PHY 4802L Laboratory Physics 1

Covid-19 Statement:

While we are all tired of dealing with it, COVID-19 remains a serious concern. As of this writing (1/6/2023), in the USA, on average nearly 400 vulnerable people/day die as a consequence of the virus (CDC data tracker). Should you contract one of the highly infectious variants circulating, being vaccinated and boosted is known to greatly reduce your chances of death, but there is also long term COVID to worry about. This has a variety of symptoms that can continue to affect those who got the virus for long, indeterminate periods of time. The CDC COVID-19 About page provides a wealth of up-to-date information about COVID-19 from symptoms to testing to protecting yourself and others. Anyone wishing to follow their guidance and wear a mask when in class is welcome to do so. If you begin to experience symptoms, please be responsible and self isolate to keep others safe. You will have off-hours access to the lab so that you will be able to make-up any lab sessions that you missed.

Our class sessions may be recorded for enrolled students who are unable to attend live. Students who participate with their camera engaged or who utilize a profile image are agreeing to have their video or image recorded.  If you are unwilling to consent to have your profile or video image recorded, be sure to keep your camera off and do not use a profile image. Likewise, students who not mute during class and participate orally are agreeing to have their voices recorded.  If you are not willing to consent to have your voice recorded during class, you will need to keep your mute button activated and communicate exclusively using the "chat" feature, which allows students to type questions and comments live. The chat will not be recorded or shared.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to provide you with a working knowledge of electronic circuitry and laboratory instrumentation. This course will be different from others you have taken in your major. This may be the first time you apply what you have learned in your courses to physical situations that you control. You will need to employ problem-solving techniques, common-sense, and an understanding of the underlying physics. 

The course is very time intensive. You should expect to spend several hours a week outside of class on the reading assignments, lab work, and lab reports. You might want to check out the tips on being a successful student. 

The course schedule is linked here (preliminary, subject to change).

InstructorS

(P2-P4) Dr. Xiao-Xiao Zhang - Office 2259 NPB, Phone: (352) 392-5711,
Office Hr.: Tu & Th 11:45am-12:35pm (P5) or by appointment.

(P5-P7) Prof. Andrew Rinzler - Office 2251 NPB, Phone: (352) 392-5656,
Office Hr.: Tu & Th 4:05pm-4:55pm (P9) or by appointment.

Required Texts

You are expected to read the material to be covered in each lab prior to coming to class. Time constraints limit the material that may be covered in each week's lecture. The lectures can not be and are not a substitute for the reading assignments.

• Textbook: Basic Electronics for Scientists and Engineers, D. L. Eggleston
• Supplementary Textbook: Practical Electronics for Inventors, P. Sherz & S. Monk
• Lab Manual: PDFs uploaded by the instructor during the semester.
• Lecture Notes: PDFs uploaded by the instructor during the semester.

Required Materials

You are encouraged to print the Lab Manual chapters and Lectures to have handy when needed. You should additionally bring:

• Your laptop computer to run the instrumentation
• a Lab Notebook

You should also read: How to keep a professional notebook prior to starting the labs. There is an instructional video online. You can watch this at home or if you decide to watch it during class, please bring headphones to avoid disturbing others.

The textbooks, lectures, lecture notes and Lab Manual will provide the necessary background information for understanding the Labs to be performed. You are strongly encouraged to read through the relevant Lab Manual section and book reading assignment before the dates established for working on the labs in the schedule below. 

Lab Safety

Emergency contacts:

• Dr. DeSerio: NPB 1236, Phone: (352) 392-1690
• Prof. Rinzler: NPB 2251, Phone: (352) 392-5656
• Pro. Zhang: NPB 2259, Phone: (352) 392-5711
• UF campus police: Phone: (352) 392-1111

Grading

Pay no attention to the grade calculation in the e-learning gradebook for this course. It does weird things. The component breakdown toward your course grade is as follows:

• Lab Prep (includes Homework) 30%
• Lab Reports: 30%
• Final Project: 25%
• Instructor evaluation of your effort and engagement 15%

Grading scale:

Note that a grade of A, signifying mastery of the material, requires a near perfect score on all components of the course.

Homework/Quizzes

The homework will consist of textbook exercises as occasionally assigned by the instructor. Another component of the "homework" (implemented as quizzes in Canvas) will consist of LTspice simulations of selected circuits that are due the night before the circuit is to be built in the lab. Due dates and assignments for these quizzes can be located from the "Quizzes" link or in the "Course Summary"  below. There may also be in-class quizzes on material that you should have internalized by the day of the quiz from the reading assignments and previous lectures. The textbook and the student manual have many practical examples which be might modified for quiz questions. 

Lab Work , Lab Notebook and Lab Reports

Among the important aspects of this course are learning how to work with electronic components and instrumentation to get from them what you want, how to take notes and maintain a notebook, and how to write good technical reports. The instructor will circulate in the lab room to provide help and evaluate your performance. They may also check your notebooks to provide advice on note keeping. See How to keep a professional notebook for further instructions.

General information about the lab and the content expected in the four Lab Reports due throughout the semester is linked here, an example report is linked here and notes about this example report that provides guidance for do's and don'ts in your report are linked here.

Assignment due dates will be strictly followed.  Late assignments will incur a severe penalty of up to 15% off per day late. After 4 days late the maximum grade for the assignment (assuming perfect work) will be 50%.

Final Project

Rather than a final exam this course has a final ("Skunkworks") project to be worked on in teams of two in the weeks leading up to the end of the semester (see schedule). Partners are self selected by mutual agreement as the time approaches, so make note of with whom you worked well in doing the labs. Each project will be to build a circuit, having a complexity going well beyond those in the lab manual, meant to perform some stated function. The circuit/function can be devised by the team from scratch, or it can be a circuit identified from the literature or some combination of these. In either case it must be approved by the instructor before detailed work begins (see schedule). The completed circuit will be demonstrated for the class as part of a final PowerPoint-like presentation during finals week. This should detail how the elements of the circuit come together to perform its function. Considered in the grading will be circuit’s complexity (with designed circuits ranking higher than found circuits), the quality of the circuit's descriptions in the presentations (appropriately using principles learned throughout the course) and finally execution (did the circuit work, doing what was intended). You are responsible for ordering and purchasing any parts needed for your project that are not already available. Electronic components are fortunately not expensive but overnight shipping can greatly add to the cost. If you plan well in advance you should not need to resort to overnight shipping.  If you want to keep your project you will need to order breadboards and any needed components to take with you.

Equipment loaned

You may be loaned an equipment kit. Once all presentations are complete, you must return the loaned instrumentation and tools in the condition in which you received them. No grade will be given, potentially delaying your graduation and future plans, until you have done so. It is understood that electronic equipment can spontaneously fail and you will not be held responsible for such circumstance. If, however, it is determined  that the failure was due to misuse or neglect (e.g. you spilled your morning coffee on the powered Mk2, or you fried one of its power supplies by connection to the external supply without a fuse), you will be charged up to $300 replacement costs. Please be kind to future students taking this course and pass them the equipment in a condition as close as possible to how you received it.