics 375
Lecture:
Wednesday 12:00-12:50, Lecture
Room 3112 Physics
Text and Materials:
Physics 405 Laboratory Manual
– Download the Fall
2007 version (pdf)
AND at least one of the following:
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences - Phillip R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson (McGraw Hill, Inc., 2003, ISBN 0-07-247227-8);
An Introduction to Error Analysis: The Study of Uncertainties in Physical Measurement – John R. Taylor (University Science Books, 1997, ISBN 0-935702-75-X).
You will need TWO (2)
lab notebooks. Two are required so that you can work in one notebook while
the other is being graded. Acceptable lab notebooks should be 8.5" x 11" or
larger, should be bound (with spiral or book binding), and have numbered, quad-ruled
pages. Pages should be permanent, not perforated for tear-out.
Lectures:
For approximately the first half to the semester there will be a 50 min lecture
from 12:00 – 12:50 in Rm. 3112 on Wednesdays. We will cover error analysis,
laboratory measurement techniques and any other material germane to the course.
You will be responsible for understanding the material presented in lecture
and, when appropriate, expected to include some of this material in your notebook
reports and in your final formal report. If you miss a lecture you are responsible
for finding out from a classmate what was covered. The lecture slot will be
used for 12-minute presentations by students during the second half of the course.
Attendance at talks is mandatory! Without a valid
excuse approved by your instructure, you will not pass the course if you do
not attend all presentations. You are responsible for knowing the dates of the
presentations, which are subject to change!
Experiments:
It is required that all students complete four experiments. Failure to complete
all four labs will result in failing the class; completion is defined
as performing the lab, demonstrating to the instructor or TA your understanding
of the instrumentation and and turning your lab notebook to be graded.
Each student is required to work on the experiments entirely by her/himself.
Since it will take some time to grade all the lab notebooks, it will be necessary
for you to have at least 2 laboratory notebooks in order to have one available
while the other is being graded. Every attempt will be made to grade your experiments
promptly so that you will be able to improve your next report before handing
it in. The notebook reports are meant to be your notes and documentation of
your work in the lab, and are not meant to be a formal write-up. (Please refer
to the laboratory manual for more information on the notebook reports.)
Each lab has a set of preliminary questions to be answered in your notebook and checked by the TA or instructor before you can begin your lab. It would be easist to do this on Wednesdays but can be handled on other days as well. On the web are a list of additional questions that must be answered for specific experiments. They too must be answered. Click here to access all the questions. The questions are:
As you read through the experiments,
you will notices they rely on different techniques. You will not be allowed
to do experiments that use the same techniques. Of paticular note, are experiments
VII and IX; you can do only one of these.
Scheduling Experiments:
There will be an online sign-up sheet that can be accessed from any computer
with an internet connection or from the computer in Rm. 3210. The url is http://www.physics.umd.edu/cgi-script/courses/p405.pl
You must request time each week to perform your experiments. You may be sign
up for only two days each week and it is strongly suggested that these days
be consecutive so that your experimental setup may be saved.
Prior to carrying out an
experiment, you are required to complete the preparatory questions at the
start of the experiment. Write the answer to the prep questions in your lab
notebook. You must have the prep questions examined and initialed by
either the instructor or the TA before you begin the experiment.
Formal Report:
One of the 4 to 6 notebook reports is to be rewritten as a formal report
and is to be turned in by Friday, December 15, 2006. Please refer to
the laboratory manual and the information here for the format
of the formal report.
Twelve-minute talks:
Each student will be expected to give one 12-minute talk on an experiment
of his or her choice. The talks will be followed by questions from the
instructor, the TA, and the other students.
Grading:
Notebooks (20 per experiment) | 60% |
Formal report | 15% |
12-minute talk | 15% |
Lab technique
and overall performance |
10% |
TOTAL | 100%. |
Excuses:
If you have a valid excuse for missing a due date for a notebook report
or a 12 minute talk (e.g., you will be having an operation) see me to
make alternate arrangements, beforehand if at all possible. Ex post facto
(after the fact) excuses will require validation and may not be acceptable.
You must speak to me. Your TA does not have the authority to excuse you
from any required class activity.
Tips for Doing Well
in 405:
Don't fall behind!
Read the lab manual carefully
before attempting an experiment.
Answer the preparatory questions in your notebook and have them checked
by the professor or TA before you begin the experiment.
Keep a complete log for the experiment including experimental diagrams
of measurement configurations actually used to obtain data, results, estimates
of various errors and limitations to the measurements, analysis used to
obtain final results and a proper estimate of all errors including systematic
errors as well as statistical errors.
