PHY 134 Spring 2026
This is the organizational page for the Physics Introductory Labs PHY 134 for Spring 2026.
The scope of the introductory labs is to give an understanding of basic experimental methods applied in physical sciences. The experiments performed during the lab sessions are closely related to the topics covered in the lectures in PHY 127,132 or 142.
| Instructors | Director of UG Laboratory | Teaching Assistants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. Lefferts | F. Chisena |
|
You will perform an experiment, one per week, as indicated in the Manuals and Course Schedule section. The lab session lasts 2 hr 20 minutes. Each experiment will come with a manual that you can access from this webpage.
You will perform each lab experiment by yourself, usually with the help of a lab partner.
Your perfomance in the lab session will be evaluated by your teaching assistant. The evaluation is based on a pre-lab quiz and a written lab report that you submit in the week following the lab experiment. Please refer also to Lab Report Guide.
Each lab score will be made up of 15% for the pre-lab quiz and 85% for the written report.
Your final score will be an average from your single lab grades scaled by a factor (to account for TA variation) that will be determined at the end of the semester. Your final grade will be a letter grade ranging from A to F.
Your lab report will be graded as follows:
Grading for each experiment (left click to expand)
- Pre-Lab Quiz (15 pts): Posted to Blackboard. To be submitted before the beginning of the relevant lab.
- Structure (15 pts): Consists of the following sections of your report:
- Introduction: A short overview of the experiment
- Results: Outline what you get (plots, key calculated quantities, etc.).
- Conclusion: Key insights of the experiment and caveats thereof
- Data table (10 pts): A reasonably-formatted copy of the data you took in lab (along with calculated quantities, as relevant).
- Analysis (60 pts): Varies, consists of the following components:
- Graphs (see the PHY133/134 Plotting Tool)
- Calculations, including uncertainty propagation (relevant work shown)
- Discussion: Various other subsections of your report, which will vary from lab to lab
For more details, see the Guide to Lab Reports.
Here is the schedule of labs for the semester.
The first lab sessions will take place in the week starting from Monday, January 26.
- Lab 0 (January 26 - January 29): Expectations and Error Analysis
- Lab 1 (February 02 - February 05): The Oscilloscope (Data Sheet)
- Lab 2 (February 9 - February 12): Electric Field Plotting (Data Sheet)
- Lab 3 (February 16 - February 19): Capacitors (Data Sheet)
- Lab 4 (March 02 - March 05): Ohm's Law (Data Sheet)
- Lab 5 (March 9 - March 12): Magnetic Force (Mag Force Data) Sections L01,03,04,06,07,09,10,12,13,15,16,18,19,21,22,24
e/m of the Electron (e/m Data) Sections L02,05,08,11,14,17,20,23
March 16 - March 20: Spring Break. No classes.
- Lab 6 (March 23 - March 26): e/m of the Electron (e/m Data) Sections L01,03,04,06,07,09,10,12,13,15,16,18,19,21,22,24
Magnetic Force (Mag Force Data) Sections L02,05,08,11,14,17,20,23 - Lab 7 (March 30 - April 02): Inductors (Data Sheet)
- Lab 8 (April 13 - April 16): Resonance (Data Sheet) (Resonance Plotting Tool)
- Lab 9 (April 20 - April 23): Optics (Data Sheet)
- Lab 10 (Apr 27 - Apr 30): Interference (Data Sheet)
(May 04 - May 07): Make-up Lab Week for Labs 8 - 10. No lab classes.
Here are some documents you may find helpful (You can find more information via links on the Reference Documents Page):
Guide to Uncertainty and Error Analysis (Quick Reference)
Guide to Making and Using Plots
Here is a link to the plotting tool we will use to make our graphs in this class:
| Section | When | Where | Teaching Assistant |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHY134 L01 | Mo 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-116 | Haocheng Zhang |
| PHY134 L02 | Mo 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-119 | Edward Jansen |
| PHY134 L03 | Mo 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-130 | Murilo Tibana |
| PHY134 L04 | Mo 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-116 | Haocheng Zhang |
| PHY134 L05 | Mo 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-119 | Edward Jansen |
| PHY134 L06 | Mo 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-130 | Noah Chavez |
| PHY134 L07 | Tu 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-116 | Aditya Agarwal |
| PHY134 L08 | Tu 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-119 | Sicheng Liu |
| PHY134 L09 | Tu 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-130 | Edward Keenan |
| PHY134 L10 | We 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-116 | Aditya Agarwal |
| PHY134 L11 | We 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-119 | Manojna Namuduri |
| PHY134 L12 | We 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-130 | Zhanyu Liu |
| PHY134 L13 | We 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-116 | Daniel Quinter |
| PHY134 L14 | We 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-119 | Manojna Namuduri |
| PHY134 L15 | We 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-130 | Murilo Tibana |
| PHY134 L16 | Th 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-116 | Jesse Cao |
| PHY134 L17 | Th 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-119 | Wenhao Ya |
| PHY134 L18 | Th 2:00pm - 3:50 | A-130 | Edward Keenan |
| PHY134 L19 | Th 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-116 | Daniel Quinter |
| PHY134 L20 | Th 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-119 | Wenhao Ya |
| PHY134 L21 | Th 4:00pm - 5:50 | A-130 | Noah Chavez |
| PHY134 L22 | Th 11:00am - 12:50 | A-116 | Jesse Cao |
| PHY134 L23 | Th 11:00am - 12:50 | A-119 | Sicheng Liu |
| PHY134 L24 | Th 11:00am - 12:50 | A-130 | Zhanyu Liu |
You are responsible for keeping track of deadlines for your lab reports. A list of deadlines (and return dates for work) is available here: Due Dates
Be alert to announcements about changes to this schedule from your TA or via Blackboard.
Late lab report penalty is 10% (of possible value) per day up to 5 days, then will not be considered and will receive zero points.
Exceptions for partial credit may be granted by a TA or the course instructor, with suitably documented reasons.
If you need to be absent for a lab experiment you will have to provide written documentation for a significant reason to be absent, e.g., a medical note from your doctor or a written document about jury duty.
With such documentation, you will have the opportunity to make up the lab experiment in the dedicated make-up week. Under such circumstances, please submit a make-up request via the PHY134 Make-Up Request Form
There are three ways to ask questions or report problems:
- To contact your TA, use the e-mail addresses provided at the top of this page. This is the best option for lab-specific questions, such as checking requirements.
- To contact all TAs, use PHY134_lab@stonybrook.edu. This is the best option for general physics questions. If you cannot get in touch with your own TA and have a question on how to do a calculation (or why numbers look weird), this is also a reasonable place to contact.
- For administrative concerns, contact the course instructor, Richard Lefferts, at phy_introlabs@stonybrook.edu or in Office Hours, [times TBD]in the Help Room .