Physics 326 (Fall 2022):
"Computer
Based Experimentation and Physics Computing"
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Instructor: |
Prof. Vitaly
Podzorov (Lectures on Monday 2 - 3:20 pm, and Lab sec. 1 on Monday 5:40 - 8:40 pm) |
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e-mail: |
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Office Hour: |
By arrangement (please email me, if you need a meeting, and I
will email you a zoom link). You have to be registered
at Rutgers Zoom. We can also talk
right after the lecture on Monday (come talk to me after the lecture). |
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TAs: |
Phillip Rechani (Lab sec. 2), e-mail: pjr93@physics.rutgers.edu |
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Hao Wang (Lab sec. 3 and 4), e-mail:
haowang@rutgers.edu |
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Office Hour: |
Please arrange by
e-mail (meeting via Rutgers Zoom are
preferred). |
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Final grade cutoffs and histogram:
For individual grades,
please visit Canvas or the Department of Physics gradebook. |
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The meeting time/locations (image):
Beware of the following
dates and/or changes in designation of classes this Fall-2022:
Monday, Sept. 5: Labor Day, NO CLASSES.
Tuesday, Sept. 6: the official start of the Fall-2022
semester at RU.
Tuesday, Nov. 22: Thursday classes.
Wednesday, Nov. 23: Friday Classes.
Thursday, Nov. 24 to Sunday, Nov. 27: Thanksgiving recess.
Our class (Physics-326) starts with the 1st
lecture on Monday 9/12.
No lectures or labs during the week of Monday 9/5.
The latest date to submit the last Lab report (Lab-8) is Dec. 14
11:59pm (for any section).
Regular Meeting Times:
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Lectures (for all sections): |
Mon. 2 - 3:20 pm |
ARC-105 |
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Labs |
Sec. 1: Mon. 5:40 - 8:40 pm Sec. 2: Tu. 5:40 - 8:40 pm Sec. 3: Wed. 5:40 - 8:40 pm Sec. 4: Thu. 10:20 am - 1:20
pm |
SERIN PHYSICS-101 (use main Physics
building entrance from Allison Rd., room 101 is located on 1st
floor) |
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Office hour: |
By arrangement. Please
contact Prof. Podzorov (podzorov@physics.rutgers.edu)
or your TA if you have any
questions or want to meet to discuss course related matters. |
Office hour meetings
will be held either via Rutgers Zoom (requires NetID and Rutgers Zoom registration), or arranged in
NPL-205 |
Textbook:
An
Introduction to Error Analysis, J. R. Taylor, 2nd Ed. University Science Books.
You
can find it at Amazon
or Rutgers
book stores (Semester: FALL 2022, Physics Department code: 750, Course:
326, sections 1,2,3,4).
Course
Schedule:
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Lab Number (click on the number below to download the lab
manual) |
Topic |
Lab video / Additional videos |
Lecture date (Monday) |
Lab
meeting dates & Lab report due dates (reports to
be submitted electronically in Canvas) |
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Propagation of Errors (1 week lab) |
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9/12 |
Sec. 1: Lab on Mon. 9/12. Report
due on 9/19. Sec. 2: Lab on Tu. 9/13. Report
due on 9/20. Sec. 3: Lab on Wed. 9/14. Report
due on 9/21. Sec. 4: Lab on Thu. 9/15. Report
due on 9/22. |
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Wavelength of Light (1 week lab) |
On
the accuracy needed in the measurements of angles to get l
with accuracy of 2% |
9/19 |
Sec. 1: Lab on Mon. 9/19. Report
due on 9/26. Sec. 2: Lab on Tu. 9/20. Report
due on 9/27. Sec. 3: Lab on Wed. 9/21. Report
due on 9/28. Sec. 4: Lab on Thu. 9/22. Report
due on 9/29. |
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3 |
Distribution Functions (2 week lab) |
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9/26 10/3 |
Prepare and submit a single report containing both parts of this lab. Report is
due the week of Mon. 10/10 (on the day of your section lab class). |
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Least Squares Fit (1 week lab) |
10/10 |
Report is
due 1 week after the lab (the week of Mon. 10/17). |
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Damped Harmonic Motion (1 week lab) |
10/17 |
Report is
due 1 week after the lab (the week of Mon. 10/24). |
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Forced Harmonic Motion (2 week lab) |
10/24 10/31 |
Prepare and submit a single report containing both parts of this lab. Report is
due the week of Mon. 11/7 (on the day of your section lab class). |
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Fourier Analysis (2 week lab) |
11/7 11/14 |
Prepare and submit a single report containing both parts of this lab. Report is
due the week of Mon. 11/21 (on the day of your section lab class). |
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Please
read these few pages on Logistic Equation and mapping. Watch this video
about the Logistic Equation on Veritasium channel. |
Onset of Chaos (2 week lab) |
11/21 |
Note special schedule for this lab (given re-designation of classes
due to the Thanksgiving): Sec. 1 meets
Mon. 11/21 and 11/28. Report due 12/5. Sec. 4 meets
Tu. 11/22 (that runs on Thu. schedule) and Thu. 12/1. Report due 12/8. Wed. 11/23
runs on Friday schedule (no labs). Sec. 2 meets
Tu. 11/29 and Tu. 12/6, Report due 12/13. Sec. 3 meets
Wed. 11/30 and Wed. 12/7. Report due 12/14. Thu. 11/24 - Sun. 11/27, no classes, Thanksgiving break. |
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All lab
reports are to be submitted electronically via
Canvas. No lab
reports after December 14 will be accepted. |
Course Goal:
The goal of this class is to learn carrying out simple
Physics experiments, including understanding the fundamental principles behind
these experiments, ability to analyze the obtained data using computers and
certain software packages.
