Course Textbook and Recommended Reference Material

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson. This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. This is the only book I would highly recommend you purchase for this class. You can find the latest edition on Amazon for about 45 dollars. Older editions are also available but I do not recommend those. Get the latest or 3rd edition.

1. "Experiments in Modern Physics 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0124898513) by A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano. This is another classic and a good read. The book describes in detail the Millikan Oil drop experiment and describes pulsed NMR. The last few chapters include are on probability and statistics as applied to measurement including likelihood and least-squares fitting.

• (5pts) Abstract: A single paragraph, only in rare situations, and never in this class, would there be a need for additional paragraphs. Each element of your abstract should be concise and short (one or two sentences) and consist of the following: what was done, how it was done, your primary result or results, and finally, any major conclusion drawn. If numerical results are obtained you should quote those prominently in your abstract, particularly those that are most important. If you think it is relevant you may summarize important intermediate results but usually, this is not necessary for an abstract. The rest of the paper is better suited to this sort of information. Always make sure to include uncertainties, and that all values have their proper number of significant figures. And of course, the units of any numerical result should be quoted. Your conclusion(s) can be summarized in the last sentence or two. Remember your abstract is not your introduction so it shouldn't read like one. A general rule of thumb is that a good abstract is one that provides a reader with enough information to allow him/her to decide whether it is worthwhile to read the paper that follows. Regarding tense and use of pronouns. Use past and present tense where appropriate. For example, as the experiment was already completed use past tense when describing things that were done and use present tense to describe general ideas or conclusions or when appropriate. As an example, your abstract could begin something like this "We determined the magnetic moment of a small disk.. ". While this is okay usually in scientific papers a more formal and less personal tone is taken, for example: "The magnetic moment of a small magnetic disk was determined... "
  
  
• (10pts) Introduction: Here you will introduce the paper, describe what is being measured in detail and why it is interesting. Background information should be included in this section and any theoretical motivation for the work. This section will likely be the most heavily cited so make sure you cite your sources and include references in the "References" section. Properly formatted, check sample papers, or use the AIP style guide linked below.
• (10pts) Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail in this section. This is where you would describe the equipment used and its function, with as much detail as you think relevant. Assume here that the reader is not familiar with the equipment. Long and complex equipment can be cited to a manual, as there is no need to re-write what is already available. If you cite web pages make sure these conform to proper formatting guidelines. Make sure you include relevant figures and photos if needed. Also, describe in detail how the measurements were performed, procedures, assumptions made, particularly describe difficulties encountered and how you estimated uncertainties that result from any and all measurements. This is also where you can detail the experimental uncertainties and any steps taken to reduce them. Many experimentalists move a complete discussion on experimental uncertainties to a separate section as this is as if not more important the main result of your work. Remember the idea here is to provide as complete a description as you can so that others can reproduce your work, this is usually the approach taken in a never-before-done experiment. In this class, I will take into account that what we are doing is practice.
• (10pts) Results and Conclusions: ( Results ) As per the title of this section here you describe the result(s) obtained. Included a summary of important final calculations. Do not just include numbers in loose itemized lists instead use properly formatted tables, plots, and or figures to describe the results. Never have a section that only has data tables and plots WITHOUT a narrative describing what is being presented. This can not leave the interpretation of data completely up to the reader, no matter how expert you believe they are. Here is where you would include any statistical analysis conducted to obtain your results, models used to fit data, statistical inferences, discussion of the goodness of fit parameters, confidence levels in the agreement between your data and your model assumptions, t-values, and/or any other relevant statistical analysis performed. A full summary and description of your uncertainties; both statistical and systematic should be included here unless it was moved to its own section, somewhere else in the paper. (Conclusions) For the conclusions part of this section, you should give context to your results what they mean and how to interpret them. Discuss how they relate to theoretical predictions or known values you are comparing your results with, other measurements, or previously accepted determinations. You could also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with expectations. However do not freely speculate and try your best to quantify your statements, for example by changing this I can improve the uncertainty in that by how much. If you can not easily quantify these statements they are better left unsaid. You may also want to discuss the precision of your result particularly if these are poor and if there are ways in which that can be improved. For example with a longer experimental run, measurement of input parameters with different equipment, or the use of improved techniques.
• (5pts) References: Citations should be included in your paper and be properly formatted, consistent with standard practices in physics journals, such as PRL or PRD (use the AIP style guide linked below. If you don't want to read that style guide just copy the sample papers linked below). I prefer the use of square brackets, [1] to cite a reference and require you to use separate reference bibliography started on its own page. If you use the style templates below they provide you with proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. If you cite a webpage, which I allow, make sure you reference it properly in the bibliography. I also allow Wikipedia sources but you should avoid the use of these as much as possible as they are usually not allowed in real papers. It is probably a good practice to check the reference in the wiki page article and read through that as an original source. With this warning in place, I will not penalize you for using Wikipedia citations. But make sure you reference it properly. Remember anyone can post to a Wikipedia page, so it may not be true. I know pages are usually monitored closely by experts, but they may have been away when someone posted...
• (5pts) Formatting -Not really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format figures, captions, tables margins etc. I am expecting a publication-quality paper from you and if it doesn't look right it's actually a lot harder to read comfortably, this is partly why journals impose strict style guides on papers they publish. Below you will find a latex and word template. Try to avoid using other word processors as they tend not to be universally supported. The best is latex but there is a rather larger and steep learning curve so MS Word is good enough. By the way, the AIP style guide, 4th edition, linked below doesn't just address formatting issues it is a general guide that helps you improve your technical writing but within the AIP style.

