Course Outline

Physics is an experimental science; that is, the nature and validity of the theoretical framework that physicists use is informed by the outcomes of experiments which can be performed repeatably.

Phys 131L is the laboratory accompanying Phys 131. In this course you will conduct experiments and make observation on various physical systems.

Course Structure

Class will meet once during each of the weeks listed in the schedule on the last page. During each meeting you will be given specific laboratory activities, tasks and assignments. Some of the laboratories consist of traditional experiments; in these you will set up an apparatus, gather and analyze data and reach conclusions about the underlying physics based on your analysis. In other laboratories you will conduct qualitative, computational or ``thought'' experiments; these are accompanied by a worksheet consisting of a series of questions that you will answer.

Laboratory Schedule

Lab Date Lab Materials
1 20 and 27 August Motion in One Dimension
2 3 and 10 September Free Fall Motion
3 3 and 10 September Vectors
4 17 and 24 September Projectile Motion
5 17 and 24 September Introduction to Forces
6 1 and 8 October Newton's Second Law for a Single Object
7 1 and 8 October Newton's Second Law: Atwood's Machine
8 15 October Conical Pendulum
9 22 October Work and Kinetic Energy
10 29 October Conservation of Energy
11 5 November Conservation of Momentum
12 12 November Equilibrium of a Rigid Body
13 19 November Rotational Dynamics