Physics 5121                                            W. Weyhmann
Fall 1996                                               K. Wick

Syllabus: Methods of Experimental Physics I

Introduction:

This course is the first of a three-quarter sequence on the techniques used in a modern experimental physics laboratory. Because of the importance of electronic instrumentation in today's physics experiments, the first two quarters of the laboratory will deal with the use of digital and analog techniques for processing electronic signals. A major portion of the second quarter laboratory will deal with the use of computer instrumentation. The third quarter laboratory will consist primarily of a single experimental project taken by the student through the stages of design, proposal, construction, data acquisition, analysis, oral presentation, and written report.

Prerequisites:

A knowledge of basic electricity and magnetism and circuits at the 1000 level of physics is assumed, as is elementary modern physics at the 3000 level sequence. English writing skills at the university level are required. No previous knowledge of electronics or logic is assumed.

Staff:

The faculty member for this course is:
Walter Weyhmann (Office: Physics 335, 624-3809, weyhmann@physics.spa.umn.edu)

Technical and teaching assistance for the laboratory and course is provided by
Kurt Wick (Office: Physics 69, 624-2831, wick@maroon.tc.umn.edu)

The teaching assistants are:
Rick Gran: Sections 5 (Physics 251, 625-8309, rgran@physics.spa.umn.edu)
R. Schwienhorst: Sections 1 & 4 (Physics 50, 624-9321, schwier@physics.spa.umn.edu) .

Please check your E-mail on a regular basis as it may be used for announcements. Also, we will try to update our class WEB page at: http://www.physics.umn.edu/~methods/ with any new information that pertains to the course.

Lectures:

Three lectures will be given per week: M, W, F, 12:20 - 13:10, in room 170 Physics.

Recitation: A recitation section will be held in Physics 143, Fridays at 2:30pm. Course related topics will be discussed in an informal manner.

Labs:

Laboratory sections meet twice each week for two hours in room 65 (phone: 625-4829) of the physics department. Students will work in pairs and must attend their assigned laboratory periods. Labs begin the week of September 29.

To keep up, most students will find that a number of hours must be spent in the laboratory each week in addition to their scheduled hours. The laboratory may be used during off hours by checking out a key in the physics office, 148 Physics. The keys may be checked out overnight or over the weekend. Since the number of keys is limited, please return them promptly to allow other students access to the lab facilities.

Laboratory Schedule:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:05		canceled		canceled
10:10		canceled		canceled
11:15
12:20	Lecture	Section 4	Lecture	Section 4	Lecture
1:25	Section 1	Section 4	Section 1	Section 4
2:30	Section 1	Section 5	Section 1		Section 5
3:35		Section 5			Section 5
4:40

Grade Policy:

The grades will be based on a total of 210 possible points distributed as follows:

Exam/ Assignment	Number of Exams/ Assignments	Possible Points Each:	Total Possible Points:
Final Exam	1	40	40
Midterm Exam	1	20	20
Oral Quiz	1	5	5
Long Write-ups	3	25	75
Short Write-ups	7	10	70
TOTAL POINTS			210

Exams:

The midterm exam will be held during class on November 1 and it will cover analog electronics (not including op-amps). The final exam will be held during final week, on Friday, December 13, from 8:30AM to 11:30 and it will cover digital electronics and op-amps. A short 10 minutes oral quiz will be given during the normal lab schedule time. It will be held at the end of week 3 and will test your skills with an oscilloscope and knowledge of AC/DC circuits.

Laboratory Write-Ups:

More than 70% of the grade in this course will be determined by the quality of the laboratory work, as demonstrated by the quality of the laboratory write-ups. Students are required to hand in a lab write-up for each chapter covered in the lab manual.

Two different formats of lab write-ups exist, depending on the chapter in the lab manual covered. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 are to be handed in as short write-ups and count a maximum of 10 points each. In these write-ups all questions in the lab manual must be answered. In approximately 3 pages, you should describe your work in a way that is comprehensible to the TA, using complete English sentences where appropriate, demonstrating an understanding of the material. The write-ups of chapters 4, 6 and 10 are to be longer and in a more complete format. They each count a maximum of 25 points. They should contain a complete description of the exercises and results, including analysis, diagrams and plots, as well as answering all questions in the lab manual.

The write-up's are to be handed in to the TA's at the next lab session for the short write-ups and at the second session after the assigned week for long write-ups. For example, the short write-up from chapter 1 must be handed in the first session of week 2. Tardy presentation of reports will be penalized one point per lab session for short write-up's and 2 points per session for long write-up's. All write-up's must be completed.

Laboratory Exercises:

The following list of exercises in the lab handout will be done:

Week	Exercises:	Subject:	Write-up Format
1	Chapter 1	Basic DC & AC Circuits	Short
2	Chapter 2	RC Circuits	Short
3	Chapter 3	LC Circuits and Rectifiers	Short
4	Chapter 4	Transistors (Switches and Amplifiers)	Long
5	Chapter 5	Basic Op-Amp Circuits	Short
6	Chapter 6	Op-Amp Applications	Long
7	Chapter 7	CMOS Inverter and Transmission Gate	Short
8	Chapter 8	Digital Electronics: Combinational Logic	Short
9	Chapter 9	Digital Electronics: Sequential Logic	Short
10	Chapter 10	Digital Electronics Application: Frequency Counter	Long

Textbook:

The Art of Electronics, P. Horowitz and W. Hill, (Cambridge University Press). Second Edition.

Lab Manual:

The lab manual will be handed out in class.

Reading:

Regular reading assignments are specified in the lab manual. You will be responsible for reading, either in the textbook or in other references, material sufficient to gain a full understanding of what you are doing in the laboratory.