• (5pts) Abstract: A single paragraph, only in rare situations, and never in this class, would there be a need for additional paragraphs. Each element of your abstract should be concise and short (one or two sentences) and consist of the following: what was done, how it was done, your primary result or results and finally any major conclusion drawn. If numerical results are obtained you should quote those prominently in your abstract, particularly those that are most important. If you think it relevant you may summarize important intermediate results but usually this is not necessary in an abstract. The rest of the paper is better suited to this sort of information. Always make sure to include uncertainties, and that all values have their proper number of significant figures. And of course the units of any numerical result should be quoted. Your conclusion(s) can be summarized in the last sentence or two. Remember your abstract is not your introduction so it shouldn't read like one. A general rule of thumb is that a good abstract is one that provides a reader with enough information as to allow him/her to decide whether it is worthwhile to read the paper that follows. Regarding tense and use of pronouns. Use past and present tense where appropriate. For example, as the experiment was already completed use past tense when describing things that were done and use present tense to describe general ideas or conclusion or when appropriate. As an example your abstract could begin something like this "We determined the magnetic moment of a small disk.. ". While this is okay usually in scientific papers a more formal and less personal tone is taken, for example: "The magnetic moment of a small magnetic disk was determined... "
  
  
• (10pts) Introduction:Here you will introduce the paper, described what is being measured in detail and why it is interesting. Background information should be included in this section and any theoretical motivation for the work. This section will likely be the most heavily cited so make sure you cite your sources and include references in the "References" section. Properly formatted, check sample papers or use the AIP style guide linked below.
• (10pts) Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail in this section. This is where you would describe the equipment used and its function, with as much detail as you think relevant. Assume here that the reader is not familiar with the equipment. Long and complex equipment can be cited to a manual, as there is no need to re-write what is already available. If you cite webpages make sure these conform to proper formatting guidelines. Make sure you include relevant figures and photos if needed. Also describe in detail how the measurements where performed, procedures, assumptions made, particularly describe difficulties encountered and how you estimated uncertainties that result from any and all measurements. This is also where you can detail the experimental uncertainties and any steps taken to reduce them. Many experimentalist move a complete discussion on experimental uncertainties to a separate section as this is as if not more important the main result of your work. Remember the idea here is to provide as complete a description as you can so that others can reproduce your work, this is usually the approach taken in a never before done experiment. In this class I will take into account that what we are doing is practice.
• (10pts) Results and Conclusions: ( Results ) As per title of this section here you describe the result(s) obtained. Included a summary of important final calculations. Do not just include numbers in loose itemized lists instead use properly formatted tables, plots and or figures to describe the results. Never have a section that only has data tables and plots WITHOUT a narrative describing what is being presented. This can not be leave interpretation of data completely up to the reader, no matter how expert you believe they are. Here is where you would include any statistical analysis conducted to obtain your results, models used to fit to data, statistical inferences, discussion of goodness of fit parameters, confidence levels in the agreement between your data and your model assumptions, t-values, and/or any other relevant statistical analysis performed. A full summary and description of your uncertainties; both statistical and systematic should be included here unless it was moved to