This is the organizational page for the Physics Introductory Labs PHY 133 for Summer Session 1.

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 PHY 131 or similar courses.

The instructors and teaching assistants for PHY 133 Lab can vary every summer. Please see SBU Solar or Blackboard for more information.

You will perform 8 experiments as indicated in the Manuals and Course Schedule section. You have 2 hours to perform each experiment. Each experiment will come with a manual that you can access from this webpage.

You are required to perform each lab experiment by yourself, mostly together with a lab partner.

Your perfomance in the lab session will be evaluated by your teaching assistant. The evaluation is based on the introduction of your lab report that you have to write up and submit to your TA at the beginning of the session and your performance during the experiment that includes a final written report that will be submitted in the week following the lab experiment. Please refer also to Lab Report Guide.

Your performance/report will count 100%, of which the pre-lab quiz is worth to 15%, toward your grade on the particular lab experiment.

Your final grade will be an average from your single lab grades scaled by a factor that will be determined at the end of the semester. This final grade will be a letter grade ranging from A to F.

Your lab report will be graded as follows:

1. Pre-Lab Quiz (15 pts): Posted to Blackboard. To be submitted before the beginning of the relevant lab.
2. 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
3. Data table (10 pts): A reasonably-formatted copy of the data you took in lab (along with calculated quantities, as relevant).
4. 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 a list of possible labs for Summer Session 1. Your instructor will choose 8 of these experiments.

The first lab sessions will take place in the second week of Summer Session 1.

• Expectations and Error Analysis
• Pendulum (Data Sheet)
• Acceleration (Data Sheet)
• Projectile Motion (Data Sheet)
• Atwood Machine(Data Sheet)
• Conservation of Energy (Data Sheet)
• Conservation of Momentum (Data Sheet)
• Angular Momentum (Data Sheet)
• Simple Harmonic Motion (Data Sheet)
• Standing Waves (Data Sheet)
• Ideal Gas Law (Data Sheet)

Link to All Data Sheets

Here are some documents you may find helpful:

Guide to Lab Reports

Guide to Uncertainty and Error Analysis (Quick Reference)

Google Sheets Tutorial

Guide to Making and Using Plots

Here is a link to the plotting tool we will use to make our graphs in this class:

PHY133/134 Plotting Tool

You are responsible for keeping track of deadlines for your lab reports.

Be alert to announcements about changes to this schedule from your TA or via Blackboard.

Any lab report submitted after the deadline will not be considered and receive zero points for the lab experiment.

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.

Here are ways to ask questions or report problems:

• To contact your TA, use their SBU e-mail address. This is the best option for lab-specific questions, such as checking requirements.
• To contact all TAs, use PHY133_lab@stonybrook.edu. This is an 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.
• Dr. Bent Nielsen is the Director of Undergraduate Laboratories and in charge of, among other things, the team who maintains lab equipment.