Lab Manual PDF
Lab Manual PDF
ENGINEERING
FUNDAMENTALS
These materials are based on work contained in the SEP101 Lab Manual, © Deakin University 2012, written by
J.M. Long and T. Henderson;
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the following copyright holders for permission to include their works in these study materials:
experiment 3 illustration, reproduced by permission of PASCO Scientific
(http://www.pasco.com/prodCatalog/ME/ME-6825_mini-launcher/index.cfm).
Cover photo: Deakin University Formula SAE car undergoing testing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3F04rYHOIs).
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Introduction
P R E PA R E D B Y J O H N L O N G A N D T E R R Y H E N D E R S O N F O R T H E U N I T
TEAM
Inhalt
Preface 1
Introduction 1
On-campus students 2
Off-campus students 2
Presentation of results 3
Uncertainties of measurement 6
Irregular uncertainties 6
Regular or systematic uncertainties 8
Calculations involving uncertainties 8
Calculation of uncertainty in a result 8
Functions in general 10
Accuracy is not uncertainty 11
Uncertainty in the gradient of a graph 12
Conclusion 12
References 13
© Deakin University
Engineering Fundamentals
Preface
Practical work is an important component of the first-year physics course. It is
expected that through laboratory work, students will develop an appreciation of the
essential role of experimentation in science, and that by the end of the first-year
laboratory course a student will:
This statement was made near the end of the classical period of discovery in
physics:
‘The more important and fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been
discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their being
supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote. Our future
discoveries must be looked for in the sixth place of decimals’.
Source: Albert A. Michelson, 1894
Electrons ... Transistors ... Radioactivity ... Black holes ... E = mc2 ... Tv ...
Neutrons ... Superconductivity ... Lasers ... Radar ... Galaxies ... Nuclear power ...
Fibre optics ... Fusion ... Positrons ... Fission ... Integrated circuits ... Computers ...
Relativity ... Quarks ... Space travel ... Holography ... Cat scans ...
Introduction
This experiments manual contains procedures for six experiments. All students in
SEP101 are required to complete five experiments. The practical assessment is
worth 30% of the final grade in SEB101.
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On-campus students
Each on-campus student will attend the physics laboratory once every two weeks,
for a total of four three-hour sessions, according to a roster which will be
developed in the first week of semester. Under the direction of a demonstrator, on-
campus students will perform four of the experiments set up there. Students will
perform the fifth experiment online by remote control. They will do each
experiment and write up the results in their laboratory notebooks. Students will
then scan the pages of their lab notebooks and upload the pages as Adobe Acrobat
(.pdf) files to the corresponding assignment folder on the SEB101 Cloud-Deakin
website. The demonstrator will mark their write-ups and provide feedback in time
for the next session two weeks later.
Off-campus students
Off-campus (Cloud) students will perform experiments one (pendulum and spring)
and two (beams) at home. The final three experiments will be performed on-
campus at one of the designated off-campus practical days during the first-year
Engineering professional-practice Intensive week. This is held at the Geelong
Waurn Ponds campus. They will do each experiment and write up the results in
their laboratory notebooks. Students will then scan the pages of their lab notebooks
and upload the pages as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files to the corresponding assignment
folder on the SEB101 Cloud-Deakin website. The demonstrator will mark their
write-ups and provide feedback in a timely manner.
For all students, write-ups for the various experiments will be assessed against a
rubric and given a mark out of 20.
To prepare for each session you should read the procedure for the experiment and
read any reference sections from the appropriate textbook before coming to the
laboratory. Also view the video presentation for the corresponding experiment.
Students are advised to have the initial elements of their reports and any pre-
laboratory exercises completed prior to attending the laboratory.
In the laboratory, you will perform the experiment with one or two lab partners,
writing it up as you go.
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Engineering Fundamentals
• Treat all equipment as if it is fragile. You will be held responsible for wilfully
or negligently damaging equipment.
• All electrical circuits must be checked by the demonstrator before turning
them on. If a plug is in the electrical socket, it is considered to be on.
• Damaged or apparently malfunctioning equipment is to be reported to the
demonstrator immediately.
The following rules ensure the safety and security of the laboratory and those who
use it:
1 Students are not to enter the laboratory without permission from the
demonstrator or lecturer. Practical classes must wait outside until the
demonstrator allows them to enter.
2 Deakin University expects students to respect the usual standards of civilised
behaviour. Horseplay, shouting, excessive noise or causing a disturbance will
not be tolerated. Offenders will lose credit for that day’s work.
3 Students are required to wear proper shoes in the laboratory. Thongs and
sandals are not permitted.
