Spring 2014
Physics 196L Course Syllabus
Instructor: Omair Zubairi
Office: P-343A
Office Hrs: Wed. 1:00-2:00 pm
Section #: 01
Schedule #: 22431
Day/Time: Mon/1400-1640
Email: zubairi@rohan.sdsu.edu
Class Webpage: www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~zubairi
Requried Text: PHYSICS 182B/196L: PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS LABORATORY
MANUAL /AUTHOR: MURRAY FINEGOLD; VERSION 10.2-2012
Prerequisites: Credit or concurrent registration in Physics 196.
Prerequisites (for PHYS 196): Physics 195 and Mathematics 151
Lab Fees: This lab requires a fee (to be paid at the cashier's office). Failure to pay this
fee will result in your being dropped from this class.
Introduction: Physics 196L is a one unit laboratory course designed to be taken
concurrently with a Physics 196 lecture course. In this course, you will use the provided
equipment to perform experiments in circuits and electromagnetism. These experiments
are designed to reinforce the theoretical concepts presented in the lecture course.
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Lab reports WILL NOT be accepted for
experiments that you do not personally perform. This means that I will not accept reports
based on your partner's data if you are not actually there.
Grades: You will conduct 12 experiments during the semester. A lab report is required
for all experiments. There will be no make up labs! The lab reports will be worth 75 %
of your grade. We will also have 3 quizzes. I will let you know when the quizzes will be.
The quizzes will be based on the previous few labs you have done. The quizzes will be
worth 25 % of your grade. NOTE: I DO NOT GRADE BASED ON A CURVE IN THIS
COURSE!! There is no final exam in this course.
Grading Scale:
A > 90; A- > 87; B+ > 83; B > 78; B- > 75; C+ > 70; C > 60; D > 50; F < 50
Lab Reports: Each report must have your name and your partner’s name. You will turn
in the reports that are at the end of the lab manual. All of your calculations will be on a
separate sheet(s) of paper. You will attach these extra sheets of paper with your report.
All graphs will be done in excel or some other computer program(s) and will also be
attached at the very end of your report. You will also be graded on your graphs. All
questions I assign must be answered in complete sentences. You may answer the
questions in the section of your reports listed “questions.” Lab reports will be due the
following week. Late lab reports are NOT accepted.
Cheating: Cheating will not be tolerated. The minimum penalty is an automatic FAIL in
this class and you will be reported to the university administration. This means that you
may not turn in a lab report for an experiment that you did not actually perform.
Lab Schedule: The lab schedule is given here and is also provided in the 196L lab
manual.
Spring 2013: 196L Lab Schedule
(CONTENT ARE TENTATIVE)
Date:
27-Jan
Exp. #
Experiment
No Experiment – Lab Orientation
3-Feb
1
Electric Field in a Capacitor
10-Feb
2
Parallel Plate Capacitors
17-Feb
3
Series & Parallel Capacitors
24-Feb
4
Electric Circuits
3-Mar
5
Current & Voltage
10-Mar
6
Series & Parallel Circuits
17-Mar
7
Intro. to Oscilloscope
24-Mar
8
Magnetic Fields of Coil Configurations
31-Mar
---------
SPRING BREAK –NO LAB
7-Apr
9
Inductance & Faraday’s Law
14-Apr
10
RC Time Constants
21-Apr
11
LR Circuits
28-Apr
12
Resonance in LRC Circuits
Things you need to keep in mind:
•
We frequently need to calculate percent error and percent difference.
o Percent Error – Used to calculate the relative error between an
experimental value and a theoretical value:
measured − theoretical
! %error =
×100% It’s ok to get a
theoretical
NEGATIVE % error.
!
€
+/- % tells you whether your experimental values are high or low,
relative to the theoretical value.
o Percent Difference/Unbiased % Error – To be used when you only have
measured or experimental values (i.e. there are no theoretical values to
compare your data to).
⎛
⎞
⎜ value1 − value2 ⎟
⎟ × 100% ALWAYS POSITIVE!
! % Difference = ⎜
⎜ value1 + value2 ⎟
⎜
⎟
2
⎝
⎠
!
Equivalently, if I use the rules for dividing fractions,
⎛ value1 − value2 ⎞
⎟ × 200%
%Difference = ⎜⎜
⎟
value
1
+
value
2
⎝
⎠
Notice that we are taking the absolute value. Therefore, it is NOT
possible to get a negative percent difference.
•
•
We will be working in SI units. You will always need to work in terms of kg, m,
Newtons (N), etc.
Below are a few of the common units and constants you will be using in this lab.
Not all are listed here.
Electron Mass: 9.11x10-31 kg
Electric Charge: 1.602x10-19 C
Coulomb Constant: k=8.99x109 N m2/C2
Force: 1N=kg m/s2
Energy: 1J=Nm
Potential: 1V =J/C=Nm/C
NOTE: I reserve the right to make any changes necessary to this syllabus.