PHY 1611 ALGEBRA-BASED PHYSICS I LAB Spring

PHY 1611 ALGEBRA-BASED PHYSICS I LAB
Spring 2012
Instructor: _______________________________
Office: _______________________________
Office Hours: _MS 3.02.18____________________
Office Phone: _______________________________
Email: _______________________________
PREREQUISITE: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in PHY 1603 (Algebra-based Physics I).
REQUIRED MATERIALS: You must bring a scientific calculator, metric ruler, protractor, graph paper, and
either a USB flash drive or a PC-formatted diskette for computerized experiments.
DROPPING THE COURSE: Students who drop the lecture course should drop the lab course.
CLASS ATTENDANCE: Attendance is mandatory each week for the entire laboratory session.
Your lowest scored lab report (or absence) will be dropped, with exception for dishonesty.
Students who miss two labs will receive at most half credit for lab participation. Students who miss
three labs will not receive any credit for lab participation. If you miss four labs or do not turn in a
total four lab reports, you will receive an automatic F for the course.
If you do not attend the lab to collect data, no lab report will be accepted.
If you are more than 30 minutes late, you will be considered absent and not able to attend class and
the report for that lab will not be accepted.
GOALS: The goal is to offer a number of physics labs to undergraduate majors that aims: [1] to engage each student
in significant experiences with experimental processes, including some experience designing investigations; [2] to
develop a broad array of basic skills and tools of experimental physics and data analysis; [3] to help students to
understand the role of direct observation in physics and to distinguish between inferences based on theory and on the
outcomes of experiments; and [4] to develop team-working skills that are vital to success in your professional life.
CLASS FORMAT:
Students will organize themselves in groups of four people per table. Every student is expected to participate in
collecting and analyzing data during the experiments.
After each lab session, you are required to complete a lab report that is due at the beginning of the next
laboratory session. This report is individual. Plagiarism in this regard will not be tolerated and may result in a
grade of "0" in the corresponding report. (There is also a penalty of 10% loss for the first day 5% loss in points
per day, for assignments handed in late.) A report more than two weeks late will not be accepted. Exceptions
will only be given for extreme circumstances and must be verified.
You must study each weekly lab material and selected readings from the text prior to coming to the lab. To
ensure compliance, a 5-minute quiz will be given at the start of every lab. There will also be a comprehensive
final exam for which you are required to bring a Scantron form No. 882-E.
GRADING: The final grade will be based on a percentage of total points. The relative weights are as follows:
WEEKLY REPORTS ............................................ 55%
WEEKLY QUIZZES ............................................ 10%
FINAL EXAM ....................................................... 25%
CLASS PARTICIPATION ..................................... 10%
MAKE-UP LABS: There will be no makeup labs.

LAB RULES:
* At no time is food or drink allowed in the lab.
* Students must clean and organize the work area before leaving the lab.
* Students are responsible for the lab equipment they use. Do not play any kind of games with the lab
equipment or the computers.
* For safety reasons, sandals or any other type of open-toed shoes are not allowed in the lab. You must
wear closed-toed shoes.
* Cell Phones are to be turned off during lab.
* Only students enrolled in the class are allowed in the lab area.
* Cell phones must be turned off; silent mode is not good enough.
* Physics lab computers are for laboratory business only – no Internet surfing or checking email.
SCHEDULE OF EXPERIMENTS
Week Experiment (the numbers refer to experiment # in the Manual)
01/17 - 01/20 Classes do not meet.
01/23 - 01/27 Introduction
01/30 – 02/03 Measurements
02/06 – 02/10 W02 Circumference Diameter
02/13 – 02/17 P04.Position, Velocity and Acceleration
02/20 – 02/24 P07. Acceleration of a Cart
02/27 – 03/02 P10 Atwood’s machine
03/05 – 03/09 W13B. Projectile Motion
03/12 – 03/16 Classes do not meet.
03/19 – 03/23 P11. Collision- Impulse and Momentum.
03/26 – 03/30 P26. Centripetal Force
04/02 – 04/06 P22. Rotational Inertia
04/09 – 04/13 P13. Archimedes’ Principle
04/16 – 04/20 Review P14. Simple Harmonic Motion-mass on a spring
04/23 – 04/27 Final Exam (During regular class hours)
Note: April 30, 2012 is drop date for all Physics Labs.
Always Bring a USB Flash Drive.
Important Links:
Physics Lab Website: http://physics.utsa.edu/physicslab.html
UTSA honor Code: http://faculty.business.utsa.edu/rsandova/UTSA/Honor%20Code.htm
UTSA Excused Absence form:
http://provost.utsa.edu/VPAFS/forms/Excused%20Absence%20From%20Class%20Attendance
%20Form%20%2810-21-2009%29.pdf