PHY4811L - Florida Atlantic University

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Department of Physics
Syllabus of PHY4811L (85559) Modern Physics Lab Spring 2013
Course Descriptions: A series of laboratory experiments in classical and modern physics, electrical
measurement techniques, and optics, with applications to problems in atomic,
nuclear, and solid-state physics comprise this course.
Objective: PHY4811L is for upper level undergraduates. It provides hands-on experience
with experiments in modern physics that are challenging at varying levels of
expertise. Students will learn in this course how a problem in experimental
modern physics is tackled: how to organize the investigation, collect and record
data, analyze the data, draw conclusions and present the results and
conclusions in a written form.
Prerequisite: PHY3101
Course credit: Total 2. This is a 2-semester lab course, 1 credit for each semester.
Experiment selection: Student selects experiments from the list in Table 1 to make total 16 points for
1 credit in one semester.
Credit hours: For making total 16 points for 1 credit in one semester each student needs to
carry out, in average, 4 to 6 experiments each semester. PHY4811L is an
independent-study course, it usually takes a student more than 2 hours outside
the lab for reading the lab manual to understand the underline physics and
technique that is used in the experiment. It takes, in average, 4 hours for
performing the experiment in lab. Then it takes more than 2 hours outside the
lab to analyze data and write lab report. In total, it takes a student16 to 20
hours in lab and 16 to 20 hours outside the lab for 1 credit in one semester.
Table 1 List of experiments and points
1 Precession under Earth’s Magnetic Field
2 Coulomb Force --- Determination of 0
3 Magnetic Force --- Determination of 0
6 points
4 points
4 points
4 Millikan Oil-Drop Experiment for "e" 4 points
5 Michelson Interferometer 4 points
6 Determination of the Velocity of Light 4 points
7 Hall Effect 2 points
8 The Franck-Hertz Experiment 2 points
9 Measurement of e/m for an Electron 2 points
10 Photo Electric Effect---Planck's Constant 2 points
11 Electron Spin Resonance 2 points
12 Line Spectra and Rydberg Constant 2 points
13* Electromagnetic Radiation and
Microwave
2 points
14* Absorption of Gamma Radiation 2 points
15* Absorption of Beta Radiation 2 points
* Select one experiment from #13, #14 and #15 (the only difference among them is the radiation source).

Table 2 Lab Schedule
Date Total (accumulated) points to be finished
1/5---1/27 4 points
1/28---2/22 8 points
2/25---3/22 12 points
3/25---4/12 16 points
Lab room: Room 125 Physical Science Bldg.
Instructor: Behzad Khajavi Office: Room 330 Science Bldg.
Email: bkhajavi@fau.edu Phone: (561) 526-3061
Technic support: Jim Di Siena Working hour: 8:00 – 10:30 AM on T,W,R,F
Office: Room 146 Physical Science Bldg.
Email: sdisiena@fau.edu, Phone: (561) 827-8341
Lab Director: Dr. De Haui Chen Office: Room 129 Physical Science Bldg.
Email: dchen@fau.edu Phone: (561) 297-1088
Lab manual: Get lab manual from Jim Di Siena
Lab performance: Contact Behzad Khajavi or Jim Di Siena to schedule your lab time. Students
should do the experiments by themselves. Behzad will make a brief introduction to
the experiment and equipment. Students should do most of the experiments individually,
this means that each student should have his/her own raw data. Students should do
some of the experiments in group (of two people) such as “Precession under Earth’s
Magnetic Field” and “Determination of the Velocity of Light”. Students can get help
from Behzad Khajavi or Dr. Chen for difficult physics problems. Students can also get
technic support from Jim Di Siena for equipment problems.
Lab report and grade:
Students are expected to write lab reports individually even the experiment
is done in group.. Lab reports copied from others including scanned pages from lab
manuals are unacceptable.
Each lab report will be graded in a 20-point scale as shown in Table 3. Final
Grade is the average grade of all required lab reports.
Table 3 Grading scale of lab reports
A 19.0---20 A- 18.0---19.0
B+ 17.0---18.0 B 16.0---17.0 B- 15.0---16.0
C+ 14.0---15.0 C 13.0---14.0 C- 12.0---13.0
D+ 11.0---12.0 D 10.0---11.0 D- 9.0 ---10.0
F < 9.0
Lab reports should be turned in by the deadlines listed in Table 2. Points will be
deducted for the late lab reports: One week late - one point, Two weeks late - three
points. Three weeks or more late -ten points.
A suggested format for a lab report is as follows.
(a) Title of experiment, date of experiment, report date, your name (and your
partners’ name if the experiment is done in group).
(b) The purpose of the experiment.
(c) A short summary of the theory underlying the experiment.
(d) Presentation of your results includes your raw data, table, graphs,
further calculations from the raw data, comparison between the
experimental and theoretical results, and the error analysis of the data.
(e) The conclusions.

Disability policy statement: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), students who
require special accommodation due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with the
Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) -- SU 133 (561-297-3880).
Code of Academic Integrity policy statement: Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to
maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical
standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no
student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university
community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and
individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information,
see University Regulation 4.001.