PHYSICS 405 COURSE DESCRIPTION
Fall 2015
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 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 |
|
TEACHING ASSISTANT
TA:
Lvyuan Chen |
Phone:301-405-6093 Office: 3210 Toll Physics Bldg, 1-5PM, M-Th Other times at SB0333 Toll Physics Bldg Email: LChen.Phy@gmail.com |
|
LABORATORY STAFF
Mr.
Allen Monroe |
Phone:
301-405-6002 |
Office: 3311 Toll Physics 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 Toll Physics 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 |
5% |
Formal
Report |
20% |
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, September 2; Introduction to the Laboratory |
|
|
Thanksgiving Break: November 26 – 29 |
Last day of Classes: December 11 |
|
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
(subject to revision)
Dates |
Lecture
Period Topic |
Reading |
Due
Dates |
9/02 |
Introduction
to Experiments |
Laboratory
Manual |
Unit #1 Prelab* |
9/09 |
Lecture 1, Statistics Random/Systematic Errors |
Bevington Ch. 1-2
, Taylor Ch. 3,4,5,10,11 |
|
9/16 |
Lecture
2,
Radiation Safety |
|
Homework #1 Preliminary report Exp#1 |
9/23 |
Lecture
3, Vacuum Technology |
Building
Scientific Apparatus,
Ch. 6 |
Homework #2 Expt #1 Notebook Unit #2 Prelab |
9/30 |
Lecture
4, Electronics and Detectors |
|
|
10/07 |
Lecture |
|
Preliminary report Exp#2 |
10/14 |
Lecture |
|
Expt #2 Notebook Unit #3 Prelab |
10/21 |
Lecture |
|
Formal Report |
10/28 |
12 Min. Presentations |
|
|
11/04 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Preliminary report Exp#3 |
11/11 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Expt #3 Notebook Unit #4 Prelab |
11/18 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
|
11/25 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Preliminary report Exp#1 |
12/02 |
12
Min. Presentations |
|
Expt #4 Notebook |
12/09 |
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:
á 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.
á All
graphs stapled, pasted or taped in the notebook. Graph axes labeled with units.
Formulas, derivations, and discussions necessary to understand the graphs
included.
á 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.
á Units for all numbers with appropriate significant figures.
á Estimates of random and systematic errors and the justification for
the estimates.
á 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.
á Final results with total error (including systematic errors),
comparison of the final results with expected values and a discussion of
discrepancies.
á Answers to all questions in the Laboratory Manual including
discussion questions.
á 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.
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Last Modified August 14, 2015