CSUSB                             PHYSICS 430                       Winter 2017
Professor: Timothy D. Usher, Ph.D.

Office: PS-113
Telephone: 537-5410
Physics Office: PS-119, Telephone: 537-5397
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 4 – 5:30 (after lab)
Required Book: Experimentation by D.C. Baird (3rd edition). The CSUSB bookstore was unable to locate any of these books, so you may need to get them online.
Recommended Books: Modern Physics by Serway, Moses and Moyer; American Institute of Physics (AIP) style manual, available in physics office and on the web. http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/AIP_Style_4thed.pdf  I also have a variety of advanced laboratory books you are welcome to use.
Prerequisites: Physics 313, Recommended: Physics 322. It is also recommended that you complete as many physics courses as possible before taking this course so you can get the most out of it.
Corequisite: none
This is a small class therefore allowing for certain flexibility. If you have a suggestion as to how this course can be more beneficial to you please let me know. This upper-division lab differs significantly from lower-division labs you may have had. Emphasis is given to developing good scientific procedures in planning, conducting, recording and reporting the results of experiments.

SAFETY FIRST !! Always be very careful. If you are unsure ASK! If you are taking any medications or your motor skills are impaired for any other reason, do not perform the experiment and consult with me.

Attendance at each lab is essential! Three or more missing lab reports will result in an automatic F. You must do the lab in order to obtain credit. The laboratory directions in your lab manual are minimal. You should read them before coming to lab. It is expected that you do your own background research for each lab. Be sure to reference your sources. It is also important to be on time. Important instructions are given at the beginning of each lab.

You must maintain a laboratory notebook. Nobel prizes and millions of dollars worth of patents have depended on laboratory notebooks, but more importantly your grade will depend, in part, on your lab notebook. The notebooks must be bound notebooks, no loose leaf notebooks. The lab notebooks will be collected and graded at the end of the quarter. The following question should serve as a good guideline for developing a good laboratory notebook. If I pick up this notebook in a year or two, is there enough information in it for me to reproduce the experiment? The following points are recommended.

1) Record the date, title, partner, and page number.
2) Write down the general purpose of the experiment, description of procedures, and descriptions of data, record any observations even if you do not plan to use them.
3) You may wish to make a rough sketch of the apparatus. Do not spend a lot of time on this and do it only when it would be of help. We all know what a hammer looks like, but we may not know exactly how you hooked up a complex detection circuit.
4) Record all data in your lab notebook not on scrap pieces of paper! Do not erase data. You may indicate suspect data and your reasons, but do not erase it! You should indicate what is being measured and include units and uncertainty.
5) Perform calculations, as you go along. It is much easier to repeat experiments on the spot than to try and come back and do it later. You should compare with accepted values as early as possible by calculating a percent error or percent difference.
6) If you reach a conclusion you should record it and substantiate it. If more analysis is needed, it would be easier to do it on the spot. The lab notebook will not be graded on neatness.

You will submit a professional report based on each laboratory. Chapter 7 of Experimentation by D.C. Baird describes how a report should be written. Also, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Style Manual is a good source.

The lab reports are due the first lab day after the experiment is completed (see schedule below). A lab report which is late will receive a progressively lower grade for each week it is late. IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE THAT THIS IS THE GREATEST PITFALL FOR STUDENTS IN THIS COURSE. I HAVE FOUND THAT STUDENTS WHO DO NOT KEEP UP GET TOO FAR BEHIND AND HAVE TO DROP THE COURSE OR FAIL IT. TURN YOUR LAB REPORTS IN ON TIME!!!!

COURSE OUTLINE

One objective of this course is to move you from the type of “caned” experiments you did in introductory physics, towards more original experiments, akin to what is done by research scientists. The first experiment (Current Balance) will be done simultaneously by all groups. It similar to the “canned” experiments you did in introductory physics. It should take two lab periods to complete. For the next experiment, you will conduct each of the four listed experiments in turn in a round robin fashion. There is only enough equipment for one set-up for each of the experiments. If you are the first group to perform the experiment, you will be responsible for assembling the lab equipment. You will also serve as a resource for other groups doing that experiment. Each experiment should take two lab periods to complete. After completing the first round robin experiment, you will give a brief (ten minutes with two minute question period) oral presentation based on the experiment. This presentation will not be graded but will serve as practice for your final presentation.

Round robin experiments

Gamma Spectroscopy
Electron Spin Resonance (research grade spectrometer)
X-ray diffraction (research grade spectrometer)

Scanning Tunneling microsope (research grade instrument)

Your final experiment will be an experiment of your own design. An original experiment will count as two experiments (two weeks, four lab periods to complete). It is critical that you submit your preliminary proposal for your original experiment on time! For one thing, we need to make sure that we have the equipment you need for the experiment. Our equipment holdings include the following: A plethora of microwave components, optical fibers, a laser cavity with power supply, Millikan oil drop, Nuclear detector equipment, electromagnets, several interfaceable pieces of equipment including digital oscilloscopes, GPIB interfaced temperature controllers, Digital Multimeters (DMMs) , arbitrary function generators, data acquisition boards, and lock in amplifiers, just to name a few. We also have computers and software that can control these instruments. The Biology and Geology departments have a scanning electron microscope. The Chemistry department has a NMR spectrometer. You may also decide to make significant upgrades to one of the existing experiments.

