Spring 2002 Lab Homepages

(John Weiss's Labs sections)

Office Hours:

Monday	2:50-3:50 PM
Tuesday	1-2 PM
Thursday	3-4 PM

Office: Duane Hall, D-1B31
(Go west from the lecture hall, going through 2 sets of double doors. There is a "Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics" sign hanging from the ceiling; go left here. Follow the hall around, my name is on my office door. I'm in the back corner of the office.)
Phone: (303)-492-7902
email:weissj@colorado.edu
Web Page http://bogart.colorado.edu/~weissj/Labs/lab.html

Welcome to labs this term. In lab, we will be exploring concepts from class in greater depth. Our goal is to give you a chance to get some hands-on experience with topics ranging from the size of the solar system, to Kepler's laws to planetary temperatures.

Each lab will consist of two components. First, we'll discuss the concepts related to the lab and I'll go over the lab will you. Then you'll actually do the lab, with me moving around the room to help you and to make sure you're on the right track. I'll also serve as the grader for your labs.

My Expectations of You

You will attend the lab. In order to turn in a lab report and to receive a grade, you must have attended the lab. If there is an unresolvable conflict, you may attend a different lab section. However, you must tell me and the lab assistant for the other section for logistical reasons. There will be no make-up lab sessions. If you miss lab one week, there is nothing to be done except do an extra night lab.
You'll be in lab on time. Some students will undoubtedly have classes immediately after this one, and this room is in use right after we're to be done. So we need to get going on time to make sure that we get out on time.
If you are more than 20 minutes late to lab, you will be counted absent.
You'll be ready for lab. I expect you to read the lab manual before each lab so that you'll know what is going on before coming to lab.
You will have the necessarily materials. These include scratch paper, your lab manual, pens/pencils, a calculator and your textbook (note that your text has useful formulae in the chapters and important numbers in the appendixes!). Also, a watch will sometimes be handy.
Your labs will be turned in on time.
Your lab write-ups will follow the guidelines (on a separate page).
You will bring your book, your lab manual, a calculator and pens/pencils to each lab.
You will check your email regularly. The University expects you to check your email once a week. I'll be sending out reminders and hints out semi-regularly. You'll want to keep on top of your email.

What You Can Expect of Me

In turn, you should expect the following of me:

I'll be to class on time and do my best to make sure you get out on time as well. A few labs can be long, but I'll do my best to make sure you don't stay longer than you need to.
I'll be ready to go at the start of every lab. I'll be prepared and have done the lab myself before each lab.
I'll have your graded labs back to the next time we meet.
Always be willing to give you help on the labs and on the course material. This material can be challenging, so please feel free to come to me for help, both in and out of lab.

Questions, Office Hours, Etc

I cannot over-encourage you to make use of my office hours. I am here to help you, both with the labs and with the course itself. And I can honestly say that no student has ever done poorly when s/he made office hours regularly. So come and see me! You may always make an appointment if you need to find me and office hours don't work.

By the way, you can find my schedule at You can find my schedule at http://bogart.colorado.edu/~weissj/whereami.html.

Grading

We will be doing 12 day labs this term, as well as holding 6 night lab sessions. You are required to do 2 night labs. We will drop your lowest day lab score, making your final lab grades out of 13 labs total. There are actually 4 night lab exercises you can do.

Remember, you must pass the lab to pass the course!

Each lab will have a grade out of 10 points. See The Lab Write-Up Requirements for details of how I grade labs.

Labs write-ups will be due the next lab session. Usually, this will be one week later (the exception is for spring break). Labs are due by 20 minutes into the lab session. After that, they are late. You will lose one point (of ten) for each 24 hours late. Labs that are more than one week late will not be accepted.

Night Sessions

We will have 6 night labs this term. You must do 2 night lab exercises. They can be done on the same night or different nights. However, you should start early in the term. If we have clear nights at the start of the term and cloudy nights later, there will be no make-up sessions. If you didn't go, you're out of luck.

Of course, weather can impede our observing. If you are wondering if we'll be observing or not, call 492-2020 (the observing deck) and ask. I'll be up there for the first 15 minutes even if it is cloudy.

Before coming to each night lab, read the lab manual. I have put additional directions for the night labs on the lab web site.

Night sessions for Section 114
Night sessions for Section 118

John W Weiss

Last modified: Tue Jan 15 14:51:40 MST 2002