BRADLEY UNIVERSITY
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT

PHYSICS 110 Student Designed Laboratory
Dr. Kimberlin's Section

 By now, you have a good idea of the lab equipment available to you in the 110 laboratory.  You must now use this equipment (or any other equipment you might find useful elsewhere) and the skills you have developed by this time to develop your own experiment to verify the principle of conservation of mechanical energy.   Any new equipment you might not have used yet I would be happy to help you develop the skills to use it (precision timers, photogates, for example).  There are new lab groups below.  You should get into these new lab groups as soon as possible and begin thinking of the possible experiments you might design.

 

WEEK 1
In order to prove the principle of conservation of mechanical energy, or at least, the work-energy theorem, your group must develop an experiment.  You will be expected to have a specific outline of the lab to present and expect questions and comments from your peers, and from me.  This will be done during the first week's lab period, and all groups will make a presentation outlining all aspects of their design, with calculations, diagrams, etc.

The tentative breakdown for your presentation score is as follows:

Originality                      3 pts.        Dropping a ball has absolutely no originality
Presentation                   3 pts.        Each student in the group will graded independently
Viability (will it work)     4 pts.        Dropping a ball in an oil with an unknown
                                                       viscosity has some originality, but very
                                                      difficult and probably not viable.

WEEK 2
The second week, you will take the measurements necessary during the experiment.  There will be 10 pts. associated with the experiment and measurements.  Your data must be clear and prove the concept you set out to prove.  Laboratory skills and experimental development, particularly in light of possible problems that develop will be graded upon, also.

WEEK 3
There will be a final 10 pts. for the formal lab report.  We will discuss the form of the formal laboratory report soon.  I have a sample publication which outlines nicely the major sections of the paper you will be expected to write.  This will be due at the beginning of the lab period of the third week.

Guidelines:

1.  The experiment should be well thought out before the presentation, and the basic idea cannot be changed after the initial proposal at the presentation.

2.  There must be a minimum of 5 data points ( 4 from the precision timers and one at the initial or final position or data point, for example).  Remember that the motion detector and force probes give you many, many data points for each run.

3.  a graph of energy vs. time needs to be shown as a good graphical aid to show the conservation of mechanical energy in the system.

4.  If there are any nonconservative forces acting, they must be identified, and the work done by such forces must be calculated and added to the energy at each data point to include it in the total energy at that point.  These losses (or additions) cannot be attributed to "frictional losses" without any attempt to determine and measure the source of the losses.  "Human Error" will not be tolerated in this lab.  I reserve the right to give you goose eggs if you try this stunt.

5.  Students will evaluate each member of the group after the lab is over.  They should realize before the lab begins that their grade may in part depend upon these evaluations.

6.  Credit will be given in the presentation for originality of design, although the grade will not be heavily dependent upon demonstration of conservation of energy, but rather how the group writes up the formal report, explaining difficulties and errors in measurements and analysis.

7.  An example of a formal lab report will be given to you to guide you in the formal report format.
 

Good Luck  This can be a lot of fun, if you take it somewhat seriously.