Northeastern University
Introductory Physics Laboratory (IPL), 323 Churchill Hall 617-373-2965
| Tom Hamrick | Office: 323 CH |
| Lab Supervisor | Office Phone: 617-373-2965 |
Information Concerning the IPL
Welcome to the IPL. We trust that you will find this course a worthwhile and educational experience. As a laboratory course, it is quite different from the usual lecture courses. The experiments you will perform here should give you hands-on experience with the physical laws and phenomena that you study in the physics lecture courses. You will work together with a partner, who should rotate each week. You will be in a group no larger than ten students, instructed by a Teaching Assistant (TA), who is also a graduate student in our physics department. "Doing a lab" means that -- with your partner -- you will take data (make measurements) on some piece of apparatus, record these data in a note book, analyze them, and draw conclusions. This will lead you to a deeper understanding of the underlying physical principles. Aside from helping you comprehend the material in the physics lectures, it introduces you to the experimental method in science and affords you some experience with scientific apparatus.
The IPL office is in room 323CH (Churchill). The laboratories are on the third floor of Churchill. The phone number is 617-373-2965. Feel free to contact one of the laboratory directors if your TA cannot help you with a problem. If you call, and there is no answer, wait for the answering machine to turn on, and leave a message on how to reach you, or just come by the directors' office. The laboratory has an informal atmosphere and you should try to enjoy the things we ask you to do. Please adhere to the following rules:
The lab is scheduled for 170 minutes. Plan to spend the whole 170 minutes in the lab. We expect you to be on time. You have one week to complete your lab report and submit it via the "Turnitin" process on Blackboard.
Do not eat drink or smoke in the labs.
You should bring a sharp pencil, calculator, lab manual, and a composition book (notebook which contains graph paper as its pages) to each lab. All these items are available in the NU Bookstore. Your TA will tell you which lab manual to use.
Do not move equipment from table to table or from room to room unless authorized by your TA.
Do not turn on equipment unless authorized by your TA. Note that some equipment could be hazardous unless used properly. Take proper precautions. If in doubt, ask your TA.
Come to the lab prepared. This means you should read the manual, compose the Introduction for the experiment of the day, and review the relevant physics topic in your physics lecture text. Aside from this, all work: recording data, analyzing them, making graphs, calculations, drawing conclusions, answering questions, etc. has to be done by you in its entirety during the lab period.
At the beginning of the lab, your TA will return your composition book with the previous week's report graded, make some comments on last week's reports, and give a brief introduction to the day's lab.
Next, you should enter in your notebook the day's date, your partner's name, and your initial impression of the purpose of the experiment and the method to accomplish this purpose.
Then you begin to make measurements, take data, etc. according to the experiment outline. Record all data and analysis work directly in your computation book, not on loose paper, even at first! If you make a mistake, cross it out (everybody makes mistakes!). Your computation book should be a complete record of your work, errors and all. It should be well organized, data put into clearly arranged and labeled tables and with comments and explanations throughout, so that the flow of your work becomes apparent Always record data as indicated by the apparatus and not as you thought it ought to be, if different.
Plot (plots should always use a full page!) and analyze data as soon as you obtain them, for each intermediate stage, and state clearly what you find. Discuss possible errors in your measurements.
After you have followed all steps in the experiment outline, complete the day's work by another brief statement of the purpose of the experiment (often this will be different from your initial statement) and the conclusions you draw from your data and analyses. Sometimes you will find a discrepancy between your results and theoretical values. That's OK, but say so. Discuss possible errors, and try to explain the reasons for any discrepancy.
When you are through, and have answered all questions, turn off your equipment and leave your table neat for the next person to use.
WRITE UP YOUR OWN LAB REPORT INDEPENDENTLY. DO NOT SUBMIT A COPY OF YOUR PARTNER'S OR ANYONE ELSE'S REPORT. IF YOU SUBMIT A REPORT WITH DUPLICATE CONTENT (including the lab manual), YOUR GRADE WILL BE SUBJECT TO SERIOUS SANCTIONS (YOUR REPORT WILL PROBABLY RECEIVE A ZERO).
