Modern Physics Laboratory

PHY 3106L-U01, Fall 2007

Instructor: Laird Kramer		W 11:00 am - 1:45 pm, CP 251
	CP 211	Office Hours: 1:30 - 3:00 pm, TR
	(305) 348-6073
	Laird.Kramer at fiu.edu
	http://www.fiu.edu/~kramerl

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Last Update: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:39 AM

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Prerequisites:

The same prerequisites as apply to the PHY3106 lecture course apply to this laboratory. Specifically, you must have already taken the introductory course sequence, PHY2048 and PHY2049 (and their associated laboratories as well). You must further be enrolled in the lecture part of the course, PHY3106. You will also need to use your FIU email account.

Course Objectives:
The primary course objective is to motivate the "why" of Modern Physics by observation, discovery, and experimentation. The secondary objective is to provide laboratory skills and experiences.  

Course Format:
This course is primarily laboratory based, however the grading is entirely Web-based. Students taking this course can access the course grade at any time, anywhere. When doing the laboratory write-ups, students will download the report templates from the web.

E-mail will be used throughout the course to facilitate communications between the instructor and students. Students will be required to send their assignments to the instructor via e-mail. After grading, feedback on assignments will be sent to the students via e-mail.

Grading:
Grades are based on the laboratory write-ups (50%), observed laboratory techniques (35%), and your oral report (15%). The grading scale is:

Individual labs are graded using the following scale. You receive 33% of your lab score is for your uncertainty analysis (ie, error analysis), 33% for completing all parts of the laboratory correctly, and 33% for including your data in the report. You have until midnight of the second Sunday after the lab to submit the lab report. You will receive 10% penalty for each day of lateness, but will receive 10 days of lateness that you can use anytime throughout the semester. All labs must be submitted by midnight December 10th, 2007, absolutely no exceptions. This lateness policy will be strictly will be enforced. Missed labs receive zero credit unless arrangements are made to make up the lab. Class lateness will be counted against the lab techniques component.

We will be using TurnItIn.com to hand in the reports. This allows easier administration and the inclusion of grading comments inside the document. You will need to create an account and add the course 1967313 with password 'modernf07'. Make-up laboratories will only be arranged when notification is made (via email or phone) prior to the assigned lab. Make-up labs forfeit any lab participation credit.

A 10-minute oral presentation on one of the experiments is scheduled for the last part of the semester.

Incomplete grades can be given only for documented reasons beyond the control of the student, and not for failing work.

Lab Manual:
Microsoft Word files for the lab manual. You may use these as starting points for the lab writeups. You will also want to printout the appropriate labs to bring with you to the lab. Remember, the class decided to go with the printout the lab manual model and not the pay for the lab manual.

Groups:
Students will be split into 6 groups named after the six quarks.

1. Up: Bueno, Colvin, Urbina
2. Down: Chavarria, Husman, Angel Rodriguez
3. Strange: Alvarez, Mayett, Montas
4. Charm: Carrington, Aryles Rodriguez, Roman
5. Top: Badui, Gonzalez, Prays
6. Bottom: Faria, Muro, Musgrave

(Updated 9.3.07)