its own section, somewhere else in the paper. (Conclusions) For the conclusions part of this section you should give context to your results what they mean and how to interpret them. Discuss how they relate to theoretical predictions or known values you are comparing your results with, other measurements or previously accepted determinations. You could also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with expectations. However do not freely speculate and try to your best to quantify your statements, for example by changing this I can improve the uncertainty in that by how much. If you can not easily quantify these statement they are better left unsaid. You may also want to discuss the precision of your result particularly if these are poor and if there are ways in which that can be improved. For example with a longer experimental run, measurement of input parameters with different equipment or the use of improved techniques.
• (5pts) References: Citations should be included in your paper and be properly formatted, consistent with standard practices in physics journals, such as PRL or PRD (use the AIP style guide linked below. If you don't want to read that style guide just copy the sample papers linked below). I prefer the use of square brackets, [1] to cite a reference and require you to use seperate reference bibliography started on its own page. If you use the style templates below they provide you with proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. If you cite a webpage, which I allow, make sure you reference it properly in the bibliography. I also allow Wikipedia sources but you should avoid the use of these as much as possible as they are usually not allowed in real papers. It probably a good practice to check the reference in the wikipage article and read through that as an original source. This warning in place, I will not penalize you for using a wikipedia citations. But make sure you reference it properly. Remember anyone can post to a wikipedia page, so it may not be true. I know pages are usually monitored closely by experts, but they may have been away when someone posted...
• (5pts) Formatting -Not a really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format figures, captions, tables margins ect. I am expecting a publication quality paper from you an if it doesn't look right its actually a lot harder to read comfortably, why we have strict style guides. Below you will find a latex and word template. Try to avoid using other word processors as they tend not to be universally supported. The best is latex but there is a rather larger and steep learning curve so MS Word is good enough. By the way, the AIP style guide, 4th edition, linked below doesn't just adress formatting issues it is a general guide that helps you improve your technical writing but within the AIP style.
• (0pts) Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but it is not necessary.

• PhysRev.2.109-MillikanOilDrop.pdf: PhysRev.2.109-MillikanOilDrop.pdf

• aip_style_4thed.pdf: aip_style_4thed.pdf

• Abstract: Usually a single paragraph, only in rare situations should there be more (not in this class). The statements should be concise and short (one or two sentences each) on what was done, how it was done, the major results and any conclusion drawn. If a numerical result(s) is obtained you should include that in the abstract. You can summarize intermediate results or just quote the main result, leaving the rest for the main body of the paper. Always include uncertainties, and make sure that values have the proper number of significant figures and units. The conclusion(s) can be summarized after the results are quoted. Again limit each of these statements to one or two sentences. Also, remember that an abstract is not an introduction so it shouldn't read like one. In principle a general rule of thumb to consider is that an good abstract is one that provides the reader enough information to decide whether it is worthwhile to read the paper that follows. Regarding tense and use of pronouns. Use past and present tense, since the experiment has already been done use past tense when you describe things already accomplished. Use present tense where appropriate for example to state general facts. So "We measured the magnetic moment of a small... " is OK as is "The magnetic moment of a small magnetic disk was determined... " The later is the usual one encountered in physics papers.

• Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and, the function of the equipment used and the procedure used to make the measurements. Include figures and drawings and refer to the manuals if that is used significantly. Also, summarize any difficulties experienced during the process of performing the measurements. In this section, you can describe the steps taken to minimize experimental uncertainties or if you prefer leave that discussion to its own separate section.
• Results: describe the result obtained. Included a summary of important final calculations, use tables, plots, figures to describe the results but DO NOT exclude a narrative along with your tables, plots and figures. Also include statistical analysis and their results such as: parameter estimates, goodness of fits values, t-value and/or any other relevant statistical information. A description of your uncertainties; ie., the source of the uncertainty and how they were estimated and computed can be included in this section or if you prefer in its own section later in the paper.
• Conclusion and Discussion: In this section you give context to your results; what they mean and how to interpret them. Discuss how are they related to theoretical predictions, other measurements or previously accepted determinations. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent with expectations and/or are sigificantly different. You may also want to discuss the precision of your results particularly if these are poor and if there are ways in which they can be improved. For example with a longer experimental run, measure input parameters with different equipment, or use of improved techniques.
• References: Citations should also be done properly formatted and should be consistent with that used in physics journals, such as PRL or PRD. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography started on its own page. Check the sample papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. In principle, Wikipedia sources should be avoided but since this is class and you are not really writing a paper I will in general allow wikipedia citations, better yet look at the citations in the wikipedia article, read those and use them instead. If you do cite an only resource make sure you do it properly see the AIP style. m to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...

• Formatting -Not a really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provided you below with a latex and word template.
• Writing Guide: Check the AIP style guide 4th edition linked below

Course Twiki for Advanced Physics Lab, PHY 4821L

Course Textbook and Recommended Reference Material

Class Meets in CP259 on TuTh 1:00pm - 3:30pm

Professor: Jorge L. Rodriguez

• Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and, the function of the equipment used and the procedure used to make the measurements. Include figures, drawing or refer to manuals if used. Also, summarize any difficulties experienced during the process of performing the measurements. In this section, you can describe the steps taken to minimize experimental uncertainties.

• Conclusion and Discussion: Here you state the meaning of your results and relate them to theoretical predictions or other accepted measurements. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent or are significantly different than expected. Also, you can discuss the precision of your result particularly if its poor, that is the uncertainty your estimated is large.
• References: Citations should also be done properly and according to a style consistent with physics papers. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography again check the papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with the proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. In principle, Wikipedia sources should be avoided but since this is class and you are not really writing a paper I guess its okay but please keep them to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...

• Formatting -Not a really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provided you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson. This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. This is the only book I would highly recommend you purchase for this class. You can find the latest edition on Amazon for about 45 dollars. Older editions are also available but I do not recommend those. Get the latest or 3rd edition.

• Abstract: Usually a single paragraph, only in extreme situations should there be more (not in this class) or statement with a short description (one or two sentences) of what you did, how you did it, again one or two sentences, and what you discovered or measured. You need absolutely a numerical results with its error with the proper number of significant figures. If you have any conclusions that are important enough that you feel the author needs to know please include it, but one or two sentences at most. And make sure your abstract doesn't read like an introduction, leave that to the introduction. Basically, the idea is to provide the reader with enough information to make him/her want to read the paper and to determine whether it is worthwhile to do so. Make sure the tense is past. You've already completed the experiment right.

• Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and, the function of the equipment used and the procedure used to make the measurements. Include figures, drawing or refer to manuals if used. Also, summarize any difficulties experienced during the process of performing the measurements. In this section you can describe the steps taken to minimize experimental uncertainties.
• Results: Describe completely the result obtained from the measurements. Included a summary of important final calculations, include tables, plots and statistical analysis complete with parameter estimates, goodness of fit estimates and other relevant statistical information. A description of your uncertainties; ie., the source of the uncertainty and how they were estimated and how they were computed should also be summarized in this section.

