Lab Syllabus - Physics 22
Introductory Laboratory II
Fall Semester 2007
This laboratory course is designed to accompany either Physics 12 or Physics 42. Students registered in Physics 22 must now be enrolled in or have completed Physics 12 or Physics 42.
Please note - Students who withdraw from Physics 12 or Physics 42 during the semester must also withdraw from Physics 22!
Course Coordinator: Tom Warnock, Room A414
Office Hours: Find your TA’s office hours by clicking on your lab instructors name found on the “Lab Meeting Times” on Physics 22 WebCT “Course info” page or under “Courses -Physics 22” on the UVM Physics Department web pages.
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 using the UVM
Registrar's web page, or through the Registrar's office.
Course Format:
Please note! - Physics 22 uses WebCT. Each week, photos and/or videos of equipment used in the upcoming experiments, plus experiment hints, safety instructions, etc., will be found on the WebCT pages. In addition, you will use WebCT to do the assigned ActivPhysics On-line exercises, take “pre-lab and post-lab quizzes” on-line, discuss questions you might have with other students or your instructor, and to check your Physics 22 lab grades.
You can access
WebCT by clicking on “UVM a-z” in the upper menu bar of the UVM homepage (www.uvm.edu), selecting links beginning with“W”, then choosing “WebCT”. Log-in
into WebCT using your UVM “netid” as your WebCT username (“netid’s” can be found by searching
the UVM “Directory” on the UVM homepage, and is usually the same
as a person’s “zoo” account username). You must use the same password to log-in to
WebCT as you do to log into your UVM email, or “zoo” account.
One two-hour laboratory per week, held in Room A410 Cook Building. You must attend each weekly laboratory session, completing all data taking and analysis during your lab period. Your lab report, including data, graphs, completed analysis and the answers to any questions posed in the lab, must be handed in at the conclusion of the lab period. Lab reports will be graded on a scale of ten possible points, and the average of all your lab reports will constitute 60% of your final lab grade.
Prior to each lab, you should carefully read each upcoming experiment in the lab manual, review information about the experiment posted on the WebCT Physics 22 site, and do the assigned ActivPhysics On-line exercises. This preparatory work should provide you with sufficient background to do well on the pre-lab quizzes. Each week’s pre-lab quiz will be available beginning Thursday at 5:00 p.m.until the following Monday (midnight), just prior to the start of the lab cycle, and may be taken on-line anytime during this time. These weekly pre-lab quizzes can be accessed by from the left-hand “Course menu” bar of any Physics 22 WebCT page. You will have three attempts at each pre-lab quiz, but only your latest attempt on each quiz will count. The average of all pre-lab quizzes will constitute 15% of your final lab grade.
After completing each experiment, you are required to take an on-line
post-lab quiz designed to test how well you understood the
experiment. The post-lab quiz should be
taken after you have completed that week’s lab, and must be taken prior to the
following Monday’s (
All quizzes are “open-book”, but must be completed without help from any other person. To be graded - each quiz attempt must be submitted within the allotted time-limit. Each quiz attempt will be graded on a 0-5 points scale. You should plan to take each quiz sufficiently far in advance of the quiz deadline to allow for communication with your lab instructor should any technical difficulties prevent you from taking or successfully submitting your quiz.
Quizzes can be accessed by clicking on “Pre-lab, or Post-lab quizzes” in the left-hand “Course Menu” bar of any Physics 22 WebCT page. All quizzes are “open-book”, and you are encouraged to discuss the quiz questions with other students using the WebCT discussion forum, but each quiz taken must represent your individual effort only, and must be completed within the specified time limit.
A lab practicum, given during your regular lab meeting time (see Schedule), will count as 10% of your final lab grade. There is no final exam in Physics 22.
Required Course Materials:
Physics 22: Introductory Laboratory II Manual must be purchased from
the UVM Bookstore (in the downstairs
Textbooks section of the new
Laboratory Notebook (5 x 5 quadrille ruled) duplicate pages with carbon, (available in the upstairs “notebooks” section of the UVM bookstore – look for the “Physics 22 tag” on shelf); a transparent metric ruler (30 cm length suggested); pencil with eraser; and an 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 WebCT 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 may be submitted electronically via WebCT, or a paper-copy may be placed in the slot of your lab TA's locked cabinet (South end of the Cook 4th floor hallway). 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 WebCT. If you wish to discuss your lab report, please see your lab instructor.
Attendance : Attendance at all laboratory sessions and the lab practicum 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 different 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. If space is available, you may be given permission to attend another laboratory session in the same week. 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 attend another session the same week, 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 to their Deans for an “incomplete”, to avoid a failing grade. If you have been given permission by Mr. Warnock to attend a different session for one week because of a particular scheduling problem or illness, you should hand in your report to the instructor of the section you attend. Your report will be graded by that instructor and posted on WebCT.
Evaluation: Your final grade for Physics 22 will be determined approximately as follows:
Laboratory reports 60%
Pre-Lab quizzes 15%
Post-Lab quizzes 15%
Lab practicum 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, or when necessary to compensate for
significant differences in grading between different lab sections - final
course grades for students in a particular section 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 Friday, October 26, is
the last day to withdraw from courses. Students who withdraw from Physics
12 or Physics 42 must also withdraw from Physics 22.
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 WebCT discussion forum (found under “Help” in the left-hand Course Menu bar of WebCT) 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 any 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.