PHYSICS 405 COURSE DESCRIPTION

Spring 2014

Lecture Room 1219 Physics Building

Laboratory 3210 Physics Building

Physics 405 is an advanced undergraduate laboratory course with experiments from many fields of modern physics for physics majors. Students have full access to the experimental equipment and establish their own work schedules and procedures with the guidance of faculty and staff. Emphasis is on independent experiment organization, data acquisition, data analysis, and scientific report preparation.

PREREQUISITE: Physics 375

LECTURES: Wednesday 12:00-1:00 PM, Lecture Room 1219 Physics Toll Building

COURSE WEB SITE:
 http://www.physics.umd.edu/courses/Phys405/

INSTRUCTORS:

Professor Hassan Jawahery

Phone: 301-405-6062

Office: 3208G Physical Science Building (PSC)

Email: jawahery@umd.edu

Professor Luis Orozco

Phone: 301-405-9740

Office: 2201 Computer and Space Science (CSS)

Email: lorozco@umd.edu

TEACHING ASSISTANT

TBD

LABORATORY STAFF

Mr. Allen Monroe

Phone: 301-405-6002

Office: 3311 Physics Toll Building

Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. M-F

Email: amonroe@physics.umd.edu

Mr. Thomas Baldwin

Phone: 301-405-6004

Office: 3202 Physics Toll Building

Office Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. M-F

Email: tbald@physics.umd.edu

SCHEDULE:

Instructor and Teaching Assistant laboratory hours will be announced in class and posted in the laboratory and on the course web site.

The laboratories are open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and on Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The last person to leave a laboratory must close the door.  When returning to a laboratory, Mr. Monroe or Mr. Baldwin will open the door again.  Work is to be finished at the end of the laboratory period.  If data acquisition is not complete at 5:00 p.m. and the experiment is reserved for the following day, a note should be left on the experiment to avoid its being disassembled.

TEXT and REFERENCES:

Physics 405 Laboratory Manual – Department of Physics, Fall 2008 edition.

This will be available electronically on the Physics 405 web site. This version is not available in print.

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).

Building Scientific Apparatus – J. H. Moore, C. C. Davis, and M. A. Coplan (Cambridge University Press, Fourth Edition, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-87858-6).

Two (2) laboratory notebooks are required so that one is available for laboratory work while the other is being graded.  Notebooks are to be 8.5" x 11" or larger, with bound, numbered, quad-ruled pages that are permanent and unperforated.

LECTURES:

There will be a one-hour lecture from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in room, 1219 Physics Building every Wednesday during the course of the semester. The lectures will cover error analysis, laboratory measurement techniques, vacuum technology, detectors, basic electronics, signal analysis and other topics germane to experimental physics. Students are responsible for understanding the material presented in lecture and, when appropriate, including this material in notebook reports and in the final formal report. Students missing a lecture are responsible for obtaining the lecture material from classmates. During the latter part of the course, the lecture period will be used for 12-minute student presentations. Attendance at the Wednesday lectures and presentations is mandatory. The lecture and presentation schedule will be posted on the course website.

EXPERIMENTS:

To pass the course, you must complete four experiments, with at least two from group B experiments. Completion is defined as performing the laboratory work, data analysis, and submitting a laboratory notebook for grading.  Failure to complete four experiments will result in failing the class. Each student is required to work on the experiments independently. At the completion of each experiment the laboratory notebook must be submitted to the instructors for grading. It is necessary to have at least two laboratory notebooks so that one is available for laboratory work while the other is being graded. The notebooks will be graded promptly so that improvements can be made in subsequent experiments and reports. The notebook reports are meant to be the notes and documentation of the work in the laboratory, and are not the Formal Report. (Please refer to the laboratory manual for more information on the notebooks.)


 SCHEDULING EXPERIMENTS:



There is 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. Prior to carrying out an experiment, the preparatory questions at the start of the experiment must be answered.  The answers are to be written in the laboratory notebook.  You must have the preparatory questions examined and initialed by either the instructor or the TA before beginning the experiment. Work on the experiments must be formally scheduled. Time slots are available in half-day periods.  In order to save an experimental setup, two consecutive periods must be reserved.  When an experiment has been completed and data acquisition finished the experiment must be dismantled.

DUE DATES FOR THE NOTEBOOK REPORTS:

Notebook reports are due according to the schedule shown in the syllabus.  There is a 2-point penalty, out of a total of 20 points, per day for late reports.

FORMAL REPORT:


A formal report on the second experiment is required and is to be submitted according to the schedule below. The format of the formal report is given in the laboratory manual and on the Blackboard website.

ORAL PRESENTATION:



Each student is required to give a 12-minute presentation on an experiment.  The talks will be followed by questions from students, the instructors, and TA


HOMEWORK:



During the semester homework problems will be assigned. The purpose of these problems is to review and strengthen understanding of error analysis that will be used in the interpretation of data, as well as provide experience with experimental topics.  



