Lab Syllabus - Physics 130 Introductory
Laboratory III
Spring Semester 2009
This laboratory course is designed to accompany Physics 128. Students registered in Physics 130 should be enrolled in or have completed Physics 128, or an equivalent course. Students who withdraw from Physics 128 during the semester may also be required to withdraw from Physics 130.
Course Coordinator: Tom Warnock, Room A414
Office Hours: (Look up “Tom Warnock” on UVM directory): or by appointment. You may contact Mr. Warnock by e-mail: James.Warnock@uvm.edu or by phone: 656-0052.
See Mr. Warnock if you have any specific questions about the
laboratory course, or special problems regarding
attendance or grades.
Reminder: Add, Drop or Section Changes must be done via the UVM
Registrar's web page, or through the registrar's office.
Course Format:
Please note! - Physics 130 uses Blackboard. Each week, photos and/or videos of equipment used in the upcoming experiments, plus experiment hints, safety instructions, etc., will be found on the experiment pages of Physics 130 Blackboard. In addition, you will use Blackboard to take “pre-lab quizzes” on-line, discuss questions you might have about an experiment, and to check your Physics 130 lab grades.
You can access Blackboard by clicking on “UVM a-z” in the upper menu bar of the UVM homepage (www.uvm.edu), selecting links beginning with“B”, then choosing “Blackboard”. Log-in into Blackboard using your UVM “netid” as your username (“netid’s” can be found by searching the UVM “Directory” on the UVM homepage). You must use the same password to log-in to Blackboard as you do to log into your UVM email account.
One 3-hour laboratory per week, held Tuesdays (1:00-3:45 p.m.) in Room A418 Cook Building. You must attend all scheduled laboratory sessions, completing all data taking and analysis during your lab period. Your data, graphs, and completed analysis will usually be handed in at the conclusion of the lab period. Prior to each lab, you should carefully read each upcoming experiment in the lab manual and review information about the experiment posted on the Blackboard Physics 130 pages.
This preparatory work for lab will not be collected, but its completion will provide you with the necessary background for the Pre-lab quizzes which you should take on Blackboard before the Monday midnight deadline prior to that week’s experiment. You will have three attempts at each Pre-lab quiz, but only the latest attempt will count. The average of all your pre-lab quiz grades will count as 20% of your final lab grade. Quizzes can be accessed by clicking on “Pre-lab quizzes” in the left-hand “Course Menu” bar of any Physics 130 Blackboard page. All quizzes are “open-book”, and you are encouraged to discuss the quiz questions with other students using the Blackboard discussion forum (Click on “Help” to see the discussion forum), but each quiz taken must represent your individual effort only, and must be completed within the specified time limit.
There is no final exam in Physics 130.
Required Course Materials:
Physics 130: Introductory Laboratory Manual (one copy) will be provided by your instructor at the first lab meeting. Laboratory Notebook (quadrille ruled) duplicate pages with carbon, (available in the office supplies section of the UVM bookstore); A see-through metric rule, (30-cm length suggested); pencil with eraser; electronic calculator with trigonometric and exponential functions, and scientific notation.
Your Laboratory Notebook: All data must be recorded, as it is being taken, directly in your laboratory notebook. Make sure that you use a carbon under each “tear-out” page so that you have a record of your data and analysis. All entries should be clear and complete concerning what is being recorded and the details and conditions of the experimental setup. If you must redo a measurement, explain the reason in your notebook and cross out the old data in such a way that it can still be read. Never erase! General guidelines for preparing acceptable lab reports are given in the Introduction of the Physics 21 Introductory Lab manual, excerpts from which are posted on Blackboard and in the lab. At the end of each lab period you are expected to hand in, to be graded, the “tear-out” original (not carbon copy) of all pages containing data and the analysis of the data, including graphs. Also include any changes or additions to the published experimental procedure. If an abstract is required, it should be submitted electronically via Blackboard). An Abstract should contain concise statements describing the objective(s) of the experiment, any physics background information that is especially relevant to the experiment, the basic experimental procedure(s) used, and important results that are clearly supported by your observations and analysis. (Abstracts are strictly limited to a length of 150 words!) Your laboratory report will be graded within 3 school days after it has been submitted and available for you to pick up either from the blue-hallway return boxes, or directly from your lab TA. All of your grades will be posted directly on Blackboard. If you wish to discuss your lab report, please see your lab instructor.
Attendance : Attendance at all laboratory sessions is mandatory. Failure to attend at the regularly scheduled time will result in a grade of “zero” for that activity unless you have received permission from Mr. Warnock to attend a make-up session. If you anticipate that you will be unable to attend your regularly scheduled lab, you must reschedule it with Mr. Warnock at least one week prior to the lab that you will miss. If you miss a lab due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond your control (such as serious personal illness or a death in the family), contact Mr. Warnock as soon as possible. Be prepared to provide documentation of the reason why you were unable to attend at the regular time. If you miss a laboratory due to legitimate circumstances beyond your control and are unable to arrange to make up the lab, apply to Mr. Warnock for an excused absence. There is a limit, however. A student missing three laboratories, for any reason, must “withdraw” or make a formal request for an “incomplete”, to avoid a failing grade.
Evaluation: Your final grade for Physics 130 will be determined approximately as follows:
Laboratory reports 70%
Pre-Lab quizzes 20%
Abstracts 10%
Letter grades will be assigned to final course averages as follows:
A's 90-100% ; B's 80-89% ; C's 70-79% ; D's 60-69% ; Failures - below 60%.
(In unusual circumstances, final course grades for students may be adjusted.) Students who are concerned about their performance in the course are encouraged to discuss the matter with Mr. Warnock. Please note that Monday, March 30, is the last day to withdraw from courses. Students who withdraw from Physics 128 may also be required to withdraw from Physics 130.
Students are expected to comply with the University's Code of Academic Integrity. Please consult the website of the “Center for Student Ethics & Standards” for details. In addition to the matters described there, please note that it is a serious offense to submit a report, or use data, from an experiment in which you did not participate. Cooperation with laboratory partners is encouraged during the setting up and data gathering parts of each experiment, but your analysis, conclusions, and write-up must be your own individual work. You are encouraged to use the relevant Blackboard discussion forum (found under “Help” in the left-hand Course Menu bar of Blackboard) to discuss in advance the material being covered by a particular quiz with other students in the course. However - quizzes must be taken individually, and your answers must represent your own understanding and effort. You may use your text, lab manual and notebook, a calculator, and notes you have individually taken.
If you require special testing accommodations, you must contact Mr. Warnock
as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be made.