PHYSICS 407 - Nuclear Physics Laboratory

Syllabus

Fall 2008 Semester

Course ID Time Days Room
PHYS 407-001 2:20pm - 4:20pm Thursday API 1

Instructor:
Dr. Alexander Barzilov
Associate Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY 42101
 Office: Thompson Complex Central Wing, #214
Phone: 270-745-5467     Fax: 270-745-2014
Electronic Mail: alexander.barzilov@wku.edu
Home Page: http://physics.wku.edu/~barzilov/
Office Hours: MF 10:00am - 12:00pm
+ many more by chance or by appointment


Course Description

Required for students enrolled in Physics 470 (Nuclear Physics). Students perform fundamental laboratory experiments in nuclear physics. Students will gain experience in computerized data acquisition and data analysis using modern techniques and equipment.

Co-requisites

Students enrolled in Physics 407 must be enrolled in or have already satisfactorily completed Physics 470. There will be no exceptions to these requirements.

Experiment Schedule

You will complete one experiment per week throughout the semester.

Click here for the schedule of experiments.

Grading Policies

Table 1
Average Score Grade
90 - 100 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
59 and below F

Your grade for Physics 407 will be based primarily on your performance on the laboratory reports using the usual distribution as shown in Table 1 on the left. The overall grade will be based on all labs done, but since making up a lab can be problematic due to the required equipment set-ups, you may skip one lab without penalty.

Laboratory Reports

You will be describing your experimental results by preparing "photo ready" manuscripts suitable to publication in a major scientific journal. Experimental reports must be written on a word processor prepared in accordance to one of these style manuals:

All graphs and tables that are a part of that report must be computer generated. Fitting functions to the data must be included where it is appropriate. A formal laboratory report will be due at the beginning of the next lab period. Thereafter lab reports will be considered late; lab grade will decay at a rate 5% per day late.

The lab journal must be used for recording all data and results of preliminary analysis. You must have a storage device (memory stick, floppy disk, etc.) for record-keeping, data files and reports generated. A back-up or multiple back-ups of the data are encouraged.

Pre-Lab Activities

Before coming to lab it is essential that you make adequate preparations to complete the experiment in the allotted time. Each laboratory period will be no longer than about two hours. Some of the labs are long enough that is very unlikely that you will be able to walk into the laboratory without any preparation and complete the experiment in this amount of time. Therefore you are advised to carefully read the instructions for the experiment that you will be performing before coming to lab.

Collaboration

During the laboratory period, while you are collecting data, you may work with lab partner(s). Obviously, you and your partner will have the same data. However, each student must submit a laboratory report that is demonstrably his/her own work.

Disability Accommodations

Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course must contact the Office for Student Disability Services, Room 101, Garrett Conference Center. The OFSDS telephone number is (270) 745-5004 V/TDD. Please DO NOT request accommodations directly from me without a letter of accommodation from the Office for Student Disability Services.

Laboratory Policies

  • Food and drinks are NOT allowed in the radiation laboratory.
  • Cell phones, pagers, and similar devices must be turned off and stored away during lab session.
  • The computers in the radiation laboratory are for specific lab activities only.