The
laboratory course is designed to acquaint you with the
experimental basis of the laws of electricity and magnetism and
to introduce you to the techniques of electrical measurement,
which are universal in experimental physics.
To avoid lengthy and time-consuming
laboratory reports, most experiments will be completed and the
report turned in
at the end of the laboratory session. This is possible only
if you arrive prepared to do the experiment. Preparation
includes
careful reading of the experiment and related material and
completion of the Pre-lab, found at the end of each experiment
in the
Laboratory Manual. The Pre-labs must be turned in at the
beginning of each session, and you may not be admitted to the
laboratory
without having turned in your Pre-lab.
Spring 2012
Using the computers in the laboratory, RLM7.322:
Username: 116l-7322 (note
lower
case
l)
Password: 116l
The
computers run Macintosh OSX. It is an easy operating system to
use, but if you need practice, computers running the same
operating system are available in the computer lab down the hall
from the laboratory.
Note that the laboratory begins on the second full week of
classes. You should obtain
the Laboratory Manual at the University Coop,
read the Introduction and Experiment 0, complete both Pre-Labs, and
arrive ready to perform the experiment at the first meeting.
The schedule provides little opportunitiy for
make-ups. You must do each of the experiments at your
scheduled time.
List of Experiments
WeekExperiment
30 Jan. 0.An Introduction to the
Equipment
6 Feb.1.Electric charge
13 Feb.2.Gauss's
and Coulomb's laws; Charge
Distribution
20 Feb.3.Capacitance
27 Feb.4.DC circuits
5 Mar.5.Wheatstone Bridge and
Meters
19 Mar.6.Exponential
Decay and Deviations from
Ohm's Law