Main policies:
1. Attendance of labs
is required. The prevailing rule is that your TA will take down attendance each
class and will not grade your submitted report unless you had attended the lab
and worked on it.
2. Attendance of
lectures is strongly encouraged but not required (will not be recorded).
Your active participation in lectures can earn you extra credit. In addition,
during the lectures, I might occasionally give out extra-credit assignments or
quizzes that are not mandatory but could be factored in
towards the final grade if completed.
3. Changes/switches
between sections: Make sure to attend your own lab section for which you are registered, as the number of experimental setups and
users that can be working on them in Serin-101 is limited. Random switches between
sections are not allowed. For those who missed a lab
for a legitimate reason (for instance, being sick, official University-related
business travel, including participating in sporting competitions or military
exercises), the only possibility to make up a lab is to contact your TA and a
TA of another section to see if there is an open spot that could be temporarily
taken. This can only be done while the equipment for
the specific missed lab is still setup in the room. Note: the equipment is
changed from lab to lab regularly (based on a weekly or bi-weekly basis).
4. It is your responsibility to make yourself aware of any and all changes
by attending class, maintaining communication with me, and checking the course
page (this page) for updates and announcements.
5. Face coverings:
following university policy, face coverings are required in all indoor teaching
spaces, libraries, and clinical settings.
6. In case of
sickness: If you have been told to quarantine, or
are experiencing symptoms of any transmissible disease, please do not attend
in-person class meetings. Contact me (podzorov@physics.rutgers.edu) and your lab TA to make arrangements for handling such absences.
7. Lab reports:
No copying of reports from another student is allowed.
Even partners of the lab setup (a small group of students, usually two, working
on the same lab together) should write their own individual reports. The
partners can only share the raw data set, since they collect the data together.
Preparation for Labs:
The lab instructions
(manuals) are available at the course home page (click on the number in the 1st
column of the Table above). You are expected to read
and understand these instructions BEFORE coming to the lab. Additionally,
everyone is encouraged to watch the lab videos on YouTube (the links are in the
Table) before or during the lab. These may help you to understand what is
required and how to do it. In addition, you are expected to read and understand
the suggested chapters of the textbook (J. R. Taylor, Error Analysis) prior to
working on your lab reports (see lab manuals for the suggested reading
assignments). Understanding the theory behind each lab and being familiar with
the lab manual before coming to the lab will make your learning experience
satisfying and will save you a lot of time.
Lab Reports (an
example report can be downloaded here):
The ideal lab reports have to be brief (3-5
pages), neat, and complete. Some rules,
hints and suggestions for preparing a good lab report can be
found here, doc
file (see more
details below).
Lab reports are to be
prepared individually and submitted via a file upload at the
course Assignments page in Canvas not later than the due date specified in the Table
above. Pdf or Doc(x) files are OK. Your lab report must be
typed; the graphs are to be generated using Origin (highly preferred) or
Excel. Schematics of lab setups and circuit diagrams can be neatly drawn and
labeled by hand, or drawn using graphics software of your choice. Including
some photographs (or screenshots) of the lab equipment or parts of the
procedure is allowed and actually encouraged. Remember
to put your Name, Lab title and #, as well as the date on top of the front page of
your report. Save your report with the file name in the following format before
uploading it: LastName_LabX.pdf or LastName_LabX.doc (replace X with the lab
number). Upload
your report in Canvas not later
than its due date (see Table above). The maximum score for each lab
report submitted on time is 15 points. Up to maximum one-week late lab reports could be accepted at
the discretion of a TA (via e-mail), but will be graded out of a reduced
maximum of 10 points. No carbon copies of lab reports are
accepted: if two or more identical reports are noticed by the
instructor, all students involved will be asked to redo their reports,
if there is still time before the due date. Do not attempt to
write a report, unless you have actually done the lab by yourself, analyzed
your own data and performed data analysis by yourself. Try to write your report
in such a way that an unfamiliar reader can clearly understand the procedure,
the basic theory predictions, the actual measurement results, etc. The report
must be brief, yet fairly self-sufficient. Do not
simply copy the lab manual/instructions or excerpts from the textbook into your
report, unless you are copying some graphics like pictures, diagrams, circuits
or formulas.
Your report should
have the following structure:
Introduction:
Clearly state the objective(s), as well as a short explanation of the
theoretical background, if appropriate. To avoid redundancy, do not copy the
entire lab description in your report.
Experimental Methods: A brief description of the
equipment used and the experimental procedures should be included. Also include accurate neatly-drawn diagrams. Do not include
your results in this section.
Results and Discussion: Show the data
obtained in the form of Tables and Figures. All quantities have to be given with the correct units. Omitted units may result in
points taken off. The figures must have appropriate axis labels with units. If
drawings, screen shots, photos, etc help explaining
your results and clarify your data description, include them. Analyze the data,
including pertinent equations, calculated numbers, discussion of what
observations and measurements mean. Discuss what was expected and how well the
experiment agrees with the theory. Do not give more significant figures than
warranted by the accuracy of your measurements. Include an elementary error
analysis where appropriate.
Conclusions:
Discuss if the goals set forth were met. Often, the
obtained data are somewhat different from what was expected. In this case, you
should try to understand why and justify your conclusion.
Grading:
The course final grade
will be based mainly on your lab reports. Your active
participation in class (by asking relevant questions and completing occasional
extra-credit assignments or quizzes) is highly encouraged. Students can see
their grades for individual assignments (labs) in Canvas or by going to Physics
Department gradebook.
For more details on grading policy read this doc file.
Students with Disabilities:
If you have a disability, you
are urged to visit the following web site to make the
necessary arrangements to support a successful learning experience: