| Four labs total: Dartboard and Gaussian Statistics Modeling radioactive decay with dice: Poisson statistics -Supplementary text on curve fitting for dice lab: Numerical Recipes in C, William H. Press, 2nd Ed. (1992). Free at: http://www.nrbook.com/a/bookcpdf.php Vibrating Bars and Plates Modeling Rutherford Scattering |
| Your data collection and analysis should be recorded in a
bound lab notebook. I would suggest purchasing the higher quality National
Brand lab notebook at the Runestone Bookstore on campus. Ideally, you will use
this notebook for the entire year through the different terms of advanced lab
to record all of your experiments. In this way the price is really worth it. However,
I leave the choice of notebook up to you.
Proper record keeping will be a portion of your grade for every lab write-up. Use pen. Be sure to date the top of every page on which you write. Sketch experimental setups. Among hand-written data, notes, and calculations, notebooks could include pasted-in print-outs of tables, figures, spread-sheets, or any kind of electronic media that could be useful for the record. Be as neat as you can but not overly-worried about making mistakes. Simply cross them out and move along. Filling out the notebook should be a "real-time" process. Here are some sample pages of one of my recent lab notebooks, LabRecord.pdf |
| Here
is a msword template, WriteupTemplate.doc, to
be used for both the foundation and the formal write-up. For the
write-up foundations you will be responsible for
certain sections of a full write-up. The remaining sections you will
just leave
blank. Note that for your figures, you will need to embed plots
directly into word. Make them look nice but don't waste time. We aim to
be good physicists, not graphic artists. Here are some examples to help you in writing: 1. One of my write-ups for an advanced lab course in undergrad 2. One of my write-ups for an advanced lab course in graduate school 3. Professors Sieglaff’s PH 351 formal write-up example (very nice! A+), SieglaffExample.pdf 4. One of my publications in Optics Letters, OptLettExample.pdf You’ll note that the format of all are extremely similar, if not exact. Though none are perfect, these are good examples and here to provide direction. |
| Here is a grading rubric to help you see what I am after, rubric.pdf Here is a document showing common mistakes to avoid, CommonMistakes.pdf |
| Week | During lab session: | Assignment due at the start of lab session: |
| Week 1 | Lab 1: Data collection and analysis. | |
| Week 2 | Check in with me. Work in groups on finishing analysis. Re-take any data if needed. | Lab 1 notebook record. Web assignment |
| Week 3 | Lab 2: Data collection and analysis. |
|
| Week 4 | Check in with me. Re-take any data if needed. | Lab 2 notebook record. Web assignment |
| Week 5 | Lab 3: Data collection and analysis. |
|
| Week 6 |
At 2:30, mini-lesson on Abstract & Introduction sections. Check in with me individually on Lab 3. |
Lab 3 notebook record. Web assignment |
| Week 7 | Lab 4: Take data. |
|
| Week 8 | Check in with me individually on Lab 4. |
Lab 4 notebook record. |
| Week 9 | No Class |
Lab 4 Write-up Foundation: full set-up, discussion & conclusion Full writeup of revised lab 1 or lab 2. |
| Week 10 | Individual conference with me on revision. | Second Revision; Peer Review |
| Finals | Final draft |