PHY 1048L - Physics Laboratory I

College of Natural Sciences

Credit(s): 1
Contact Hours: 45
Effective Term Spring 2025 (645)

Requisites

(Pre- or Co-requisite PHY 1053 with a minimum grade of C or
Pre- or Co-requisite PHY 2048 with a minimum grade of C) or
Permission of the Program

Course Description

This course is to provide laboratory experience with concepts and principles of mechanics, such as kinematics, Newton’s laws, waves and heat. Students will collect, analyze, and interpret data. This course has a substantial writing requirement. (Credit is only given for PHY 1048L or PHY 1048LH.)

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  1. The student will develop practical data collection skills by:
    1. using standard equipment to measure quantities such as time, distance, mass and temperature.
    2. choosing an appropriate device for making a measurement (such as meter stick, ruler, or caliper to measure length).
    3. including uncertainty with recorded measurements.
    4. keeping an organized written record of observations and measurements (with appropriate units).
  2. The student will visualize and analyze data by:
    1. plotting data on a graph with clearly labeled axes, and adding a curve of best fit if appropriate.
    2. relating results of curve fitting to physical parameters such as acceleration due to gravity or spring constant.
    3. identifying mathematical relationships (or independence) of variables through graphical analysis (example: period of a simple pendulum as a function of length).
    4. carrying out basic statistical analysis such as mean and standard deviation.
    5. quantifying the uncertainty of calculated results.
    6. comparing experimental results to theory quantitatively, such as calculating the percent difference between measured and expected values.
  3. The student will communicate his/her science in a professional and ethical manner by:
    1. presenting to others in authentic formats such as oral and written reports, including (at a minimum):
      1. the scientific question to be explored, identifying key physics concepts.
      2. summary of the necessary equipment and experimental procedure.
      3. data in a neat and clear format (such as tables and/or graphs).
      4. sample calculations for quantities that cannot be directly measured.
      5. analysis - The student will discuss the results obtained from her/his collected data, and compare these to theoretical relationships. Experimental data is used to support conclusions. The student will not any discrepancies between experimentally derived results and theoretical expectations and discuss likely causes. Limitations of measurement equipment and assumptions made (such as negligible friction) should be explored.
  4. The student will apply data collection and analysis skills by investigating the concepts introduced in the co-requisite lecture class, such as:
    1. Kinematics in one or more dimensions (example: measuring the local acceleration due to gravity of an object in free fall).
    2. Newton's laws of force and motion (both linear and angular; examples: Atwood machine and circular motion apparatus can be used to investigate the relationship between force and acceleration).
    3. Impulse, Momentum, and Collisions (example: calculating the momentum and kinetic energy of two carts before and after a collision based upon their mass and speed).
    4. Oscillations and Waves (example: measuring the period of a mass-spring harmonic oscillator to test its dependence on the spring constant).
    5. Thermodynamics (if time permits; example: calorimetry).

Criteria Performance Standard

Upon successful completion of the course the student will, with a minimum of 70% accuracy, demonstrate mastery of each of the above stated objectives through classroom measures developed by individual course instructors. The student will be able to illustrate and utilize elementary laboratory technique in selected areas of mechanics, heat and thermodynamics. Such technique will include, but not be limited to, measurement, report writing, error analysis and graphical construction and analysis.

History of Changes

Revised 7/84 DBT 11/15/84 Effective Session 19842 DBT 2/86 Effective Session 19861 Reviewed C&I 2/5/91 3 YR C&I Review 8/94 3 YR C & I Review 1998-99 C&I 11/12/02, BOT 12/17/02, eff20022. exclusion added 10/29/09. C&I Approval: 11/12/2002, BOT Approval: 12/17/2002, Effective Term: Spring 2010 (420). C&I Approval: 02/14/2019, BOT Approval: 03/19/2019, Effective Term: Fall 2019 (565).
C&I Approval: , BOT Approval: , Effective Term: Spring 2025 (645)

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