General Physics Laboratory Guidelines for Students

General Physics Lab Coordination Team

Last Modified: April 7, 2023

General Information
Laboratory for general physics will start on April 24, 2023 with the zeroth and first experiments combined.

Students in each lab section will attend the experiments in a bi-weekly basis at the same place and the same time interval
designated for each section. Each student is obligated to attend the same lab section assigned to them.

Grading
General physics laboratory has a total of three experiments (Experiment-(0+1), Experiment-4, Experiment-5). Stu-
dents must attend all of the experiments, and if a student miss any of these three experiments, they will fail the course
and the laboratory regardless of their exam grades.

Each experiment is graded out of 100 points, the pre-lab quiz will be counts 15 points and the lab reports counts 85
points.

Your laboratory grade will be the arithmetic average of your all three experiments.

To pass the laboratory and obtain credit in the course, students must complete all the assigned experiments and have
their average laboratory grade 50 or above, which is necessary but not sufficient to pass the course.

Section Change
Before the first experiment (April 10-17), if there is a schedule conflict, students can apply for a section change. Once
this period is over, students are not allowed to arrange with the laboratory TA to perform the experiments in any other
laboratory section. This is strictly forbidden, and if happens no credit will be given to the student.

To apply for a makeup fill the form found in https://forms.gle/DRkH5tqaivoWqUf58 between the dates given above.

Important: PHYS182 students should not use this form. Instead they must attend the first lab and talk
to their TAs.

Communication
For problems/questions related to the experiments performed e.g., grading, objections etc. you are expected to contact
your laboratory TA(s) directly, whose email addresses are available on ODTUClass.

Problems/questions concerning the general physics laboratory coordinator e.g., section change, makeup request, etc. must
be directed to the coordinator by sending an email to the physlab@metu.edu.tr. Please use the following rules when
sending an email:
• Write your name, surname and students ID and department information to the body your every email.

• Write a correct subject for your email.

• Explain yourself clearly in English or in Turkish.
Keep in mind that, generally, emails are checked once a day, so please send your emails in a timely manner so that you
can get a response in time.

ODTUClass
Throughout the semester ODTUClass webpage for the general physics laboratory will be used for the following purposes:
• Checking your grades and seeing the grading schemes for quizzes and laboratory reports.
• Using the discussion groups for communicating with your TA(s).
• Finding your laboratory time and places.

• Checking out all announcements about the laboratories.

Students who are not added to ODTUClass must send an email to physlab@metu.edu.tr with the following specifications:

1. Subject must be: ODTUClass

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 2. Body must include:
a. Your name, surname, ID number, and department.
b. Section you are registered to (week first or second, day, time, and laboratory.) e.g. “Week 1, Monday, 8:40,
Lab 16”

Laboratory Conduct
Starting with the Experiment-1 there will be a pre-lab quiz in the first 15 minutes of each experiment. Therefore students
must come to each experiment on time, and be prepared.

After the quiz TA(s) will explain what will be done in each experiment.

No food or drink (except water) is allowed to be consumed in the laboratory.

Before coming to lab:

• You should buy your laboratory manual from the physics copy center. (In the basement next to P7 classroom)
• You are expected to read the manual carefully. Because it contains crucial information about the procedure
and theory of the experiment you are going to perform.
• Assistants will give a general overview of both the procedure and the theory after the quiz, however you are
expected to know the details.
• Quiz questions will be about these preliminary readings.
• You can also watch the recorded videos on METU open courseware (https://ocw.metu.edu.tr) before
coming to the lab.

Before performing the experiment:

• Check that all apparatus are present and have no obvious defects or malfunctioning.
• Any damaged or missing equipment must be immediately reported to TA(s).

During the experiment the students should notify TA(s):

• any equipment that does not seem to be functioning properly.
• any accidents and breakages that may occur.
• NEVER borrow equipment from another bench without permission.

Before leaving the laboratory:

• Switch off all power supplies and remove all AC/DC power plugs.
• Disconnect electrical circuits and collect the leads in a neat bundle.
• Ensure that the apparatus has been left tidily.
• All You must not forget any personal belonging in the laboratory.

Makeup
You may apply for a makeup starting April 29, 2022 until May 2, 2023 at 17:00. Between these dates, students
that need to apply for a makeup must fill in the form that will be found on ODTUClass later in the semester.

Missing a quiz is NOT a legitimate reason to apply for makeup.

Condensed Lab Program

For our students who are affected by the Earthquakes, we have prepared a condensed lab program between July 3-9,
2023. The condensed lab program will be valid for the students who are affected by the earthquakes only, due to
the physical limitations and lab capacity. In order to apply to the condensed lab program, please wait for future
announcements. In the condensed lab program students will complete all three experiments.

Future Announcements
Students are required to check their emails regularly as well as monitoring ODTUClass page for the laboratory for any
future announcements. None of the things related to students ignorance can be accepted as a valid excuse
for asking any form of privileges.

Students should constantly strive to have themselves updated about the laboratory related posts, notifications etc.

Please check out the following links to connect your email address to your mobile device:

https://faq.cc.metu.edu.tr/groups/e-mail-programs
https://faq.cc.metu.edu.tr/tr/groups/e-posta-programlari

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Laboratory Schedule

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

10/04/2023 11/04/2023 12/04/2023 13/04/2023 14/04/2023

Section Change Applications

17/04/2023 18/04/2023 19/04/2023 20/04/2023 21/04/2023

No Labs
24/04/2023 25/04/2023 26/04/2023 27/04/2023 28/04/2023

Experiment-1 Week 1 Groups

01/05/2023 02/05/2023 03/05/2023 04/05/2023 05/05/2023

No Labs Experiment-1 Week 2 Groups

08/05/2023 09/05/2023 10/05/2023 11/05/2023 12/05/2023

Experiment-4 Week 1 Groups

15/05/2023 16/05/2023 17/05/2023 18/05/2023 19/05/2023

Experiment-4 Week 2 Groups No Labs

22/05/2023 23/05/2023 24/05/2023 25/05/2023 26/05/2023

Experiment-5 Week 1 Groups

29/05/2023 30/05/2023 31/05/2023 01/06/2023 02/06/2023

Experiment-5 Week 2 Groups

05/06/2023 06/06/2023 07/06/2023 08/06/2023 09/06/2023

Makeup for Makeup for
Makeup Labs
01/05/2023 Labs 19/05/2023 Labs