PHYS375 COURSE DESCRIPTION - Spring 2005, Prof. Hill

PHYS375, Spring 2005, Prof Hill
Last update, 02/23/05

OVERVIEW

PHYS375 is a three (3) credit laboratory course that meets four hours a week. Its primary objective consists of learning physics through experimental investigation. The topics of study are related to optics and the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Specifically, you will study the nature of light -- its ray and wave character. This course will help you to develop practical laboratory skills associated with keeping a journal or lab notebook, designing a "good" experiment and handling experimental error or uncertainty that is inherent in all measurement. The format of the course consists of six (6) experiments. You will have two weeks to complete each experiment. You will be required to keep a laboratory notebook and develop lab reports for each lab. You will have the opportunity to present the results from one experiment through an oral presentation and a written paper.

Regular communication is essential in this laboratory. Besides face-to-face discussions during the required attendance on your scheduled lab day, email is the next easiest way to stay in touch. You are expected to check your email and the course WEB page regularly for announcements.

PREREQUISITES

PHYS273 and PHYS276 or the equivalent.

TEXTBOOK

Lab Manual Updates
Equipment Manuals and Special Notes

ADDITIONAL READING

Books

An Introduction to Error Analysis by J. R. Taylor.
Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences (Second Edition) by P. R. Bevington and D. K. Robinson

Web Sites

Table of Neutral Atom Ionization Energies (http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/IonEnergy/ionEnergy.html)
Table of Fundamental Physical Constants (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/)
Chemical Properties (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/)
Error and Uncertainty (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Uncertainty/)
Conversion Factors (http://www.processassociates.com/process/convert/cf_all.htm)

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GRADING

Your grade will depend on the following categories: articulation of the experimental problem, knowledge of instrumentation, experimental approach and technique, results and analysis and presentation. The course will evolve during the semester. At the beginning, we will focus on the learning Mathematic, how to keep a lab notebook and how to perform experiments. In the second half of the lab, we will focus more on discovery through experiments. In general, each lab will be worth 100 pts and will be graded according to the following scheme:


Articulation of the problem or issue to be investigated		5 pts
Description & sketch of instrumentation (what you actually used, not what the handout draws)		10 pts
Outline & discussion of approach (what you actually did, not what the handout says)		10 pts
Raw data (taken directly in you lab notebook when appropriate)		30 pts
Analysis (including results and discussion)		30 pts
Summary (concise table of all results with error & comparison with theory if appropriate)		10 pts
Overall organization & style		5 pts
TOTAL		100 pts

There will be a total of 1000 pts for the course, 600 pts for the labs, 100 pts for the paper and 100 pts for the oral presentations. The last 200 pts will come from an assessment of your overall performance in the course -- your lab technique, attitude and/or growth throughout the semester. More information about the written and oral presentations can be found on the following web pages:

Information about Giving Talks Sample Score Sheet
Information about Writing Papers Example Paper