PHYS 401 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Class Policy
Physics 401 is a one semester course intended to give students an introduction to basic laboratory techniques in the context of classical mechanics and electromagnetism. The course consists of a one-hour lecture and a 4-hour lab-period per week.
Before you come to the lab
- Study the laboratory handout carefully. You're learning experience critically depends on being well prepared prior to the laboratory sessions! Solid preparation is also the most efficient approach to a laboratory and will save significant amount of time in carrying out the analysis and writing laboratory reports.
- You will have one lab partner for each experiment. You are expected to rotate partners for every new experiment.
- All of your reports are individually written. You are encouraged to share data with your partner and discuss the lab, however, the individual reports must be your own work (we will notice).
- Keep two laboratory notebooks. Your laboratory notebook is your record of your work in the lab. Use one notebook for the first, third, fifth etc. labs, and the other for the second, fourth, sixth etc. labs. While your laboratory instructor is grading your report, you will use the other laboratory notebook for your work during the lab.
- The laboratory notebook must be a bound ruled notebook. Any bound ruled notebook will do as long as you keep it neat and in one piece.
- The laboratory report is due at the beginning of the laboratory session. It will be graded and returned to you the following week in your laboratory session. Thus, you have one week to write a laboratory report following the last session of a given lab.
Do not miss any laboratory or lecture
- If you somehow miss a laboratory, consult with your laboratory instructor immediately to do the lab in another laboratory session during the week. Laboratory setups are changed the Friday prior to the start of a new lab – no makeups will be allowed after that Friday.
- Late lab reports will suffer up to 10% deduction.
- You have two vouchers, which entitle you to turn in labs up to one week late without penalty.
- All reports except the final are due by one week later after the experiment was done.
- The lectures will provide information necessary to successfully complete the labs as well as teach important experimental technique.
- We will also discuss applications of course material to current physics experiments and technology.
- Consult with your instructors for any problems regarding your reports, laboratory schedule, etc. You may email, call and/or drop in to resolve your problems as soon as possible.
- Excused absences follow the same criteria as Physics 10x and 2xx excused absences. All the lab sessions are full, but in extreme cases it may be possible to triple-up, with permission of the instructor and the lab TA.