Stage 3

Please note: some of the links to slides etc. are not all live yet and will be updated as the trimester progresses.

Introductory Talks 2023-2024

Advanced Laboratory Hours and Dates 2023-2024

The laboratories are open with demonstrator and staff support from 2 pm to 6 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.

You should attend during all time-tabled hours and are welcome to attend outside of time-tabled hours.

In addition, the labs may be accessed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 11 am but you must inform a staff member and sign in.

Physics and Physics with Astronomy and Space Science:

Trimester 1: Tuesday 12 September 2023 to Thursday 30 November 2023.

Trimester 2: Tuesday, 23 January 2024 to Thursday 28 March 2024.

Theoretical Physics:

Trimester 1: Tuesday 12 September 2023 to Thursday 2 November 2024.

Trimester 2: Tuesday 23 January 2024 to Friday 15 March 2024.

Advanced Laboratory Number of Experiments

Each laboratory experiment (including Computational Physics exercise) counts as 2.5 credits.

Students in 20 credit lab modules (Physics and PASS) will undertake 8 labs in total (4 per trimester).

Students in 10 credit lab modules will undetake 4 labs in total (2 per trimester).

One-trimester study-abroad students will undertake the appropriate number of labs in the relevant trimester.

Advanced Laboratory Aims

Amongst the main aims of the laboratory are the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Therefore, the labs are just not about the written report but also demonstrated understanding of the problem being investigated and appropriate experimental planning, execution and analysis. It is important to give sufficient time to doing the experiment and not to put all the emphasis on writing the report.

Laboratory Reports

Each experiment including write up should take approximately three weeks for those doing four labs per trimester (Physics and PASS) and approxiately 4.5 weeks for those doing two labs per trimester (TP).

It is essential to plan and utilise your time well.

As a rough guide, the time spent doing a main lab experiment should be split into roughly three equal duration parts:

• becoming familiar with the experiment, writing statement of intent, setting up and writing data acquisition code if relevant,

• carrying out and refining the experiment including preliminary data analysis

• final analysis and report writing.

Report Submission Deadlines

Each report should be submitted after approximately three weeks.

The hard deadlines for submission of laboratory reports are:

Physics and Physics with Astronomy and Space Science:

• Reports 1 & 2 due by 5pm on Tuesday 31 October 2023
• Report 1 due by 5pm on Tuesday 31 October 2023
• Report 2 due by 5pm on Monday 6 November
• Report 4 due by 5pm on Monday 22 January 2024
• Report 6 due by 5pm on Monday 11 March 2024
• Report 8 due by 5pm on Monday 08 April 2024

Theoretical Physics:

• Report 2 due by 5pm on Monday 13 November 2023
• Report 4 due by 5pm on Tuesday 2 April 2024

Late Submission of Laboratory Reports

The UCD Late Submission of Coursework policy applies.

In particular, from section 5:

5.1. Coursework submitted up to 10 working days past the due date will be graded but a grade penalty will be applied.

5.1.1. Coursework submitted at any time up to and including 5 working days after the due date will have the grade awarded reduced by one grade point (for example, from B- to C+).

5.1.2. Coursework submitted more than 5 working days but up to and including 10 working days after the due date will have the grade reduced by two grade points (for example, from B- to C).

5.2. Coursework received more than 10 working days after the due date will not be accepted or graded.