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Outline:

The module content is as follows;

• Short experiment and Communication. The module will begin with an initial shorter physics experiment conducted during the first four weeks. Students will be expected to keep a good contemporaneous account of their work in a lab journal.
• Long experiment and Formal Report - A more complex physics laboratory experiment introduced before Reading Week will then follow the experiment will be conducted over a further five weeks. A contemporaneous record of the experiment should be kept in the form of a laboratory notebook which can be in electronic or hard copy form. The laboratory notebook will be marked alongside the formal report.
• Treatment of experimental data - A data analysis problem sheet will be posted on Moodle before Reading Week. It is expected that students will work through this spreadsheet making use of relevant literature and submit their worked answers via Turnitin.

Aims:

All laboratory modules within the Physics Department contribute to a continuing development of students’ practical skills extending throughout the three years of the BSc, or four years of the MSci degree programmes. Collectively the practical modules have the overall aim of equipping the student with those practical skills which employers expect to find in graduates in physics, whether they are employed in scientific research or development, or in a wider context.

PHAS0054 is intended for Natural Sciences students majoring in Physics and aims to build on and extend the skills acquired in the Physics foundation practical module undertaken in year 1.
The first experiment maps to the second year core lecture modules for Physics majors and acts as a reminder of the principles of good lab practice introduced in the PHAS0011 foundation module.

The year 3 experiment is designed to map onto the third year lecture modules and introduce students to a research style project environment, whereby students undertake one long experiment which is more advanced than those previously encountered in years 1 and 2. The experiment will have more complex instrumentation. Students undertake extensive analysis of their recorded data by employing advanced statistical analysis techniques and the use of data analysis specific software is also encouraged.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module the students should:

• Have prepared a plan and timeline for an experiment to be performed based on preliminary information available including the setting of goals and minimum requirement for success.
• Have improved both the skills and confidence in the acquisition and analysis of experimental data through the performance of one short and one long experiment with more complex instrumentation.
• Have built further on the skills acquired in the first year laboratory foundation day, to record work concisely and precisely in a laboratory notebook, as the experiment is performed.
• Have further improved the skills acquired in the first year laboratory module, to condense the information contained in the record made in the laboratory notebooks into a concise, but precise and complete interim and formal report of the experiments undertaken, in word-processed form.
• Have further practiced skills acquired in the first year in the identification and propagation of experimental uncertainties and been introduced to confidence intervals, hypothesis testing based on chi^2 analysis and maximum likelihood analysis.
• Experience a degree of independence in exploring possible developments in the experiment goals as they are completed.

Teaching and Learning Methodology:

• Group work and project-based learning.
• Laboratory practicals.
• Inquiry-based independent research.

Indicative Topics:

• Electronics
• Solid State Physics
• High Energy Physics
• Experimental Physics