CONTENTS Description/Text Book Instructor Goals Topic Prerequisites Outline Grading Papers

Instructor: Dr. John Varriano
Office:CW 116
Phone: 3439 (office)     685-9551 (home)

Office Hours:
Check my posted schedule for official office hours. Feel free to come by at other times to see if I am in.

Goals:
This laboratory course supplements the introductory and advanced courses that you have taken, so it is designed to assist you in reaching and reinforcing the goals of those courses. The additional goals of this course are:
1. To investigate in more detail topics discussed in previous physics courses by direct, hands-on observation.
2. To test the models developed to describe different physical phenomena in the real-world environment of the laboratory. To see how well the models work and to find their limitations.
3. To increase the qualitative understanding of physical phenomena by directly seeing how physical quantities affect each other.
4. To see how the process of measurement affects experimental results through measurement uncertainty.
5. To gain independence in setting up and performing advanced experiments. To gain familiarity with experimental equipment.
6. To deepen your appreciation of Nature.

Topic Prerequisites:
- vector algebra, differential equations, calculus (including vector calculus)
- classical mechanics, relativistic mechanics, waves, electromagnetism, quantum physics

Outline:
You will work in one research group. The group will submit one paper for each of the first three experiments listed below. Each member of the group must take a turn being the lead author. Each member of the group will receive the same grade for a particular paper. In addition, there is a fourth experiment that requires a report from each student. Each student will receive a separate grade for this report.

The list of possible experiments follows:

Grading:
You final grade is determined by averaging the three paper grades and the report grade, and then by using the following scale.

Papers and Report:
The papers should be turned in within approximately two weeks after performing the experiment to ensure timely progress in the course. However, I will accept any paper up until the last day of classes.

The format of a paper should follow the example paper from the American Journal of Physics handed out in class. Include the same sections and use the same headings as the example paper. The papers must be done using a word processor and plotting software. There must be quantitative error analysis performed on the results and reported in the "Analysis and Discussion" section. (Refer to the "Uncertainty Analysis" document available on the course page.) In addition, the calculations that were done to find the final uncertainties must be attached to the paper. These calculations can be done by hand with pen or pencil. You will be penalized for incorrect spelling and grammar. The group can turn in a rough draft of a paper that we can discuss. This will not adversely affect your grade. In fact, it can only help your grade and is strongly encouraged.

The report for the last experiment does not have to follow the paper format and does not have to be typed. The final results for each collision must have calculated uncertainties and the uncertainty analysis must be shown. As with the papers, I will accept the report up until the last day of classes.