• References: Citations should also be done properly and according to a style consistent with physics papers. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography again check the papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with the proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. In principle, wikipedia sources should be avoided but since this is class and you are not really writing a paper I guess its okay but please keep them to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...
• Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but it is not necessary.

• Fortmatting -Not a really a section: Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provided you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.

• Fortmatting -Not a really a section : Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provide you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.

List of Available Labs

Field	Topic	References and Links		Laboratory Instructions	Students
Computational Physics	Monte Carlo Methods, Binomial Statistics, Errors, Uncertainties and fittin	There are sections in both recommended texts related to this lab. Mellesino has a nice section on probability and statistics, distributions, fitting functions and so does Bevington and Robinson. Other sources and links: Helpful information on how to gain access and use the physics server medianoche HowToAccessComputing, A recommend data analysis package called MNFIU or MN_FIT, essentially an interface to CERN MINUIT fitter. Its one of the few precursors to ROOT but is easier to use. The manual and information is available http://www-zeus.physik.uni-bonn.de/~brock/mn_fit.html, The full blown ROOT data analysis package The ROOTt data analysis framework , and Dr. Boeglin's, collection of python scripts and libraries (Labtools) http://wanda.fiu.edu/boeglinw/LabTools/doc/		MonteCarloLab
Statistics and Probability Distributions	Uncertainties, Poisson and Gaussian statistics	"Experiments in Modern Physics" 2nd ed. by Melissinos & Napolitano. Other sources, Poisson Statistics, Poisson fitter, Counting Statistics,[XYZ of Oscilloscopes (Tektronix intro manual)]]		CountingLab
Fundemental Constants	Millikan Oil Drop Experiment	A nice description of this lab is available from Meliesino & Napolitao 2nd ed. Millikan's orignal paper		MillikanLab
E&M	Magnetic Torque & Gyromagnetic ratio	Teachspin website: Magnetic Torque		MagneticTorqueLab
E&M	Magnetic Force	Teachspin website: Magnetic Force		MagneticForceLab
NMR	Pulsed NMR, finding FID	Teachspin website: Pulsed NMR		NMagneticResonanceLab
Astro/particle physics	Cosmic Ray Flux distribution			CosmicRayLab
Condensed Matter Physics/Nanoscience	Quantized Conductance in nanocontacts	This is a newly developed experiment for students interested in condensed Matter Physics, nanoscience and nanotechnology. The experiment will be carried out in Professor Jin He's lab (CP 277) and will be supervised by a graduate student.		QuantizedConductance

• HiggsDiscoverPaper-xarch-1207.7235v2.pdf: The Higgs discovery paper published by the CMS Collaboration in 2012.

• PhysRevLett.107.251801.pdf: A PRL paper on the faster than light neutrino results obtained last September by the OPERA collaboration.

• PhysRevD.83.112004.pdf: A recent PRD paper from the CMS collaboration on Upsilon production at the LHC. This longer paper includes lots of figures, tables and equations.

• LaTeXTemplates.zip: Lab paper template/guidelines for latex

• wordguidelines.zip: Lab paper template/guidelines for word

• Formatting -Not a really a section : Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provide you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=qlhib6o9cl0a9oon2p21g43sc0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

Class Meets in CP259 on MoWe 3:15pm - 6:00pm U01 or TuTh 12:45pm - 3:30 pm

Professor: Jin He TuTh

Office hours: Jorge L. Rodriguez check faculty.fiu.edu/~jrodrig or by appointment

Office hours: Jin He check http://faculty.fiu.edu/~jinhe/ or by appointment

Class Meets in CP259 on TuTh 1:00pm - 3:30pm U01

Lab Reports

1. (20 points) Smoothness and clearness of your talk.

2. (20 points) Structure and organization of your slides (should include: Introduction, background, motivation (significance), method, results, conclusion/summary).

3. (20 points) Your understanding of the topic/research field.

4. (20 points) Interpretation of research/experimental results.

5. (10 points) Completeness of the citation of the sources from which you get the data, image, graph, information, etc.

6. (10 points) Your answer to the questions from your instructor and classmates.

