What is your proposed list of experiences for a Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism) laboratory?

[Dorea]

I'm a new TA in a physics laboratory and we're going to redesign experiences for fundamental physics II lab that is a semester course on electricity and magnetism for undergraduates in their 2nd year.

What is your proposed list of experiences for a Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism) laboratory course at university?

 

[Dorea]

no idea?

 

[Andy Resnick]

What is wrong with the 'standard' list of experiments, listed all over the interweb?

http://physics.nyu.edu/~physlab/GenPhysII_PhysIII/genphys2.html
http://phys.columbia.edu/~preceptor/student/1292Manual_SP12.pdf
http://facstaff.cbu.edu/~jvarrian/physlabs.html
http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/academics/colleges/cos/physics/experiments.asp
(etc...)

 

[ZapperZ]

To add to what Andy had asked, what did you have before? Does it really require a complete and total overhaul (which isn't a very good sign for the students that went before) such that you do not even have a starting set to work from?

Zz.

 

[Dorea]

What is wrong with the 'standard' list of experiments, listed all over the interweb?
http://physics.nyu.edu/~physlab/GenPhysII_PhysIII/genphys2.html

Except numbers 1 and 7, others are simple and out of any conception: They just give the student ability to create a circuit! I'm looking for a simple version of some experiment such as Millikan experiment, focused on fundamental concepts of basic physics

Does it really require a complete and total overhaul (which isn't a very good sign for the students that went before) such that you do not even have a starting set to work from?

I'm a new TA. They has built a new lab and we're migrating to a that building. So, we're trying to redesign experiments.
These are list of experiments that is routine in our lab currently:
1. Getting familiar with Van-de-graph and some other electrostatic devices.
2. Reading colorful resistance
3. Ohm's law (drawing V-I graph by changing V and measuring I)
4. Specific resistivity, Finding 'ρ' via R=ρl/A
5. Tying electrical resistance:‌ Series, parallel and combinated circuits
6. Charging and discharging a capacitor
7, 8 and 9. R-C, R-L and R-L-C circuits in alternating Currents
10. Transformer; Research the relationship between V, I and N: V2/V1=N2/N1 and I1/I2=N2/N1
11. Introduction to Oscilloscopes

 

[Andy Resnick]

Except numbers 1 and 7, others are simple and out of any conception: They just give the student ability to create a circuit! I'm looking for a simple version of some experiment such as Millikan experiment, focused on fundamental concepts of basic physics
<snip>

The purpose of introductory labs is to give a broad introduction to basic and essential experimental methods (which are put to purpose by carrying out simplified versions of experiments). Why, exactly, do you think an undergraduate with no prior experience using electrical devices will be successful at re-creating the Millikan experiment?

 

[whitsona]

a 2X2X2 LED light cube with a cheap Arduino Nano can be done in an hour or so and it does a great job of teaching how transistors work. Combine that with the Veritasium video on how transistors work and you have some great subject matter for the fundamental intersection of circuitry and chemistry.

If you are interested, I could post our Arduino code. It's super simple. And, the transistors you need are common.

 

[whitsona]

I'm also a fan of the Franklin bell-- which I hadn't seen until I started teaching.

 

[jtbell]

I hope that Dorea has settled on a set of experiments by now, a year after starting this thread.

 

[whitsona]

Oops. Didn't see the year.