PHY 2064L: Laboratory for Honors Physics with Calculus


University of Florida
Spring 2009

Catalog Description
Credits: 2
Prerequisites: PHY 2048 or PHY 2060 (or permission of the Physics Coordinator)
Corequisites: PHY 2049 or PHY 2061
This is a cross-disciplinary, inquiry-based curriculum that focuses on major themes and concepts in physics, with emphasis on their application in modern quantitative life sciences research.

Students taking this lab are expected to have completed PHY2048 and be concurrently taking PHY2049. Calculus is used throughout the semester.

Registration is controlled departmentally. Contact Ms Christine Scanlon (scanlon@phys.ufl.edu) if you wish to enroll. Lab Fee = $100

Staff

Class meetings
Tuesday afternoons / periods 6-9
Location: Room DG-22 (in ground floor of Dental Building in Health Sciences)
Note that the lab is not in the Physics Building.
Please make sure you can find the room, before the first day.
Map to lab: Click here.

Description
This is a one-semester, accelerated laboratory for introductory, calculus-based physics. The goal of the course is to introduce the student to the quantitative and analytical approach of the physics research laboratory. Experiments will explore many aspects of first-year physics - including

In addition to the basic physics concepts, this lab heavily emphasizes quantitative and analytical methods in laboratory science: quantitative analysis, the development of mathematical models, and error analysis. Calculus will be used throughout.

This laboratory is part of the HHMI Core Lab series, and meets in the new HHMI Core Laboratory facility (room DG-22) in the Health Science Center. The experiments in this physics lab are intended to complement and enhance the content of the other HHMI Core Lab courses: Accelerated General Chemistry and Accelerated Integrated Biology. (Enrollment in those labs is not however a prerequisite or corequisite for PHY2064L.)

Students interested in PHY2064L may also be interested in the HHMI Mathematical Methods course MAT4930.

This is an accelerated lab: Through this (2-credit / 1-semester) course, the student can complete in just one semester the equivalent of the usual two-semester physics laboratory sequence. This course is suitable for the introductory physics student who has completed the first semester of calculus-based physics (PHY2048 or PHY2060), is enrolled in the second semester (PHY2049 or PHY2061), and is ready for a challenging and rewarding introduction to laboratory science.

Website & Calendar
The calendar (and all current information) will be posted on the website, which is maintained on the UF E-Learning Services (WebCT/Vista) server. Enrolled students may access the site by visiting the UF E-learning Services site (http://lss.at.ufl.edu) and then using your Gatorlink ID to log in to the "E-Learning System". You may also access the WebCT page with this direct link.

There you will find the course calendar along with the syllabus, prelab information, and various other timely information.

Assignments (prelabs, lab notes, etc.) must be submitted through the WebCT site. Please do not email them to the instructors.

The instructors will assume that all students visit the website regularly and are familiar with the information and announcements that are posted there.

First Lab
Labs will begin on Tuesday January 6, 2009. Visit the WebCT/Vista site, read the first lab writeup (experiment ME - measurement errors & uncertainty), print out a hard copy, and bring this to the first meeting.

What to bring
Bring the following items to each lab meeting:

There will also be a written prelab assignment that is due before each lab class. It is extremely important that you have completed and submitted this assignment prior to each class. It is not possible to work efficiently in the lab if you have not invested adequate time in preparation. Timely completion and submission of the prelab assignments will therefore be an important part of the final grade.

Each laboratory session is four hours long. Prepare yourself mentally and physically for a long afternoon in the lab. Wear proper laboratory clothing. Do the prelab assignment and eat your lunch before you come to class. You may take a short break in mid-afternoon if you need it, but you will need to pay attention to the clock. Do not bring food or drink to the lab.

General Guidelines & Procedures
Registered phy2064L students should visit the phy2064L WebCT/Vista site for detailed policies and procedures related to weekly preparation, prelab assignments, the lab format, lab notebooks, error analysis, and related policies.

Math and Computer skills
In this course we will make frequent use of Microsoft Office software - Word, Excel, and Powerpoint - and other data collection and analysis software associated with specific laboratory instrumentation. Students are expected to be computer-literate. Computer literacy does not mean expert in programming, or expert in a particular software package, etc. It means ready and willing to draw on existing computer skills, and to acquire new ones, whenever the current job requires it. Likewise students are expected to be comfortable using their existing mathematical skills (including trigonometry and calculus), and acquiring new ones, as needed in the laboratory.

Textbook
There is no textbook and there is nothing to buy. All required reading and other materials will be posted on the WebCT/Vista website.
You will however find it useful to refer to a calculus-based introductory physics textbook, such as

Grading
The final course grade will be based on

Grade weights:

Attendance, Lateness, & Makeup
Lab will meet around 11-12 times over the course of the semester. You are expected to attend every session and complete every experiment. Please arrive on time for class and stay until we are finished: chronic lateness and inconsistent participation are both unacceptable and will definitely lead to a reduced final grade.

Each class will begin with a quiz on the prelab assignment. This quiz is an importance assessment of your preparedness. Students who are late and miss the quiz cannot make it up later.

Missed labs cannot be repeated at a later time. The lab room is heavily used and fully booked during the week, and we simply do not have facilities and personnel to offer makeups. However, it is conceivable that a serious personal or family emergency may prevent you from attending or completing one of the labs. In this event you should contact the lab coordinator as soon as possible.

Disabilities (Accomodations)
Students who will require a classroom accommodation for a disability must contact the Dean of Students Office and request proper documentation. Upon bringing that documentation to the Instructor, the student will be given the appropriate accommodations. No accommodations are available to students who lack this documentation.

It is the policy of the University of Florida that the student, not the instructor, is responsible for arranging accommodations when needed. The instructor will not remind the student to schedule accommodations.

Academic Honesty
All students are required to abide by the principles of academic honesty expressed in the Student Honor Code . Consistent with university policy, any incident of academic dishonesty in this course will be reported to the Dean of Students Office. It is normal and reasonable for students in this physics course to work together on homework, but certain other activities are unacceptable: academic dishonesty includes plagiarism, fabricating or misrepresenting information or scientific data, giving or receiving any unauthorized assistance on academic work, and interfering with the academic work of other students. Submitting materials that are transcribed or copied from another person or source is unacceptable and will be interpreted as intentional dishonesty. If the incident is the student's first offense at UF, the student will receive a failing grade in PHY2064L. If not, the Dean of Students Office will decide the appropriate sanction.

Religious Holidays
Student religious observances will be accommodated. It is university policy, however, that the student must inform the instructor of religious observances that will conflict with class attendance or other activities, prior to the class or the occurrence of that activity. No exceptions will be made.

S.J. Hagen (2009)