GRADES:

Notebooks	60%
Homework	10%
Formal Report	15%
12-Minute Presentation	15%
Total	100%




VALID EXCUSES:



If you have a valid excuse for missing a due date for a notebook report or a 12-minute presentation (e.g. a medical emergency) see one of the Professors to make alternate arrangements, beforehand. Ex post facto (after the fact) excuses will require validation and may not be acceptable. You must speak to one of the Professors. The TA does not have the authority to make alternate arrangements.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY (CHEATING):

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense that can result in suspension or expulsion from the university. In addition to any other action taken, the normal sanction is a grade of "XF", denoting "failure due to academic dishonesty," and will normally be recorded on the transcript of the offending student. Students are required to perform all experiments, analysis, and write-ups independently. The experiments may be discussed with other students, but each student must work independently..

TIPS FOR DOING WELL:

Read the laboratory manual carefully before beginning an experiment. Answer the pre-laboratory questions in your notebook and have them checked by the Professor or TA before beginning the experiment. 

Keep a complete log for the experiment including equipment diagrams, measurement configurations, results, estimates of errors and limitations to the measurements, analysis used to obtain final results and a proper estimate of all errors including systematic as well as statistical errors. 

Record clearly the reasoning used to arrive at conclusions. If the experimental result does not agree with the known or accepted value, documented reasoning may be the only means for determining what went wrong. Additional information, a list of experiments, and more detailed help can be found at the course website. 

Good time management is essential for success in this class. Don't fall behind!  Don't wait until the last day to do an experiment!

IMPORTANT DATES:

First meeting: Wednesday, January 29; Introduction to the Laboratory
	First Class Lecture: Wednesday, February 5
Last Day for Schedule Adjustment: Friday February 7
Last Day to Drop with a "W": April 14
Spring Break: March 16 – March 23
Last day of Classes: Tuesday, May 13

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE (subject to revision)

Dates	Lecture Period Topic	Reading	Due Dates
1/29	Introduction to Experiments	Laboratory Manual	Unit #1 Prelab*
2/05	Lecture 1, Radiation Safety
2/12	Lecture 2, Statistics Random/Systematic Errors	Bevington Ch. 1-2 , Taylor Ch. 3,4,5,10,11	Homework #1 Preliminary report Exp#1
2/19	Lecture 3, Electronics, Vacuum Technology, Detectors	Building Scientific Apparatus, Ch. 6	Expt #1 Notebook Homework #2
2/26	Tour of campus labs		Homework #3
3/05	12 Min. Presentations		Preliminary report Exp#2
3/12	12 Min. Presentations		Expt #2 Notebook
3/19	Spring Break
3/26	12 Min. Presentations		Experiment 1 or 2 Formal Report
4/02	12 Min. Presentations		Preliminary report Exp#3
4/09	12 Min. Presentations		Expt #3 Notebook
4/16	12 Min. Presentations
4/23	12 Min. Presentations		Preliminary report Exp#1
4/30	12 Min. Presentations		Expt #4 Notebook
5/07	12 Min. Presentations

*All pre-laboratory questions must be completed and checked (initialed) by the TA or an instructor before laboratory work can start. Reports are due at 12:00 noon on Wednesdays.

NOTEBOOKS:

Laboratory notebooks must include a complete description of how the experiment was performed and the way the data were analyzed. Other scientists should be able to take the notebook and duplicate the experimental results. Below is a list of the essential elements of the notebook report:

· Notebook reports written in ink in a laboratory notebook with quad-ruled, numbered pages. Mistakes are not to be erased, scratched over or covered with White-Out. A single line is to be drawn through mistakes.

· All graphs stapled, pasted or taped in the notebook. Graph axes labeled with units. Formulas, derivations, and discussions necessary to understand the graphs included.

· A brief description of theory of the experiment followed by a clear description of the procedure used to take data. Schematic diagrams of the experimental arrangement along with circuit diagrams of electronics. Raw data in tabular form with units and proper significant figures.

· Units for all numbers with appropriate significant figures.

· Estimates of random and systematic errors and the justification for the estimates.

· Analysis of the data using proper error analysis and a description of the analysis methods. If Mathematica is used, include the analysis steps in addition to the Mathematica notebook included in the laboratory notebook.

· Comparison of statistical error with random error (reduced c²).

· Final results with total error (including systematic errors), comparison of the final results with expected values and a discussion of discrepancies.

· Answers to all questions in the Laboratory Manual including discussion questions.

· All parts of the experiments completed.

NOTEBOOK REPORT FORMAT AND GRADING:

Procedure (including preparatory questions) 2 points

Preliminary report                         4 points

Raw data (including tables, plots) 4 points

Analysis (including errors and final results) 7 points

Remaining topics listed above 3 points

Two points will be subtracted from any report grade for each day late. Failure to submit all reports will result in an F for the course.

CourseEvalUM Spring 2014

Participation in the evaluation of courses through CourseEvalUM is a student responsibility held as a member of our academic community. Feedback is confidential and important to the improvement of teaching and learning at the University as well as to the tenure and promotion process. CourseEvalUM will be open for students to complete evaluations for fall semester courses between xx and yy. Go directly to the website (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) to complete the evaluations starting xx. Completing all evaluations each semester gives online access at Testudo to the reports of the thousands of courses for which 70% or more students submitted their evaluations.

Last Modified January 22, 2014