The Honors Physics Laboratory Notebookand the Formal Lab Reports in Honors Physics

2011 -2012

Your Honors Physics Laboratory Notebook contains the essence of your laboratory experience. In it, you should record your experiment notes. These include procedures of the experiment, sketches of your apparatuses, observations made during the experiment, all experimental data (data tables), plus the work up and analysis of your data. It is a working document. It is OK if it is a bit messy, but it still needs to be legible. As you record information in your notebook, keep in mind that someone (namely Dr. Gaw) will periodically read (and evaluate) your notebook for correctness and completeness. Make sure it is logically organized and contains everything it should. Nothing should ever be simply shoved in the book – tape or staple loose paper (which will generally be graphs) into the book.

In addition to recording your experimental data, most labs will require a typed formal lab report. In order for you to achieve maximum benefit from the lab, reflection and processing (of both data and your understandings) is required. The formal lab report provides this opportunity. The procedure to follow for the formal lab report is detailed below.

The +Physics Laboratory Notebook Itself

  1. Use a bound quadrille-lined book. Do not be afraid to use lots of space.
  2. Write your name and class on the front cover and inside the front cover.
  3. In ink, number all the right-hand pages on the lower right corner if they are not already numbered. If you are left –handed, you may use the left pages instead of the right if you wish.
  4. Save the first two pages for a Table of Contents. This should be kept current as you proceed. Each time you write up a lab, place the title and page number where the lab report begins in the Table of Contents.
  5. Write in ink. Use only the right hand pages. You may use the left-hand pages for preliminary notes, drawing of apparatuses, observations, computations or for a quick graph. The left-hand pages will not be graded.
  6. If you make a mistake DO NOT ERASE. Just draw ONE LINE through your error, and continue. It is expected that some errors will occur. You cannot produce a perfect, error-free notebook. Errors should be corrected by drawing one line through the mistake, and then proceeding with the new data.

Procedure for the Experiment Notes in your +Physics Laboratory Notebook

Include the following 8 sections in your Experiment Notes that are directly written in your laboratory notebook. Note that sections 1 through 5 should be written before you do the experiment. Section 6 should be written while you do the experiment. Finally, sections 7 and 8 should be written after you complete the experiment. All of these sections are to appear on the right-hand pages of your notebook.

  • Sections 1-5 of the Experiment Notes will be checked for completion on the day of the experiment. This is worth 10 points.
  • Sections 6-8 of the Experiment Notes will be checked for completion on the day of the unit exam. This is worth 40 points.
  • If you do not follow the format or forget a section of the Experiment Notes, you lose 5 of the 40 possible points for the lab notebook.
  • You must have your data worked up in your lab notebook. If you do not, you lose 5 of the 40 possible points for the lab notebook.
  • You must attach (taped or stapled) a copy of all graphs in your lab notebook. If you do not, you lose 5 of the 40 possible points for the lab notebook.
  1. Title

The title should be descriptive of the experiment being performed.

  1. Begin Date – End Date

The date you began the experiment and the date you completed the experiment.

  1. Lab Partner(s)

List your lab partner(s).

  1. Purpose/Objective

A brief statement of what you are attempting to do – mention the basic principles and the experimental method involved in the experiment.

  1. Planned Procedure

Use a high level flow chart to outline the experimental procedure. Reference the experimental write up from which you are working. Do not include lengthy, detailed directions. A person who understands physics should be able to read this section and know what you are doing.

As you perform the experiment, you will note any deviations from the procedure in the next section, the Actual Procedure, Data, and Results section.

  1. Actual Procedure, Data, and Results

Note any deviations from the planned procedure in this section of the report. You must record all your data and observations directly in your lab notebook. (No slips of paper or a second “ghost” notebook). Organize your data in a neat, orderly form. Tables are great. Label all data very clearly. Underline, use capital letters, or any other device you choose to help organize this section well. Space things out – don’t try to cram everything on one page. Use data tables where appropriate – with headings and units. Remember to properly label your graphs. Use a tool like LoggerPro to help create easily read graphs.