4 Eating and drinking is forbidden.
5 Students are not permitted to enter the stores.
6 Only those students enrolled in SEB101 are permitted in the laboratory.
7 Equipment not belonging to your particular experiment must not be touched.
Presentation of results
Working scientists and engineers record their work in bound notebooks.1 You will
do the same as practice in proper scientific note-keeping. The experiments should
be written up in a bound A4 science notebook.2 These books have alternate
lined/graph pages. Alternately, a bound exercise book may be used, but then all
graphs must be firmly attached to a page in the book. All experimental results
should be recorded directly into the practical notebook. They should not be
recorded onto scraps of paper which have a tendency to get lost.
1 For further details on proper scientific note-keeping, see H.M. Kanare, Writing the Laboratory Notebook.
2 The Deakin University Bookshop sells A4 science note-books.
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1 your name, student number, unit code, and practical group on the cover;
2 an index on the first page which has the following columns: number of
experiment, name of experiment, date and mark;
3 the pages numbered.
The write-ups for all the experiments will have the same basic structure:
In many ways this is the same structure as for a formal laboratory report. Another
student should be able to read what you have in your notebook and repeat the
experiment.
The aim
This should be a single statement of the aim of the experiment, specifically what
you hope to achieve. In most experiments you are going to determine a specific
numerical quantity, such as the value of the gravitation constant, or the viscosity of
a fluid. In others you are to verify or demonstrate some physical principle, such as
the behaviour of standing waves.
The introduction
This section is a brief explanation of what the experiment is about. You present the
main equations governing the experiment, deriving any if necessary. You would
present any needed background for the experiment.
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Engineering Fundamentals
The discussion
In this section, the important features of the experiment should be reported clearly
and concisely in essay style, as if you were writing a report for a superior. Special
features of the technique, difficulties, suggested improvements, comparison with
other determinations of the result, all can be included here. You would also answer
any questions posed in the procedures of the experiment.
The conclusion
This should state the final result (and its uncertainty) and relate back to the aims of
the experiment. It is usually only a few sentences.
As you work through each experiment and write down your results, there are a few
things to keep in mind.
Numbers should not be written down without an explanation of what they mean.
Units must be included throughout the report.
When students work in pairs on an experiment, each should answer the questions
individually. Students write up their results individually, even though some
students share the same data.
All mistakes should be crossed out and rewritten. It is not acceptable to write over
a mistake, especially with respect to numbers, since this can lead to ambiguity
when you want to use the data later. Avoid using liquid paper to cover over a
mistake.
Graphs must:
The assessment of a student’s performance in each practical session will take into
account:
a) the student’s attitude, care and skills shown during the practical session;
b) the student’s understanding of the practical exercise;
c) the write-up itself. This will be assessed for:
• layout: legibility, orderliness and logical progression of written work;
• comprehensiveness and thoroughness with which the observations,
calculations and error analyses are carried out;
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L A B O R AT O RY M A N U A L : I N T R O D U C T I O N
If you miss a practical session because of illness or for any other unavoidable
reason, it is essential for you to inform the unit coordinator as soon as possible.
You should keep your laboratory notebooks available as they may be called in for
inspection at any time during the year.
The Appendix contains a sample report for one of the experiments, written as a
formal laboratory report.
Uncertainties of measurement
No matter how carefully a measurement is performed, there is always an
uncertainty (or imprecision) in the result. There is some limit to the precision with
which a measurement can be made. The uncertainty in a measurement is a number
which describes how well we know that measurement. When two or more
measured quantities are combined through a graph or calculation to produce some
final result, there is a corresponding uncertainty in that result, and the final
uncertainty depends on the uncertainties of the original data.
VIDEO
Watch the video, An Introduction to Experimental Uncertainties, available in the
SEB101 unit materials and the SEB101 Cloud-Deakin website.
Irregular uncertainties
In taking any measurement two sources of irregular uncertainty always arise:
than either 6.15 or 6.17. The reading is between 6.15 and 6.17 cm; so the reading is
best expressed as 6.16 ± 0.01 cm, a possible uncertainty of plus or minus half the
limit of reading of the instrument.
As well as the above sources of irregular uncertainty there may be those due to
irregularities in the object. For instance, if the diameter of a cylinder is to be
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Engineering Fundamentals
For example, consider the following readings of the position of a screen to obtain
best focus in a lens experiment.