Your TA is your most important resource. Don't hesitate to ask him/her questions. He/she is there to help you, to explain things to you, to show you the proper use of the equipment, etc.
You will receive a schedule of the experiments you will perform during the quarter. It is your obligation to read the write-up for each experiment prior to coming to the lab, and to be able to answer simple questions concerning the Physics of the experiment. Don't be surprised if there is a short quiz at the beginning of a lab session to test your preparation.
Every experiment consists of three phases, as already discussed. To summarize once again these phases are:
- (a) Preparing to do the experiment Students are expected to read the manual and review the topic of the experiment in their physics lecture text in advance. Prepare for the quiz at the beginning of the lab. Students are also expected to bring the proper supplies (Sharp pencil, calculator, lab manual, ruler, computation book) to the lab.
- (b) Doing the experiment. The entire experiment has to be done during the lab period. This includes becoming familiar with the apparatus, taking data and logging them properly in the computation books, and checking that everything is done right, is reproducible and makes sense. It may involve making tables, drawing graphs, finding slopes of curves, etc. Analysis of the data should be done as they are being taken.
- (c) A complete final analysis of the data, the proper drawing of conclusions, and answering of questions. This part too, has to be finished during the lab session.
A lab session lasts 170 minutes. Once again, you have one week to complete your lab report and submit it using the "Turnitin" feature of Blackboard. The graded lab should appear within one week on the "Turnitin" Blackboard site.
Six experiments have to be done and all six will be used in computing the final course grade. The student will receive a numerical grade (0 - 100) for each lab. The grade is based on preparation and Introduction (10%), experimental work, data tables, calculations, graphs, analysis, (70%), conclusions and answers to questions (20%). See the syllabus for more detailed breakdown of grading. At the end of the quarter, the average of the numerical grades is sent to your lecture professor. A 1-credit lab grade will be given independently and this grade will also be counted as 15% of your overall course grade. If a student passes the lab component and fails the lecture component, they only need to repeat the lecture component. In that case, the previous lab grade will not be factored into the repeated lecture component. Students are required to take the two components concurrently as co-requisites, unless they are repeating a component.
The University definitions are:
A = outstanding; B = good; C = satisfactory; D = poor; F = fail. Missed labs will receive a zero, which can easily reduce your grade by a full letter grade. Two or more missed labs will likely result in course failure.
Make ups are difficult or impossible to schedule. The TA will not authorize a makeup unless it is fully justified in advance. In rare situations, a makeup will be arranged by your TA and the IPL Supervisor. Because of the heavy lab schedule of the IPL, as well as the fact that your TA has his/her own schedule of classes to attend, a makeup may have to take place at a time inconvenient for the student. In no case are you allowed more than one makeup. Neither the technicians nor the IPL directors will arrange a makeup. If you have special problems that your TA may not be able to handle, contact one of the IPL directors.
MAKEUP POLICY SUMMARY:
Students cannot make up labs the following week if they miss their scheduled lab
Missed labs get a zero
Students can make-up only one lab during make-up period and only if they had a valid excuse for missing that lab.
All make-ups must be approved by the IPL Directors or the IPL supervisor in consultation with the TA.
There is ONE make-up period at the end ot the term. The date is listed on the current syllabus.
All make-up lab reports are due as specified in the syllabus. NO EXCEPTIONS. No make-up lab reports will be accepted after the specified time.
You must e-mail Tom Hamrick: t.hamrick@neu.edu to arrange a make-up lab during the make-up period. Any consecutive two hour and fifty minute time during the make-up period is acceptable. Please include the experiment, day, and time in your e-mail.
The Workshop is a free tutorial service that is conducted by physics graduate students Mondays through Fridays, according to a posted schedule. Its purpose is to help you with any physics problems you may have, for instance your homework, the lectures, a lab you are preparing for, etc. The workshop will be located on the third floor of Churchill in one of the designated lab rooms.