Reporting with Theory

Overview

  • Write up your experiences working with the multimeter.

  • Add some theoretical calculations regarding resistors in parallel and series.

Submission

You should write your report in Google Docs. Do not write this in Microsoft Word, and then upload it to Google Docs; this can create problems.

When you are done, visit my Kaizena page, and ask for feedback on your report titled Reporting with Theory.

Matt’s Kaizena Page

I will be providing feedback on the clarity with which you describe how you took your measurements, and what results you obtained from those measurements. Put another way, I am going to look at how clearly you described your methods.

This feedback will guide you in writing your first major report, and failure to complete it in a timely manner will reduce your maximum possible grade on that final report.

The Report

To structure your report, I recommend you have three sections.

  1. Introduction

  2. Methods

  3. Discussion

The Introduction

The introduction should be short, and help the reader understand what you were doing and why you were doing it. Then, you should briefly outline what will follow. For this report, you are likely to have 2-3 paragraphs for the introduction at most.

Methods

The purpose of this section is to help someone understand what you were doing and why. An excellent methods section leaves little or no confusion. Pictures are welcome, as are diagrams.

When I say “pictures are welcome,” I mean pictures you take of your own apparatus. I do not mean that you are welcome to steal pictures from the Internet. For diagrams, you may use the diagrams I created as part of my description of what you should do (that is, you may steal pictures from this website). However, you are also encouraged to use Fritzing to make your own diagrams, as necessary.

This will likely be around 2 pages, not counting images. Please try and keep images to a reasonable size (1/4 of a page in size, at most).

Discussion

Finally, as part of your discussion, explore the following questions. You may need to do some additional reading and research on the ‘net to explore these themes fully.

I am aware you may not know all of this. Do your best to wrestle with these questions; by wrestling with these ideas, you're engaging in the first steps of the learning process for these concepts. Do your best, but like the great Douglas Adams always said: DON'T PANIC.
  1. How do you use a multimeter safely to measure resistance and current in circuits, and was safe practice encouraged in this lab? If not, what could be improved?

  2. How accurate was the multimeter? Or, how accurate are the things we’re measuring? Which is more, or less, accurate?

  3. We explored measuring resistors in series. We can always measure resistors in series, but what theory can we apply to calculate the resistance of 2, 3, or more resistors in series? Give at least one example.

  4. We explored measuring resistors in parallel. Again, we could measure resistors in parallel, but what theory can we apply to calculate the resistance of 2 or more resistors in parallel? Again, given at least one example.

The discussion may be 2-3 pages; the purpose of the discussion is to demonstrate your understanding of what you observed in the methods section, and help the reader understand as well.

Lab Hours

As a reminder, TAs are on duty in the lab Sunday through Thursday nights, from 7PM to 9PM. You’re welcome to come in, ask questions, and to explore these ideas further on your own. (That is, you might want to get your breadboard out again, do some more measurements, and possibly even take some pictures.)

If you need additional help, I am available MWF from 8AM to 10AM (office hours) or by appointment.

Feedback

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