Show clearly the reasoning that you used to arrive at various conclusions.
If your experimental result does not agree with the known or accepted values,
your reasoning may be the only clue that the TA or the instructor has as
to where you, or the experimental apparatus, went wrong.
Additional information, a
list of experiments and more detailed help can be found here.
Important Dates:
First Class Lecture | Wednesday, September 5 |
Last Day for Schedule Adjustment | Wednesday, September 12 |
Last Day to Drop with a "W" | Wednesday, November 7 |
Thanksgiving Break | Thursday and Friday, November 22-23 |
Last Notebook Due | Wednesday, November 28 |
All Notebooks Due | Wednesday, December 5 by 6:00 PM |
Last Day of classes | Tuesday, December 11 |
Final Report Due | Friday, December 14 by 6:00 PM |
Modified Schedule:
Dates | Subject | Reading Assignments | Due Dates* |
8/29 | No Lecture | Read Through Lab Manual |
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9/5 | Introduction & Lecture 1 | Bevington Ch. 2 Taylor Chs. 5, 10 & 11 |
Lab Selection |
9/12 | Lecture #2 Apparatus Review |
Bevington Ch. 3 Taylor Chs. 3, 5 & 7 |
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9/19 | Nuclear Material Training | Bevington Chs. 4 &
6 Taylor Chs. 8 & 12 |
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9/26 | Lecture #3 Apparatus Review |
Bevington Ch. 7 & 8 | |
10/3 | Lecture #4 Apparatus Review |
Bevington Ch. 9 & 11 | Turn in Notebooks Lab Selection |
10/10 | Apparatus Review | ||
10/17 | Apparatus Review | ||
10/24 | Apparatus Review | Turn in Notebooks Lab Selection |
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10/31 | 12 Min. Talks | ||
11/7 | 12 Min. Talks | ||
11/14 | 12 Min. Talks | Turn in Notebooks Lab Selection |
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11/21 | 12 Min. Talks | ||
11/28 | 12 Min. Talks |
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12/5 | 12 Min. Talks | ||
12/7 | All Lab
Notebooks (by 6:00 PM)† |
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12/14 | Final Report (by 6:00 PM)‡ |
* The due dates correspond to
12:00 noon unless otherwise specified.
† Note new due date!!
Late notebooks will be assessed a penalty of 5 pts per day per notebook starting
at 6PM on Friday 12/07/07 and continuuing each day. Notebooks
turned between 6PM on 12/7/07
and 6PM on 12/10/07 will only be charged 5 pts.
‡ Final
reports received after 6PM on 12/14/07 will be assessed a penalty of 25 pts
per day starting at
6PM on Friday 12/14/07. Again, reports turned in between 6PM
on 12/14/07 and 6PM on 12/17/07
will only be charged 5 pts.
Grading
of Notebook Reports:
Your lab notebook should give a complete description of how you did your experiment
and how you analyzed your data. Another person should be able to take your
notebook and duplicate your experiment.
For the notebook reports
you must do the following:
1. Write in a real lab notebook: notebook should
be quad ruled, with numbered pages.
2. Write in ink. If you make a mistake, draw one
line through it - don't erase it, scratch over it, or use white-out.
3. Staple/past/tape all graphs and analysis in notebook. Label axes. Include any formulas, derivations,
etc. needed to understand your graph.
4. Give a brief description of theory behind experiment.
5. Provide the actual circuit diagram you used to do the experiment
(do not photocopy lab manual).
6. Provide a clear description of the procedure used to take data.
7. Provide the units of all numbers.
8. Provide and explain your estimate of the random and systematic errors
in all important quantities effecting your final result. Must use proper
error analysis techniques.
9. Pay attention to significant figures.
10. Analyze your data. Write down the methods you used. If you use
Mathematica, do not simply
paste your Mathematica notebook into your lab
notebook - write down in your lab notebook your analysis steps.
Compare statistical error with random error (reduced χ2).
Discuss.
11. Quote your results with final total error (including systematic
errors).
12. When appropriate, compare your answer to the expected value and
discuss discrepancies.
13. Be sure you have answered all the questions asked for in the lab
manual, including discussion questions at
end of unit.
14. Be sure you have done all the experiments you were asked to do.
Grading Scheme for lab notebooks:
Description of procedure (including prep questions) 3 pts
Raw data (including tables, plots, etc.) 5 pts
Analysis (including errors and final results) 8 pts
Everything else on above list 4 pts
Late reports -5 pts /week
No notebook for one lab, F for the course!
Last modification Tuesday, November 27, 2007