Instructor: Ian Burley
Office: 2C29
Office Phone: 204-786-9755
E-Mail: i.burley@uwinnipeg.ca
Note: Please use your @webmail.uwinnipeg.ca email address.
Web Site: http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/˜iburley/physics-lab-web/
Office Hours: Tuesdays: 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM and Thursdays: 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Lab Manual: A Laboratory Manual For: Foundations of Physics I
(required for each lab class)
Lab Report Due Date:
All reports are to be handed in to the wooden box located at the back, inside of the laboratory room.
This is the only place that you should hand in your reports. Lab reports are due one week after the experiment was performed (unless you are instructed otherwise) and must be handed in before the start of the lab class (i.e. as you are coming into the lab room).
Reports handed in late will have marks deducted. Any report more than two weeks late will receive a mark of zero unless you see your instructor with a valid reason. Please staple your lab reports together when handing them in.
The Lab Program:
It is the responsibility of each student to consult the laboratory program, posted at the back of the lab room, and to take note of dates for laboratory experiments and tests.
Important Reminder:
The laboratory part of the course counts as 15 % of your final total mark. This
15 % will be made up of 50 % for the reports you hand in and 50 % lab tests.
A student must participate in, complete, hand in a report, and receive a mark for all experiments assigned in order to receive a passing grade in the course.
A failing grade (“F”) may be assigned if lab work is incomplete.

The following is an outline of the section headings that should appear in your lab reports.
Dividing your reports into these parts will help you to organize your work and make it easier to follow.
Discussion
Title Page
Use the coloured title pages provided in the lab manual.
Answer the questions that are asked in the lab manual.
Number your answers to correspond to the question
Please ensure that you: numbers and use complete sentences when giving your responses.
1. have the correct title page for the lab you are handing in and attach it to the front or your report;
Graphs
All graphs should be neatly plotted on the graph paper supplied in the lab manual. Graphs must include:
2. fill in the names and group #’s of everyone involved in performing the lab and indicate those people who are to get marks for the report.
1. a suitable title at top of the graph page;
2. properly labeled axes with correct units;
Object
Each report should begin with an object describing why the lab is being performed. The object can be copied from the lab manual.
3. data points plotted with small circles around them or, when possible, with error bars ;
4. a smooth curve or straight line through the data points (as appropriate to the data).
Data
Recopy your original stamped data sheets if they were at all messy.
Sample Calculations
For each equation necessary to complete your lab report, you must show one sample calculation. A sample calculation involves:
1. writing out the formula in variable form;
2. writing out the formula again, substituting numbers for the variables;
3. indicating the final numerical answer to the calculation with the correct units.
Sample Error Calculations
For each equation used in doing a calculation, you must do a sample error calculation. This involves:
Drawing the graph in pencil will allow you to neatly correct errors you might make. Make your graph as large as possible on your graph paper. Calculations of the slope and error in the slope may appear on your graph so long as they are neat and do not overcrowd the graph page.
Conclusion
The conclusion goes at the end of your lab report. In the conclusion, state the quantitative results of the experiment and use these results to show how the object of the experiment was satisfied.
Stamped and Initialed Data Sheet
Every person must have their stamped and initialed data sheet included at the end of the lab report, just before the marking sheet. You may use this stamped sheet as your data page, but only if it has been neatly completed.
No stamped and initialed data sheet means no mark for your lab.
1. deriving the error formula for the particular equation
( you must do this based on the knowledge you have about propagation of error);
Marking Sheet/Rubric
Please staple the coloured Marking Sheet/Rubric to the very back of your report.
2. writing out the error formula in variable form; Notes
3. writing out the error formula again, substituting numbers for the variables;
4. indicating the final numerical answer for the
Absolute Error to 1 significant figure and with the proper units.
1. All reports are to be handed in to the wooden box located at the back of the laboratory room.
Do not slide your report under an office door or give it to the secretary.
2.
Staple your reports together when you hand them in. Labs which are held together with paper clips tend to fall apart.
Since you now have the numerical answers for your calculation and for your absolute error, you can write down your complete answers for each equation.
3. Refer to the lab manual for more detailed instructions on completing your lab reports.
4.
Remember, ALL labs must be completed in order to receive a grade in the course.