SEB101

ENGINEERING 
FUNDAMENTALS 

2017 PRACTICAL MANUAL

FACULTY OF SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND BUILT

ENVIRONMENT
These study materials have been produced for units offered by the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built
Environment.

Authorship and publication history

Attribution of authorship is provided with each part of this work.

These materials are based on work contained in the SEP101 Lab Manual, © Deakin University 2012, written by
J.M. Long and T. Henderson;

Published by Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia

www.deakin.edu.au

First published 2002

Revised 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014

© Deakin University 2017

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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S E B 1 0 1 L A B O R AT O R Y M A N U A L

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

Contents

Preface 1 

Introduction 1 
On-campus students 2 
Off-campus students 2 

Laboratory procedures and rules 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:

1 have observed first-hand some important concepts in physics

2 have acquired some skill in planning and performing experiments and in
recording their results;
3 have become familiar with some common measurement techniques and with
the appropriate apparatus and instruments;
4 be able to analyse the results of measurements, to give a simple assessment of
their reliability and to draw conclusions from them;
5 be able to use computer programs where appropriate to store, manipulate and
present data;
6 be able to write coherent reports of experimental work.

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

Since then, with the advent of modern physics, we have discovered:

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 ...

Theoretical and experimental work in physics have been essential in enabling

progress in each of the areas listed above, as well as many others.

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.

For fulfilling the laboratory requirements of Engineering Fundamentals, on-

campus students and off-campus students follow different procedures.

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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.

Laboratory procedures and rules

Each student should bring these items to each session:

• a copy of the laboratory manual;

• a wireless device (laptop, tablet, or smart phone) that can access Cloud
Deakin;
• laboratory notebook;
• pens and pencils;
• a calculator;
• a ruler.

• a USB memory stick.

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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• 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.

Once finished you should:

• leave your work area tidy with all equipment neatly stacked and circuits
disassembled;
• turn off and unplug all electrical equipment;
• place your stools beneath the workbench;
• have your work area checked by the demonstrator and hand in your laboratory
notebook.

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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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

Each notebook should have:

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:

1 a title and preface section;

2 the aim of the experiment;
3 an introduction;
4 the experimental details;
5 the results;
6 a discussion;
7 a conclusion.

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 title and preface

This section should contain the following information:

a) the title of the experiment as it appears in the manual;

b) the date on which the experiment was performed;
c) your lab partner’s name.

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.

The experimental details

This section can be in two parts. The first part is the experimental plan, what you
intend to do. You would briefly sketch the experimental set-up or circuit diagrams.
Then state what data you intend to collect. The second part of the experimental
section is a statement of what you actually did, noting any changes from what you
originally planned to do.

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The results and calculations

Here you present your data and perform the necessary calculations to obtain your
final result. You note any observations and present your numerical data, with
uncertainties, in tables. Then you graph your data, if necessary, and do the final
calculations. Finally you calculate the uncertainty in your final result.

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:

a) be on graph paper or be computer-generated;

b) have a title at the top (for example, Voltage Versus Current);
c) have axes labelled with the appropriate quantity and unit;
d) have points clearly plotted and graph lines drawn with a fine pencil. When
drawing a curve of best fit, a single smooth line should be drawn.

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

• discussion and conclusion: assessed on the appropriateness and

thoroughness of the discussion, and clarity of presentation.

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:

1 Limit of setting the instrument

Examples include judging the point at which sharpest focus of an image is
obtained; judging the instant at which a falling weight hits the ground; judging
when an object whose length is being measured has one end exactly on the zero of
the scale.

2 Limit of reading of a scale

For instance, suppose a linear scale is divided into centimetres and millimetres. By
eye it may be possible to subdivide each mm into a further five divisions giving a
limit of reading of 0.02 cm. A reading of length of 6.16 cm on this scale does not
mean the length is exactly 6.16 cm, but simply that the reading is closer to 6.16 cm

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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measured, it is unlikely that the cylinder is perfectly regular. If a series of

measurements are taken at different points, slightly different results will be
obtained.

To minimise the effect of irregular uncertainties, a large number of readings should

be taken.

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.

In many cases, determining the uncertainty of a measurement requires some

judgement on the part of the experimenter. A good example of this is using a
stopwatch to measure a period of time. Stop watches are often precise to
10-2 seconds. However, the person using the stopwatch has a certain reaction time.

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.

In the case of measuring devices whose output is a number, the uncertainty is

± [the last digit displayed]. An example is a reading on a digital voltmeter. If the
meter displays a steady reading of 10.4 volts, then the uncertainty in this reading is
± 0.1 volts. The exception to this rule is if the displayed reading drifts slightly over
time. For an unstable voltage, the meter might read a number which changes
between the limits of 10.2 volts to 10.6 volts. The value of the measurement would
then be 10.4 ± 0.2 volts.

Regular or systematic uncertainties

These may be due to imperfect calibration or adjustment of an instrument, such as
a zero error on a micrometer. They are the result of faults in the use of the
experimental apparatus or a bias in the way the experimenter collects the data.
Wherever possible, every effort must be made to eliminate these errors.

Calculations involving uncertainties

Calculation of uncertainty in a result

1 a) If quantities are added together or subtracted, absolute uncertainties are
added.

(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

2 If quantities are multiplied or divided, fractional or percentage uncertainties

are added. Let Z = xy, and let the measurements x and y have uncertainties

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

3 If a quantity is raised to the nth power, then the fractional or percentage

uncertainty in the result is n times the fractional or percentage error in the
quantity.

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:

In more complicated experiments, if a final experimentally determined quantity Z

depends on more than one variable, such as variables x, y and z, the general
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

Now, calculus yields:

Accuracy is not uncertainty

Uncertainties are often called errors, although this term is rather misleading.
Uncertainty is also different from accuracy. Accuracy is a measure of how well a
measurement or experimentally determined quantity agrees with the true value.

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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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

Uncertainty in the gradient of a graph

Where a result, k, is given by the ratio of two variable quantities, a and b, the
overall precision is increased by taking a range of values for the quantities, plotting
a graph and finding the result from the gradient of the line of best fit. The
uncertainty in the result, k, is then not given simply in terms of the uncertainty in a
and b. The uncertainty in a is plotted as the horizontal error bar on either side of a
given value of a. Similarly, the uncertainty in b is plotted as a vertical error bar.

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

(Struzan, 1989) (http://www.notebookism.com/2006/07/indiana_jones.html)

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.

There is a lesson there for all of us.

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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