LEVEL 1 LAB GUIDE

Introduction

This web-site contains information about all of the lab work you will undertake for the module Discovery Skills in Physics. Some additional information will also be available on DUO, including lab allocation lists and slides from lectures.

Above you will find links to all of the level 1 lab projects. These open up pages with a basic introduction to the lab and a link to the full lab script in PDF format. At the bottom of these pages you will find a list of key skills that you will be familiar with once you have completed the project. A further page is available for each key skill, detailing what you need to know and providing links to other resources. You can check off all the first year lab skills on the skills audit page. Advice on keeping a lab book (PDF) and on writing reports is also available.

Measurements and their Uncertainties by Hase and Hughes (Oxford University Press, 2010) is an invaluable guide to understanding and using errors and is the recommended textbook for this course

If you have questions or comments about the lab or this website, please get in touch via the contacts page.

Michaelmas Term

In Michaelmas term, as well as having five lectures and a lab session on Report Writing Skills, you will take part in the following labs:

Skills Experiments:

• Circuits One
• Circuits Two
• Projectiles
• Bifilar Suspension
• Report Writing Skills

After completing these experiments there will be a number of skills that you should have mastered

Discovery Experiments (one experiment to be written up):

• Measuring the Hubble Constant
• LRC
• Semiconductors
• The Business Game

Epiphany Term

In Epiphany term, you will complete the following Full Experiments, two of which you will write up in Full Reports:

• Newton's Rings
• Speed of Light
• Coulomb's Law
• Hall Effect
• Interferometer
• Spectrometer
• X-rays
• Radioactivity

Easter Term

In Easter term, as part of the level 2 Laboratory Skills and Practice module, you will complete a bridge project after your exams. You will produce a wiki page in a group of 4 to 6 people.