As you perform the experiment, remember that you must reduce human and mechanical errors. Your goal is to perform the experiment free of error – so check your data as you obtain it. Does it make sense? If not, why not? Correct those errors (human and mechanical) NOW! To do this, you will often need to quickly work up your data (hence sections 6 and 7 sometimes merge into a single large section – that’s OK).

  1. Sample Calculations and Analysis

In this section, you work up your data (with the worked up data often ending up in a neat table). You should show how calculations were carried out by giving the equations to be used. Show a few sample calculations. Describe and show how you analyzed your data. Often a graph will need to be interpreted (or linearized). Although this graph and analysis may actually be part of the previous section, make sure you discuss how the graph was analyzed in this section.

Some labs will ask a series of questions. Such questions should be answered in this section. Questions should be answered in a way that the meaning of the question is obvious from your answer. This means that one word answers are inappropriate.

  1. Conclusion Statement

Make a simple statement concerning what you can conclude from the experiment.

The Formal Lab Report: Basic Procedure

In +Physics, there will be four formal lab reports in the first semester and three in the second semester. Reports for the first semester will be: 1) Police Car and The Fee Fee Road Speeder; 2) Flying Hot Wheels; 3) Relationship between Mass and Acceleration and 4) Hot Wheels Loop-de-Loop. Reports for the second semester will be: 1) Springs; 2) Speed of Sound I; 3) Speed of Sound II.

  1. All formal lab reports are to be typed. Type your report using double spacing between lines. Equations may be hand written. They should not be over six typed pages (including data).
  2. You are to write up your Formal Lab Report by yourself. Your lab partner and you will have different reports (although the data will be the same).
  3. Lab reports are due one week plus one day following the completion of the lab.
  4. Each formal lab report is worth 100 points. I will spend most of my time reading sections 5 and 9.

The ten sections in the typedFormal Lab Report are listed below (some are already part of your Experiment Notes in your bound +Physics Laboratory Notebook).

  1. Title

The title should be descriptive of the experiment being performed.

  1. Begin Date – End Date

The date you began the experiment and the date you completed the experiment.

  1. Lab Partner(s)

List your lab partner(s).

  1. Purpose/Objective

A brief statement of what you are attempting to do – mention the basic principles and the experimental method involved in the experiment.

  1. Discussion of Theory/Background

In this section you should discuss the theory of the experiment. It does not need to be very detailed, but there should be enough there to demonstrate your understanding of the theory behind the experiment. You do not need to derive any equations, although you may want to use some in your discussion. Your goal is to explain the background that makes your experiment and data analysis possible.

  1. Actual Procedure

Describe the process followed in your actual procedure. This should be detailed enough so that someone else can follow your written instructions and get the same results.

  1. Data and Results

In this section, detail your experimental results. Organize your data in a neat, orderly form. Label all data very clearly. Use correct significant digits. Always include proper units (kg, s, etc.). Use tables where appropriate. Do not make up data! (Making up data is considered cheating and results in a zero for the formal lab report). If you forgot to measure something, note it and move on. I will often reanalyze your data based on what you put in this section.

  1. Sample Calculations and Analysis

You should show how calculations will be carried out by giving the equations to be used. Describe how you analyzed your data. Use graphs and properly label them (you may need to make copies of the graphs that are part of your +Physics Laboratory Notebook). Make sure to double check your computations.

  1. Discussion of the Data

Continue your analysis of your data with a discussion of it. Explain what worked and what did not. Remember, your goal in all experiments is to reduce human error and to focus on the physics of the lab – so there really should be little error. Does your data support the theory of the experiment? This is the section where you convince the reader that you understand your data from a basic physics point of view.

Questions in the experimental section do not need to be answered in the formal lab report. They do, however, help to lead you to important items to discuss.

  1. Conclusion Statement

Make a simple statement concerning what you can conclude from the experiment.

This table recaps the various items discussed here, their point values, and their due dates.

Item / Point Value / Due Date
Experiment Notes: Sections 1-5 (in notebook) / 10 / Day of Experiment
Experiment Notes: Sections 6-8 (in notebook) / 40 / Day of Unit Exam
4 Formal Lab Reports in 1st Semester (typed) / 100 each / One week and one day after completion
3 Formal Lab Reports in 2nd Semester (typed) / 100 each / One week and one day after completion

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