• HiggsDiscoverPaper-xarch-1207.7235v2.pdf: The Higgs discovery paper published by the CMS Collaboration in 2012.

Class Meets in CP259 on TuTh 12:30pm - 3:20pm U01

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson. This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. This is the only book I would highly recommend you purchase for this class. You can find the latest edition on Amazon for about 45 dollars. Older editions are also available but I do not recomend those. Get the latest or 3rd edition.
2. "Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physicists" (ISBN: 0521379342) by Louis Lyons. This is another classic geared towards counting experiments but also covers general topics in data analysis. This book is a favorite of Dr. Boeglin.
3. "Experiments in Modern Physics 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0124898513) by A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano. This is another classic and a good read. The book describes in detail the Millikan Oil drop experiment and describes pulsed NMR. The last few chapters include are on probability and statistics as applied to measurement including likelihood and least squares fitting.
4. "Measurements and their Uncertainties" (ISBN: 019956633X) by Ifan G. Hughes & Thomas P.A. Hase. Another excellent reference on experimental techniques and measurements.

Course Syllabus for Advanced Physics Lab, PHY 4821L

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. The latest edition of this book is well worth the cost. It even describes in detail some of the experiments we'll do in class, particularly the MC experiment. You can find a copy on Amazon or other online retailers for about 45 dollars, the last time I checked. You may find it cheaper elsewhere.
2. "Experiments in Modern Physics 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0124898513) by A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano. This is another classic and recommended. The book describes in details some of the more challenging experiments. For example the Millikan Oil Drop experiment is explained, but of course there are lots of online resources on this too. It also has a nice section that summarizes the theory of probability and statistics as applied to measurement.

• HiggsDiscoverPaper-xarch-1207.7235v2.pdf: The Higgs discovery paper published by the CMS Collaboration in 2012.

• PhysRevLett.107.251801.pdf: A PRL paper on the faster than light neutrino results obtained last September by the OPERA collaboration.

Course Syllabus for Senior Physics Lab, PHY 4821L

Class Meets in CP251/CP259 on TuTh 12:30pm - 3:20pm U01

Introduction:

Grading Scale:

Course Textbook and Recommended Reference Material

Lab Notebook

You should purchase a bound notebook to keep detailed notes about the experiments that you are working on. You should include data that you obtained, notes about the techniques, lists of references, etc. Notes should be dated so that you can cross reference things in the notebook with other materials you may get or produce during you experiments. A good researcher usually has five times as much information in the notebook than needed--but you never can be sure what you are going to need once you sit down to analyze your data.

Lab Reports

Presentation

Exit Exams

Schedule

Class Meets in CP251/CP259 on TuTh 2:00pm - 4:50pm U01

• Abstract: Usually a single paragraph, only in extreme situations should there be more (not in this class) or statement with a short description (one or two sentences) of what you did, how you did it, again one or two sentences, and what you discovered or measured. You need absolutely a numerical results with its error with the proper number of significant figures. If you have any conclusions that are important enough that you feel the author needs to know please include it, but one or two sentences at most. And make sure your abstract doesn't read like an introduction, leave that to the introduction. Basically the idea is to provide the reader with enough information to make him/her want to read the paper and to determine whether it is worthwhile to do so. Make sure the tense is past. You've already completed the experiment right.

• References: Citations should also be done properly and according to a style consistent with physics papers. I prefer using square brackets such as [1] and then a proper bibliography again check the papers linked below. If you use the style templates below they provide you with the proper formatting for your citations automatically. But you need to know how to use it. It pays to learn this sooner rather than later. You can use online sources but only if you cite them properly. In principle, wikipedia sources should be avoided but since this is class and you are not really writing a paper I guess its okay but please keep them them to a minimum. Not everything you read on the web is true...
• Appendix: You can include one of these if you need to but its not necessary.

• Fortmatting -Not a really a section : Your best bet is to look through the sample paper linked below to see how to properly format a physics paper. Use or PRL or PRD style is preferred. I've provide you below with a latex and word template. Use them as I am quite picky about these things as are journal referees.

