Professor John Harries, Space and Atmospheric Physics group, Blackett Laboratory,

1. 3rd Year U/G Laboratory (3YL) Briefing for Demonstrators October 1 2008 • Professor John Harries, • Space and Atmospheric Physics group, • Blackett Laboratory, • Imperial College, • London, UK

2. Aims and Objectives • To teach UG how to undertake experimental projects, with more autonomy than earlier in their careers. • To ensure this is done safely, in accord with H&S guidelines: we are all responsible for H&S of the students, and you must continually enforce these guidelines. • To develop the range and quality of experiments available.

3. The 3YL Team • Head of Lab: Prof John Harries • Deputy Head of Lab: Dr Alasdair Campbell • Head of Projects: Dr John Tisch • Chief Technician of • the Teaching Labs: Geoff Green • Senior Technician, 3YL: Lee Parker • Administrator, 3YL: Graham Axtel

4. The Demonstrators Adrian Ratnapala Diana Shaul Andrew Singleton YannickSonnefraud KhadijaTahir PGs:- Christopher Arrell Simon Chard Angela Demetriadou Dominic Farrell Alex Guite Marisa March Thomas Wall RAs:- Colin Belton George Bendo David Clements RacheleFermani Paul Green Gordon Kennedy Elise Laird Barry Macevoy Anne-Marie Magnan Stuart Mangles James Moore Robert Nyman Academics: John Harries Alasdair Campbell David Clements Ned Ekins-Daukes Costas Foudas John Hassard JiSeon Kim (Tm 2 only) Chris Phillips Sergei Popov

5. Demonstrators duties • Largely spelled out in excellent web site • Emphasise: • -Know your experiment….practice it; • -Meet with the students starting your experiment at the beginning, and discuss the experiment; • - At this initial meeting, we must go through the Risk Assessment with the students. • -ALWAYS meet with the students at the end to give feedback….this is the principal way they will learn.

6. Procedures - Lab hours: Monday 10-12 Monday 2-4 Thursday 2-5 Friday 9-12 - Students can work out of these periods, but ONLY during normal college hours, and ONLY if there is a demonstrator or technician present in the lab at the same time. - Reports: full details on the web pages. 1st and 2nd marking. Forms and cover sheets available on web.

7. Procedures - No food or drink, INCLUDING WATER, to be brought into or consumed in 3YL. Demonstrators lead by example! - Risk Assessments for each experiment are provided at the experiment. Demonstrators are responsible for ensuring students read and understand. - Talk on Errors by Prof Richard Thompson, Thursday 23 October at 5pm. - Talk on Report Writing by Dr Alasdair Campbell, Thursday 30 October at 5pm.

8. Procedures: Lab Structure. • Standard (short) experiments (3 per ½ course unit) and many (long) projects (1 per ½ course unit), covering a very broad range of physics. • A short course and experimental work on microprocessors • A half course unit typically = 3 short experiments, a full course unit = 3 short experiments + 1 long project.

9. Procedures: What Lab Options Must You Take ? • - BSc and BSc Year in Europe.  1 unit of lab, 2 terms (term 1 & 2) including a 1 term long project. • - BSc and BSc Year in Europe.  1 term long project organised by 3rd year lab. • - MSci and MSci Year in Europe.  ½ unit of lab, 1 term in either term 1 or term 2. No project in 3rd year. - BSc Theory Students.  No lab, Theory project • - BSc Physics with Music.  1 term project. • - Occasional Students.  Projects or short experiments as required by your home institute. You may do 1 term or 2 term long projects as required. Plenty of flexibility.

10. Final comments: - We need to allocate experiments. - Introduction meeting at 5pm on Thursday 9 October, in LT1 - I would like our emphasis to be: Feedback and contact between teacher and students, and Safety (READ the excellent and extensive links at http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/physicsuglabs/general/safety) - Now, chance for Q&A.

11. Safety Safety In The Lab Safety Information For Staff And Students Imperial College Safety Department Risk Assessment Forms