physlabs: General Info|Manuals|FAQ

Summer 2024

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Here you will find information for the undergraduate physics laboratories taught at the University of Rochester Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Summer Session I: May 20th to June 28th - PHY 113 and PHY 121 labs -P081 (B&L 267)
Summer Session II: July 1st to August 9th - PHY 114 and PHY 122 labs - P082 (B&L 268)

There are NO labs during the shaded periods (Memorial day and Independence day), makeup labs will be scheduled.

Who to Contact

For Summer 2024, please contact your TA, Ammar Ellaboudy, at aellabou@ur.rochester.edu.
If you have any questions about lab policies, grading, the experiments, or anything of that nature, you should read through the website then email the Lab TA. If you know you will miss a lab (illness, personal emergencies, etc.), please contact Ammar ASAP.

Contents

General Info: general remarks about the labs and grading

Lab Manuals: lab manuals for all sections

FAQ: answers to frequently asked questions (read this before you email physlabs!)

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Home | General Info | Lab Manuals | FAQ

General Remarks

In order to complete any of the Introductory Physics courses (PHY 113, 114, 121-123, 142, 181-184), you must complete (and pass) all five of the associated laboratory exercises. These labs provide a hands-on realization of a sample of the topics that are covered in the parent course.

Before you attend lab, you must download and print the lab manual, and complete the "prelab" section of the exercise. The prelab section will be collected at the beginning of the lab session. The worksheets in the lab manual (which you will fill out as you complete the lab) will be collected at the end of the lab session. Lab manuals may be downloaded from this website by visiting the lab manuals page.

You will need your completed prelab, a copy of the lab manual, a calculator, and a pen or pencil for each lab. You are also allowed to have your course textbook at your lab bench if you need it, but anything else (backpacks, etc.) must be put along the sides of the room or the back wall.

These laboratories can be interesting and educational if you arrive well prepared. Because your completed lab write-up is due at the end of the laboratory session, it is vital that you have read over the manual before coming to lab. If you haven't read the manual beforehand, you will lose time during the lab period that should be used for the lab itself, and may find yourself pressed for time at the end of the period.

In general, students work in small teams (two or three students) however each student must prepare their own report. It is recognized that students in a team will collectively discuss the experiment and the interpretation of the data, however students are not permitted to copy each other's write-ups.

Grading

All pre-labs and post-labs are graded by TA's according to same set of rubrics. The prelabs carry 2 points while the postlabs will be graded out of 20. Missing the lab will count towards an incomplete grade('I')in the course. The grade for the course will be awarded on completion of all the labs. At the end of the semester, the course instructor is provided with all student grades including full grade distributions so that accurate curving will be possible. It is up to the instructors to decide how the laboratory grade will be counted toward the final course grade.

Grading Questions

Your grades will be displayed on blackboard after each lab is graded with all your lab grades to date. Please check to make sure that this is consisitent with the grade on your lab report. If you are missing a grade for a lab you completed or have a question about a grade, please email your lab section TA's. A PDF file with the names of the TAs for the various sections can be found in the following link: PDF









Home | General Info | Lab Manuals | FAQ

Lab Manuals

Here you may download the lab manuals for your physics course. Please bring a printed copy with you to your lab session; the TA will not have extra copies. The prelab, the first page of the lab, will be collected at the start of the lab session. TA's will also make sure that the postlabs are blank before the experiment.

Phys 113, 121, 181: Mechanics & General Physics I

Experiment 01: Statistics Experiment 01.pdf
Experiment 02: Acceleration of Gravity Experiment 02.pdf
Experiment 03: Conservation of Momentum and Energy Experiment 03.pdf
Experiment 04: Moment of Inertia and Oscillations Experiment 04.pdf
Experiment 05: The Mechanical Equivalent of Heat Experiment 05.pdf
Instruction Video for Multi-meter (Exp #5)
IntroToMulti.mp4

Phys 114, 184: General Physics II

Experiment 06: Coulomb's Law Experiment 06.pdf
Experiment 08: Electron Beams Experiment 08.pdf
Experiment 09: Superconductivity and Ohm's Law Experiment 09.pdf
Instruction Video for Multi-meter (Exp #9)
IntroToMulti.mp4
Lab9.mp4
Experiment 12: Geometrical Optics Experiment 12.pdf
Experiment 13: The Wave Nature of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Experiment 13.pdf

Phys 122, 142, 182: Electricity and Magnetism

Experiment 06: Coulomb's Law Experiment 06.pdf
Experiment 07: Absolute Volt & Electrostatic Potential Experiment 07.pdf
Experiment 08: Electron Beams Experiment 08.pdf
Experiment 09: Superconductivity and Ohm's Law Experiment 09.pdf
Instruction Video for Multi-meter (Exp #9) IntroToMulti.mp4
Lab9.mp4
Experiment 10: Electronic Circuits Experiment 10.pdf
A Short instruction video for the oscilloscope (for Experiment 10) Scope Primer

Phys 123, 183: Modern Physics

Experiment 11: Velocity of Waves Experiment 11.pdf
A Short instruction video for the oscilloscope (for Experiment 11) Scope Primer
Experiment 12: Geometrical Optics Experiment 12.pdf
Experiment 13: The Wave Nature of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Experiment 13.pdf
Experiment 14: The Atomic Spectrum of Hydrogen Experiment 14.pdf
Experiment 15: The Millikan Oil Drop Experiment Experiment 15.pdf

Appendices

Appendix B: Error Analysis Appendix B








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Last updated: May 11, 2023