Currents

This webpage is meant to give you some guidance about writing up the current lab. Here are a few helpful points; note that these instructions are more abbreviated than the ones given for the first lab. I am expecting you to fill in more of the details, rather than telling you step-by-step what should be in the report.

1. The writeup should be quite short, about 2 pages, double spaced, not including the data sheet passed out in the lab.
   
   Before writing this lab up, think about what you model(s) or physical laws you are testing by your measurements. How are these related both graphically and mathematically to the data you measured?
   
   
2. Your writeup should have 4 parts:
   • Background: What model are you testing here? What experiments would you do to test this model? Discuss applications of the model. Be sure to reference your sources.
   • Experimental description: materials, protocol - enough detail for someone to repeat your experiment, but paraphrased from the writeup rather than copied directly.
   • Results: Describe your observations, include data either in tabular, graphical, or image form, in a way that clearly displays what you have measured. Important: be sure to include some extimate of the size experimental error. For example, if the voltage measurement is known only to ±1 in the last digit, then you would report the error to be 0.1V
   • Discussion. What aspects of the model were tested in each section? What were the results, agreement or disagreement? Expand on this, make the logical argument that the model is supported. If the model is not supported, then why? Be specifc. What experimental factors led to an apparent falsification of the model. Be quantitative here, as much as is possible, and be sure to make any statements in reference to your error estimates. If you estimate our error to be ±0.2V and your data differ from the model by 0.5V, then you cannot attribute this discrepency to experimental error.
     Discuss the reasons for disagreement with the model. For example, is Ohm's law followed for the lightbulbs? Go a step further; infer the temperature of the tungsten filament of a bright vs. a dim bulb.
     
     
3. Be sure to reference any resources that you use in your bibliography.