Readings
24.6 cm
24.1 cm
24.7 cm
24.3 cm
24.2 cm
24.5 cm
24.7 cm
24.4 cm
Mean = 24.4 cm
All readings lie between 24.1 cm and 24.7 cm. It is unlikely that the true value lies
outside these limits. The most probable value is the mean, 24.4 cm, and the greatest
possible uncertainty is 0.3 cm. The value would be taken as 24.4 ± 0.3 cm. Thus for
repeated readings, the uncertainty, x, in the average value is given by:
(This in fact gives an uncertainty somewhat larger than that which is correct, but
this is the simplest approach.3)
The number of readings taken need not be as many as in the above case. For
instance, if three readings are identical (within the limit of reading of the
instrument), three measurements would be sufficient. The possible uncertainty
would be ½ [smallest division] of the scale by which one obtains the reading.
For instance, suppose you are measuring the length of a rod by means of a metre
rule. The smallest divisions on the rule is millimetres, or 0.001 m. If the edges of
the rod are sharp, then one may be able to read the length to ±½ mm, or
0.0005 m =5x10-4m. That is, the minimum uncertainty in reading a length from a
metre rule is one half of the smallest division on the rule. You may of course be
measuring an object whose edges are ragged. Then the measured length would
have a larger uncertainty.
3 For a more complete treatment of the uncertainty in a series of measurements, see L. Kirkup, Experimental Methods, chapters 4 and 5.
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And the reaction time from seeing an event to starting the stopwatch takes perhaps
a few tenths of a second. It varies from one person to the next.
(As there is an uncertainty in the first decimal place, the second decimal place
has no meaning, so do not state it.)
b) If a quantity is multiplied or divided by a constant, the absolute
uncertainty is multiplied or divided by the same constant.
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Engineering Fundamentals
Note that it is pointless measuring one quantity (m) to a much higher order of
precision than the other (V). In general, the order of accuracy in the results will
be the order of accuracy of the least accurate measurement (for products and
quotients).
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L A B O R AT O RY M A N U A L : I N T R O D U C T I O N
Thus the order of accuracy in the result is 1 in 20. Note that the measurement
of I was unnecessarily precise in view of the order of accuracy in the
measurement of t.
Functions in general
If Z is a complex function of several variables, all which have uncertainties, the
final uncertainty of Z may be determined by means of some calculus. In a simple
case, let Z depend in some way on only one measurement x. The formula for the
uncertainty in Z is:
where f is the focal length determined by the experiment. The measured variables
are u and v.
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Engineering Fundamentals
Hence F = U + V
Suppose you measure the length of a room by pacing it out. You arrive at a value of
3.5 metres, but you would not bet much money on the result of 3.5 m. You feel
confident that the length is between 3 and 4 m, probably around 3.5. The
uncertainty in your result is approximately 0.5 m. This result is expressed as
3.5 ± 0.5 metre.
Suppose now you measure the same length with a metre rule and a piece of chalk;
you arrive at a value of 3.61 metres, and you are virtually positive that the length is
not, say 3.59 metres. This result is expressed as 3.61± 0.01 m. Notice that the
uncertainty has decreased.
Suppose now that several measurements with a sophisticated and calibrated device
indicates that the length is 3.613 07 ± 0.000 01 m. We can assume that the true
length is 3.61 m to 3 significant figures.
The inaccuracy in the first measurement = 3.61–3.5 = +0.11 metre. The first
measurement is too high. The inaccuracy in the second measurement
= 3.61–3.61 = 0.00 metre.
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Figure A
Apart from the line of best fit, it is possible to draw other lines that will yield a
maximum value of the gradient and a minimum value of the gradient. These lines
must pass within all error boxes. The uncertainty in the gradient can then be
found from the difference between the value for the line of best fit and these
extreme values.
Conclusion
First-year physics laboratory is an integral part of your initial education as an
engineer or a scientist. In it you will begin to develop many of the necessary skills
for working in science and engineering. Proper calculations of the final results and
associated uncertainties is vitally important. Just as important is proper note-
keeping of your experimental work.
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Engineering Fundamentals
In the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and his father,
Henry, went to great lengths to recover Henry’s research notebook, stolen by the
Nazis and taken to Berlin. Once they recovered it, they were led to the hidden
fortress, the recovery of the lost grail, and the defeat of the bad guys. The research
notebook, which contained information gathered over many years, was a key
element. The 2011 movie Thor has a similar scene.
References
Kanare, H.M. (1985), Writing the Laboratory Notebook, American Chemical Society,
Washington, D.C.
Kirkup, L. (1994), Experimental Methods: An Introduction to the Analysis and Presentation
of Data, John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane.
Struzan, D. (1989). Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Promotional poster. Retrieved
January 17, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indiana_Jones_and_the_Last_Crusade_A.jpg .
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