Examples of previous original experiments include the following. You may improve/update one of these if you like:

LEGO Watt Balance

NMR Quantum Computing

Milliken Oil Drop

Speed of Light

Cavendish Balance measurement of universal gravitational constant G

Possible new experiment: Rutherford Backscattering.

Final Oral Presentations: The brief (10 minute) oral presentation on one of the first round robin experiment that you gave about half way through the quarter was basically practice for the presentation you will give at the end of the quarter.  The presentation will be on your original experiment.  After your presentation, the floor will be open to questions for two minutes. Other faculty members from the physics department will be present and welcomed to ask questions. This format is similar to that followed for a contributed talk at a professional American Physical Society (APS) meeting. Each academic discipline has its own method of presenting talks. For better or worse, computer slide show presentations (PowerPoint) have become the standard in physics. You are free to use whatever format you like, but you must let me know one week in advance so I can have the equipment ready for you. Audio visual equipment is available for PowerPoint presentations. 

Date                  Laboratory                                                      Reading
January     9    Current Balance                                                   Ch 1, 2, and 7

   11    Current Balance                                                  Ch 3                        
                  16    Martin Luther King (no classes)

  18    First Round Robin Experiment                          Ch 4

       Turn in Current Balance report. I may administratively drop you from the class if you do not turn this in ON TIME.
       Turn in your preliminary proposal for your original experiment. 

   23  First Round Robin Experiment                          Ch 5

              25   First Round Robin Experiment                          Ch 6

   30   First Round Robin Experiment 

February   1    Turn in First Round Robin Experiment report and give oral report
                    6    Second Round Robin Experiment                     

                    8   Second Round Robin Experiment          
                   13  Third Round Robin Experiment Turn in Second Round Robin Experiment report
                   15   Third Round Robin Experiment

                   20   Fourth Round Robin Experiment Turn in Third Round Robin Experiment report
                   22   Fourth Round Robin Experiment
                   27   Your original experiment Turn in Fourth Round Robin Experiment report 
 March         1    Your original experiment
                     6     Your original experiment
 March         8      Your original experiment               
                     13    Your original experiment
                     15    Your original experiment                   
                     20    Your original experiment              

      23    Final Wednesday, March 22   in PS 128 at NOON (not 1) SHARP!!! even if you are not the first presenter. I will deduct points for people showing up late!!  Turn in lab notebooks. Turn in your original experiment lab report. Final oral presentations.

Grading: Each lab will be graded on a 100-point scale. The lab grades will be averaged at the end. The labs will constitute 80 percent of your grade. The lab notebook and the last oral presentation will each constitute 10 percent of your grade.
Grading scale:  100 - 95       A
                       94 - 90      -A
                       89 - 85     +B
                       84 - 80       B
                       79 - 75      -B
                       74 - 70     +C
                       69 - 65       C
                       64 - 60      -C
                       59 - 55     +D
                       54 - 50       D
                       49 - 45      -D
                       45 or less    F
IMPORTANT NOTES:
- The mind of the investigator is an essential part of the experimental equipment and should be fully operational at all times.
- The following is a statement of official departmental policy. Evidence of academic dishonesty will result in the immediate assignment of a failing grade, at the discretion of the instructor of record.
- Be sure to ask questions. The only dumb question is the one left unanswered.
- Be sure to see me if you have any problems. We are all human and deserve to be treated as such, so, if you have any problems please see me about them.
- If you have a concern about your grades, be sure to speak with me before taking any drastic measures.

Department of Physics Mission Statement: Our mission is to teach students how to measure, describe, and explain natural phenomena through scientific investigation and critical thinking. Students learn the concepts of physics, quantitative methods for analysis, experimental techniques for testing theoretical predictions, and the skills necessary to discovering new phenomena. The study of a range of fundamental topics and the underlying theory reveals physics to be a stimulating and rewarding discipline that has important connections to other sciences, modern technology, and society as a whole.

 

Relevant Program-level Student Learning Goals and Outcomes:

Goal 2: Students should be able to design and perform a physics experiment, analyze the acquired data, draw meaningful conclusions from the data, and communicate the results at a professional level.

Outcome 2.1: Students will demonstrate an undergraduate mastery-level ability to perform physics experiments, analyze the results, and draw meaningful conclusions from those results. This will be exhibited in the following ways.

2.1a: They will perform a series of standard experiments and an extensive directed research project. They will document all of their work thoroughly in their laboratory journal.

2.1b: They will analyze the results of these various experiments, and draw conclusions from the data as warranted. Again, they will thoroughly document their analysis and conclusions in their laboratory journal.

Outcome 2.2: Students will demonstrate an undergraduate mastery-level ability to write experimental reports in a professional format. They will do so by preparing written reports for the standard experiments and the directed research project.

Outcome 2.3: Students will demonstrate an undergraduate-level developing ability to present experimental results in a standard professional contributed talk format. They will do so by giving an oral presentation of their directed research project in a standard contributed APS talk format.