Module PHYS2641: LABORATORY SKILLS AND ELECTRONICS

Department: Physics

PHYS2641: LABORATORY SKILLS AND ELECTRONICS

Prerequisites

• Discovery Skills in Physics (PHYS1101) AND Foundations of Physics 1 (PHYS1122) AND (Single Mathematics A (MATH1561) and Single Mathematics B (MATH1571)) OR Core Mathematics A (MATH1012).

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module is designed primarily for students studying Department of Physics or Natural Sciences degree programmes.
• It builds on laboratory skills, such as experiment planning, data analysis and specific practical skills, encountered in the module PHYS1101 Discovery Skills in Physics.
• It aims to teach electronics as a theoretical and a practical subject, to teach a scientific computing language and to provide experience of a long laboratory experiment in Physics.

Content

• A team-based project, undertaken in June of the previous academic year, providing a transition from Level 1 to Level 2 laboratory work.
• Activities to develop skills in data interpretation, experiment design, specific practical techniques, report writing, error analysis, team working and critical thinking.
• Electronics lectures: Analogue Electronics: Components: Introduction to electrical circuit theory, networks, AC theory, passive filters, diodes, transistors; systems: noise, measurements, amplifiers. Digital Electronics: components, JK elements, counters.
• Electronics practical sessions.
• Performance of an extended laboratory practical.
• Exercises to learn a scientific computer language and apply it to simple computational tasks.

Learning Outcomes

• Having studied this module students will know how to plan experiments and to interpret data quantitatively and systematically.
• They will understand the theoretical principles of basic electronics.
• They will have formed a detailed appreciation of the physics underlying a particular project and be prepared to undertake and report on similar projects.

• Students will have specific laboratory practical skills generally useful in practical physics.
• They will have developed practical skills in electronics.
• They will have a working knowledge of a scientific computing language.

• Students will have developed their written and oral presentation skills sufficiently to be able to write fluent and well-structured reports and to give clear and convincing oral presentations.
• They will be able to work successfully as part of a team to solve an open-ended problem.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching will be by lectures, practical sessions, workshops, computing exercises and project work.
• The open-ended ‘bridge project’ is undertaken in June of the previous academic year, providing a transition from Level 1 to Level 2 laboratory work. Students will work in teams on an extended project lasting one week, which will develop their problem-solving, teamwork and presentation skills. (Students who are unable, for good reason, to undertake the bridge project in June will undertake an equivalent project in the following Epiphany Term.)
• The practical sessions are small group activities designed to develop skills in data interpretation, experiment design, team working, specific practical techniques and reporting. The skills covered form the foundation needed for the long experiment in the second term and for later practical work. Students will be able to obtain help and guidance from laboratory scripts and through discussions with laboratory demonstrators.
• The electronics lectures aim to give a theoretical grounding in the elements of electronics – analogue and digital circuits, circuit logic and design – while the practical sessions provide a working knowledge of the subject.
• The computing lectures give an introduction to the basic principles of scientific computing and the workshops and exercises give practice in applying these principles.
• Student performance is summatively assessed through a short presentation on the ‘bridge project’, through a formal report for the skills sessions, through an electronics practical examination, through a formal report for the long experiment and through computing exercises.
• The practical classes, workshops and computing exercises provide opportunity for feedback, for students to gauge their progress and for staff to monitor progress throughout the duration of the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment of laboratory record by laboratory staff.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University