NATS1840A Tutorial1

NATS1840 A Tutorial 9
T.A - Ikjyot Singh Kohli Graduate Student, Department of Physics and Astronomy e-mail: isk@yorku.ca Tel: TBA, Ofce: TBA
Sunday, 25 September, 11
All assignments must be handed in during this tutorial. If you have any issues with the due date, such as an illness, please consult Prof. Wolfe immediately.
Rules of The Game (From Prof. Wolfe)
To be a member of this section, you must have formally registered for this section. Please do not transfer to different sections at will, and please inform Prof. Wolfe if you intend on doing so. Any student is not in the right place by the 3rd tutorial, will get a 0 on all assignments handed in.
Rules of The Game (From Prof. Wolfe)

When do we meet? This is tutorial section #9, and we typically will go from 10:00-11:30 AM, in BC 323. September 22 October 20 Nov 3 Nov 17 Jan 12 Jan 26 Mar 1 Mar 15
Tutorial Format

Each tutorial meeting, we will go over the tutorial activity which you will then complete at home and hand in at the subsequent meeting. I will try to explain all of the required background material, and the format of the lab report. After this, we will usually go over a brief discussion topic assigned by Prof. Wolfe. For your lab reports, you will need to submit a hard copy to me, but also an electronic copy on Turnitin.com.
The First Activity

The rst activity we will be looking at is Activity #3 Global Warming - The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
What is Temperature?
It is really what you think! Temperature is
just a NUMBER we assign to express whether certain things are hot or cold.
Microscopically, it is interesting to learn
how this works. I.e,. what makes hot objects hot, and what makes cold objects cold:
What is Temperature?
Fundamentally, all matter that is visible to
us (gases, liquids, solids) are made up of molecules. These molecules are in terms made up of atoms.
When you add heat to a system, that is,
ENERGY, you excite these molecules and the atoms.
Energy into the system causes molecules to vibrate.
Atoms are always in some energy level. They like to naturally be in always the LOWEST energy level possible.
E0 E1 E2
Molecular vibrations due to energy causes atoms to jump to another state.
What happens when we cool an object? -The process is essentially reversed:
Molecular vibrations slow down...

Something interesting happens at the

atomic level.
It is a principle of nature, that things like
being in the lowest possible energy state. That is, an object will always move in a way that its energy is minimized. state. Theyre preferred state is a lowenergy state. In order to get to that state, they must release the energy they just obtained.
So, atoms DONT like being in an excited
They do this, by releasing their energy in the form of a wave, specically, an Electromagnetic Wave.
E0 E1 E2
We have so far said a lot about things
An Aside... Food for thought
preferring to be in a minimized energy state. This is true for all physical things in motion. For example... Why does a thrown object like a basketball, always follow this arced path, and not...
OR.. Its because, the arced path is the path where the basketball has a minimized energy state. This is the Principle of Least Action.
Greenhouse Effect
An Interesting Fact...
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
The Greenhouse effect has always existed on Earth, we are able to live comfortably because of it! The actual Greenhouse effect is NOT the problem, it is the enhanced greenhouse effect.
Your Task...
Your task is to test the following
hypothesis:
As a result of the enhanced greenhouse
effect, the air in a sealed container with transparent walls becomes warmer when exposed to sunlight.
Some Hints...
In your experiments, you must always use a
control, i.e, a quantity that will not change, for you to compare your observations to.
The only variable is the glass/plastic wall

you use, the control is very important.
You MUST repeat measurements several

times to reduce measurement error as much as possible.
Measurement Error
What does this thermometer read? -32 C? -31.9 C? -33 C? How about -32 0.5 C? In general, it is a good idea to repeat measurements several times, and then take an average.
Lab Instructions
Your log sheet is very, very important! It is
a diary, you must write down EVERYTHING you do, including the time you did it, with the date.
It must be detailed enough, so that,
someone can repeat your experiment even 100 years from now and produce the same results.
Log Sheet
Date and Time Description Began experiment today, here are a list of materials that I will be using. I have now built the apparatus, here is what it looks like:
Sep 22, 2011: 11:03 AM
11:33 AM
Log Sheet Continued...

