CCNY - ADVANCED PHYSICS LAB I - PHYS 37100 - Fall 2024

Instructor:

• Prof. James Hedberg
• Marshak Science 423A
• jhedberg@ccny.cuny.edu

Course Web Page: https://hedberg.ccnysites.cuny.edu/PHYS371/

Class times:

• Lecture: Mondays, 4 pm - 4:55 pm, In Person, MR 417S

Office Hours:

• M & W 10-11 am

Materials:

• Computer
• Arduino Kit (provided)

Course Description

Experiments in electricity, magnetism and electronics. 3 lab., 1 conf. hr./wk. 2 cr.

Grading

• Labs: 50%
• Project: 20%
• Practical Exam: 20%
• Participation/In-Class: 10%

Bi-Weekly Labs & Reports

We will do 6 labs using the arduino and components. Each will focus on one or two components.

All reports will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Correct physics!
• Plots/figures
• Writing

You will need to include with your report (to be typed in a professional, university level academic style) your original arduino code, schematics of what you built, data tables and any scripts used to process that data. Labs must be submitted by the due date. Late labs will be reduced by 10% each day (i.e. 1 day late is a maximum score of 90%, 10 days late is a 0)

Project

The course will conclude with a final project. This goal of this project is to use the tools from the semester to perform a real physics experiment of your own design. The physics involved should be at the upper most level of material covered in either PHYS 20700, 20800, or 20900. i.e. more than just measuring the time it takes for a ball to drop 2 meters.

Practical Exam

There will be a short practical exam at the end of the semester that will assess your knowledge and abilities with circuits and the various methods discussed during the semester.

Academic Integrity

The university has a published policy on academic integrity that may be found at: https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-resources/academic-integrity-policy/ Ignorance of this policy is no excuse. A student who cheats or plagiarizes may incur academic and disciplinary penalties, including failing grades, suspensions, or expulsion.

Policies specific for this course and some clarifications regarding what constitutes unacceptable academic dishonesty: Copying complete code from the internet or another source and submitting it as your own. Obviously, when writing a program, there will be times when copying and pasting a few lines from an example documentation will be the best course of action. The point is, if you submit something as yours, it better be mostly yours. That means you understand every line of it and can explain what each line does.

Some relevant excerpts from the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy:

• 1.1 Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Example of cheating include:
  • Copying from another student or allowing others to copy work submitted for credit or a grade.
  • Submitting someone else's work as your own, including, but not limited to, material obtained in whole or in part from commercial study or homework help websites, or content generated or altered by digital paraphrasing tools.
  • Fabricating and/or falsifying data (in whole or in part).
• 1.2. Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's ideas, research or writing as your own.
  • Copying another person's actual words or images without the use of quotation marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source.
  • Presenting another person's ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source.
• 1.3 Obtaining Unfair Advantage is any action taken by a student that gives that student an unfair advantage in his/her academic work over another student, or an action taken by a student through which a student attempts to gain an unfair advantage in his or her academic work over another student.

Also, regarding AI generated content, as recommended by the University Faculty Senate, we will adopt the following clause: "Unauthorized use of AI-generated content on assignments or examinations unless an instructor for a given course specifically authorizes their use. Some instructors may approve of using generative AI tools in the academic setting for specific goals. However, these tools should be used only with the explicit and clear permission of each individual instructor, and then only in the ways allowed by the instructor."

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend every class session of each course in which they are enrolled and to be on time. The professor has the right to drop the student from the course for excessive absences. For this course, two weeks of unexcused absences will constitute an excess of absences. When a student is dropped from the course due to excessive absences, the Registrar will enter the grade of WU.

Communication

To stay within the guidelines of FERPA, we will only reply to your official ccny or cuny mail. Please do not use your yahoo or gmail or other personal accounts to communicate regarding course activities. Also, be professional in your communications. Include your name, course number, and EMPLID if you expect administrative actions to be needed.

Disability Statement

In compliance with CCNY policy and equal access laws, appropriate academic accommodations are offered by the AccessAbility Center. Students who are registered with the AccessAbility office and are entitled to specific accommodations must arrange to have the Office notify the Professor in writing of their status at the beginning of the semester. If specific accommodations are required for a test, students must present the instructor with a form from the Accessibility Office at least one week prior to the test date in order to receive their accommodations.

Course Objectives:

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to

1. Write code for the arduino microcontroller.
2. Design and carryout physics related experiments.
3. Analyze data acquired during an experiment.
4. Communicate their results to a group.
5. Plot data using various methods.
6. Understand the basics of circuit construction and design.

Topics Covered

1. Circuit design and construction
2. Arduino Programming
3. Data Plotting
4. Experimental Design

Relationship of course to program outcomes:

The outcomes of this course contribute to the following departmental learning outcomes:

• employ scientific and quantitative reasoning to analyze a variety of physical phenomena at an advanced undergraduate level,
• design and conduct experiments to acquire and interpret data,
• utilize computers for data analysis and numerical computations,
• convey technical information effectively through written reports and manuscripts,
• communicate scientific results in a professional manner through oral presentations.