Second
Year Laboratory
OPERATION
OF THE LABORATORY
Experiment Roster
Students
will generally work individually. For the first few
weeks
students will be rostered onto particular experiments
at specified times. This roster will be displayed
on the
notice board outside the 2nd Year Laboratory. This roster
can also be accessed online through http://vista.elearning.unsw.edu.au.
Later in session we will allow you to choose the experiments
you
want to do, subject to availability.
Although
there is sufficient time to complete each experiment
and
have it marked within the allocated 3 hours, some students
enjoy working at a more leisurely pace. Accordingly
we
will allow students to come into the laboratory at other
prearranged times - see the Laboratory Manager (Tamara
Reztsova) for details.
Preparation
Preparation
for each experiment should involve you studying the laboratory
notes for that experiment prior to your scheduled laboratory
period. Your answers to the preparation questions for
that experiment must be completed and written in your
laboratory book.
The
preparation provides background that will be necessary
to the understanding and performance of the experiment.
Recording and Reporting
You
must have a bound notebook to record experimental data,
calculations, results and discussion for the experiment.
The notebook does not need graph pages in it, because
we will supply suitable graph paper. However you must
paste each graph you plot into the notebook within the
corresponding experiment.
REPORTS
NOT SUBMITTED IN A BOUND NOTEBOOK WILL NOT BE MARKED!
YOU
MUST NOT USE A PENCIL EXCEPT FOR GRAPHS!
When
you write up the report on an experiment it should contain
the title and aim of the experiment and any other relevant
data recorded during preparation.
All
laboratory results must be entered directly into your
laboratory note-book using a pen and a tabular form wherever
possible. If you find that there is something wrong with
your data simply cros it out and start another table.
Graphs must be neat, with clearly labelled axes, a title,
and referred to in your report as Fig.1, Fig.2 etc. Error
bars for each variable should be shown at each data point
whenever possible, and calculations of accuracy, errors
etc. should always be made where appropriate.
A
full description of the method or the apparatus is NOT
required as it is already contained in these experimental
notes. However, at least one sentence of explanation is
required for each table or set of results that is recorded,
graph plotted, final or intermediate result that is obtained,
or formula that is used.
Your
report should have a logical structure and sufficient
explanation should be included so as to make the structure
obvious to the reader.
Your
report will be marked at the end of each laboratory class.
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