11:33 AM I have now built the apparatus, here is what it looks like:
And so on....
Log Sheet
You must also write down ALL of your
measurements, and calculations. DO NOT ERASE ANYTHING, rather, if you make a mistake, just cross it out. Remember, this is a diary, everything must be recorded, and nothing thrown out.
The Lab Report

The lab report is required to be no more
than 3 pages long, excess pages will lead to marks being lost. This is because a lab report is the detailed summary of your log sheet. It is just a report of the results and their interpretation.
The Lab Report

Page 1: Description of the experiment and
your ndings. Why are you doing this experiment? What did you expect to happen? What were your results?
Page 2: A detailed drawing of the

the report.
experimental setup, labels, and everything else.
Page 3: The original log sheet attached to

The Lab Report

Page 1 Statement of the hypothesis Description of the experiment YOU
designed to test the hypothesis.
Description of where, when, and how you

made the measurements, including uncertainties.
Your conclusions...
The Lab Report

One more tip: Use a computer, specically,
a spreadsheet program to compute your tables, graphs, averages, etc... It makes life easier, and will save you lots of time. Google Docs, both of which, are actually free now through the web.
I will show you how to do this on Excel or
The Lab Report
Submission Instructions:
You must hand in your original log sheet with your report, and also upload the electronic portion of your report on Turnitin by October 28th. If the electronic document is not uploaded by the end of the day, you will receive a mark of zero. The report is marked out of 10, 6 for page 1, 2 for page 2, and 2 for the log sheet.You are being marked on your process, NOT your results.
Part 2: Discussion Exercise
Lithium, which is widely prescribed for manic-depressive disorders, may be the first biologically effective drug treatment for alcoholism, according to studies at St. Luke's Medical Center. The new evidence indicates that the drug appears to have the unique ability to act on the brain to suppress an alcoholic's craving for alcohol. The St. Luke's study involved 84 patients, ranging from 20 to 60 years of age, who had abused alcohol for an average of 17 years. Eighty-eight percent were male. Half the patients were given lithium while the other half took a placebo, a chemically inactive substance. Seventy-five percent of the alcoholics who regularly took their daily lithium pills did not touch a drop of liquor for up to a year and a half during the followup phase of the experiment. This abstinence rate is at least 50 percent higher than that achieved by the best alcohol treatment centers one to five years after treatment. Among the alcoholics who did not take their lithium regularly, only 35 percent were still abstinent at the end of the 18 months. Among those who stopped taking the drug altogether, all had resumed drinking by the end of six months. (Researchers tested the level of lithium in the blood of the subjects to determine if they were taking the drug regularly.)
Based on the information provided in this report, do you accept the conclusion?
In collaboration with your immediate neighbour, consider the following questions about the preceding article. 1. What hypothesis was tested? 2. What crucial facts and figures (if any) are missing from the report? Why are they crucial? 3. Given the information at your disposal, can you think of any major possible flaws in the design of the study and any ways of getting around these flaws? 4. Given the information available, what legitimate conclusion can be drawn about the initial hypothesis?
You may be asked to present a brief answer to the class.

NATS1840A Tutorial1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

NATS1840A Tutorial1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

NATS1840 A Tutorial 9

Rules of The Game (From Prof. Wolfe)

Rules of The Game (From Prof. Wolfe)

The First Activity

Microscopically, it is interesting to learn

When you add heat to a system, that is,

ENERGY, you excite these molecules and the atoms.

Energy into the system causes molecules to vibrate.

Molecular vibrations due to energy causes atoms to jump to another state.

What happens when we cool an object? -The process is essentially reversed:

Molecular vibrations slow down...

Something interesting happens at the

It is a principle of nature, that things like

So, atoms DONT like being in an excited

We have so far said a lot about things

An Aside... Food for thought

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

As a result of the enhanced greenhouse

The only variable is the glass/plastic wall

You MUST repeat measurements several

It must be detailed enough, so that,

Sep 22, 2011: 11:03 AM

Log Sheet Continued...

The Lab Report

The Lab Report

Page 2: A detailed drawing of the

experimental setup, labels, and everything else.

Page 3: The original log sheet attached to

The Lab Report

Description of where, when, and how you

The Lab Report

I will show you how to do this on Excel or

The Lab Report

Part 2: Discussion Exercise

You may be asked to present a brief answer to the class.

You might also like