List of Available Labs (Lab due dates are posted in the calendar above. Please NOTE: that late will be penalized 1 point per day. After a week late the lab will not be graded.)

Class Meets in CP251/CP259 on TuTh 1:00pm - 3:20pm U01

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. The latest edition of this book is well worth the cost. It even describes in detail some of the experiments we'll do in class, particularly the MC experiment. While Amazon.com sells this for ~ 100 dollars you can get it from a UK site for about 30-40 bucks. Not sure how much it would cost to ship to the US.
2. "Experiments in Modern Physics 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0124898513) by A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano. This is another classic and is highly recommended. The book describes in details some of the more challenging experiments in the course including the Millikan Oil Drop experiment. It also has a nice section that summarizes the theory of probability and statistics as applied to measurement.

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. The latest edition of this book is well worth the cost. It even describes in detail some of the experiments we'll do in class, particularly the MC experiemnt. While Amazon.com sells this for ~ 100 dollars you can get it from a UK site for about 30-40 bucks. Not sure how much it would cost to ship to the US.

• Abstract: A single paragraph statement with a short description of what it is you are doing, how you are doing it and a summary of the results. The idea is to provide the reader with enough information to make him/her want to read the paper and to determine whether it is worthwhile to do so.

• Experimental Procedure: Describe the experimental setup in detail and, the function of the equipment used and the procedure used to make the measurements. Include figures, drawing or refer to manuals if used. Also summarize any difficulties experienced during the process of performing the measurements. In this section you can describe the steps taken to minimize experimental uncertainties.
• Results: Describe completely the result obtained from the measurements. Included a summary of important final calculations, include tables, plots and and statistical analysis including parameter estimates, goodness of fits and other relevant statistical information. A description of your uncertainties; ie., the source of the uncertainty and how they were estimated or computed can be summarized in this section.
• Conclusion and Discussion: Here you state the meaning of your results and relate them to theoretical predictions or other accepted measurements. You should also discuss possible improvements to the experimental procedure especially if your results are inconsistent or are significantly different than expected. Also you can discuss the precision of your result particularly if its poor, that is the uncertainty your estimated is large.
• References: See sample paper for format. You may use source you pulled from the web however, not everything you read on the web is correct, unlike the commercial. So I would advise you to keep these to a minimum and be sure the source is reliable.
• Appendix: This is where you would include detailed calculations or programs you write.

• LaTeXTemplates.zip: Lab paper template/guidelines for latex

• wordguidelines.zip: Lab paper template/guidelines for word

Class Meets in CP251 on TuTh 2:00pm - 4:50pm U01

1. "Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences 3rd Edition" (ISBN: 0072472278) by Philp R. Bevington and D. Keith Robinson This is a classic and every experimentalist should have a copy of their own. The latest edition of this book is well worth the cost. It even describes in detail some of the experiments we'll do in class, particularly the MC experiemnt.
2. "Experiments in Modern Physics 2nd Edition" (ISBN: 0124898513) by A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano. This is another classic and is highly recommended. The book describes in detal some of the more challenging experiments in the course including the Millikan Oil Drop experiment. It also has a nice section that summarizes the theory of probability and statistics as applied to measurement.
3. "Measurements and their Uncertainties" (ISBN: 019956633X) by Ifan G. Hughes & Thomas P.A. Hase. Another excellent reference on experimental techniques and measurements.

Lab Notebooks

Class Meets in CP251 on TuTh 12:30pm - 3:20pm U01

Grading Scale

Your final grade will be based on the scores you recieved throughout the semester mostly on your lab reports which are each given equal weight. The final presentation is also given equal weight to the lab reports. At the end of the class you will take the Physics Major Field test. Everyone must take this exam but your overall course grade will not be inpacted negatively unless you fail to take the exam or do not take it seriously. The final grade scoring used is based on the standard departmental grading scale which is a modified FIU scale as follows: