Course Description
PHYS 159 is the laboratory course accompanying PHYS 158. Although this course is one-credit, the course can be intense and time-consuming.
Each week, there is a 3-hour lab for PHYS 159 where students complete in-class assessments and are required to hand them in before the class ends.
The central theme of this course is protocols for measurements and uncertainties.
Types of Assignments To Expect
Pre-lab Assessments - Pre-lab assessments can include quizzes and pre-reading material given in preparation for the lab.
Base Labs - These labs focus on familiarity with design measurement protocols.
Experiment Labs -These labs give you an experimental overview where you first develop a design measurement protocol and then carry out the measurements the week after creating the protocol.
Experiment Labs - These labs give you an experimental overview where you first develop a design measurement protocol and then carry out the measurements the week after creating the protocol.
Advice/Study Tips
Your grade in this class can depend on the TAs that are instructing your section. This can be quite unfair as section averages vary widely. However, they usually scale by the end of the term.
Even if you have a wide error margin with calculations, you can still gain a lot of marks for fully showcasing your problem-solving process. Keep writing even if you don't feel confident about your answer.
When calculating uncertainties, search up the general uncertainty formula and derive each one using partial derivatives.
Write as fast as you can during the lab. I will be including tips to improve handwriting in the resources section for this class.
DO NOT WRITE IN PENCIL! You will lose significant marks if you write in pencil. Write in pen!
Resources
Michel van Biezen has a youtube playlist on estimating uncertainties.
This advice seems not as related to the course but since the time limit for the labs is very intense, here are tips to increase your handwriting speed while still having legible handwriting.
This video is a quick example of how to do partial derivatives.
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