Lab experience:  Each person builds her/his own circuit, but can be worked on in group. I would actually advise you to work in pairs... you will need to SHARE lab equipment in pairs. Clean up each day, although you may leave things out on the counters of the lab.  Report broken equipment.

Be sure to check out the expectations and regulations. Here are some hints on checking circuits.

Very important note on the multimeters which will save you time.

Lab Components

Each lab should be word processed and treated like a professional paper. Each report may have the following components

• Understand the background theory through lecture and reading
• Carry out theoretical calculations/simulations using Circuit Maker
• Build the circuit
• Take data using electronic instruments
• Write-up results of each lab

Lab Report Format

• concise, but complete
• When writing up the lab, put the relevant data, any calculations you choose to show, and discussion about a certain part of the lab together, broken up in the way the lab is written. That is, if section A2 asks for you to measure the series resistance, put the procedure for A2, the data for A2, the result for A2, and the discussion for A2 all together before you start writing about A3. Be sure to label each section, e.g. "A2" in your report.

You foraml lab writeups should include:

• experiment title, name, who you worked with (if relevant) and date on the first page
• pre-lab work, problems solved, questions answered, if part of the lab
• objective/purpose - you need to explain why we might care, how these circuits might be important in a larer context
• specific equipment list
• procedure, "following the procedure described in section A2…"
• you should use Circuit Maker to make any necessary diagrams
• raw data - always include all of your raw data, not just conclusions from your data. Do not put raw data into sentences when it can go in a table.
• always show evidence that you built the circuit and that the circuit works when you can
• sample calculations
• processed data/analysis: Be sure to pay attention to and differentiate between "measured" vs. "calculated" quantities.
• discussions/conclusions
  • Formal labs must be thoughtful, this is a WI class, purpose should address why we might care about these circuits - some background, conclusions should address what you learned (not just what you observed)
  • As well as what is explicitly asked for, we are looking for additional insight into the physics of what is happening in the circuits you built by section - does the circuit behanve as expected? Be sure to answer implied questions as well as direct questions. This is a lab, not a homework assignment: You should try to explain as much as you can (do the results make sense?) even if it is not explicitly asked for.
  • Think about your results and address whether they make sense and whether you understand how the circuits are supposed to work in each section. You can also discuss pitfalls and limitations.
  • A conclusion at the end of the whole lab is needed in order to draw conclusions about the basic ideas from that lab. Think about a contenxt larger than your own education, why would people care about what you are doing?
  • You formal labs should be written to educate the reader. It should not focus on "I learned to use an oscilloscope", but should be written like a scientific publication. What did you learn that you can pass on to illuminate the way things work.

Your informal labs should still be word processed, and should include all data and all answers to questions (direct or implied), but does not need any purpose, furhter discussion (beyond questions asked) or conclusions.

Lab Submissions

•  Labs must be submitted as electronic documents on Moodle. If there are hand-drawn plots, or oscilloscope output, you can take a picture with your phone. If you need to draw circuit diagrams, you should use Circuit Maker (or equivalent program) and copy and paste it into your writeup.
• You may only submit one lab late, penalized 10% per day, otherwise late lab writeups will not be accepted.