Universal Laboratory Rules

1
Universal Laboratory Rules

• No eating or drinking in the laboratory -
  strictly-speaking, food or drink should not even
  be kept in your bags even.
• No running.
• Lab coats worn at all times.
• Shoes, boots, or trainers - nothing open-toed.
• Trousers
• Safety glasses worn as necessary.
• Long hair to be tied back.
• Dont carry items further than you need.
• Be vigilant / considerate of others.
• If in doubt about safety or anothers conduct, ASK

2
Deadlines

• Lab notebook is marked at the end of every
  session - and you take it away with you.
• Technical Letter (individual) typed up (drawings
  and graphs by hand are fine) and submitted as
  follows
• Tuesday exps - 9.15am following Friday
• Thursday exps - 9.15am following Monday
• Full Report (group) typed up (drawings and
  graphs by hand are fine) and submitted as
  follows
• Tuesday exps - 9.15am following Monday
• Thursday exps - 9.15am following Wednesday

3
The Marking Scheme
8 - 10 Excellent all calculations and
discussions clear, fluent and concise prose
properly presented / labeled diagrams,
graphs, calculations and tables 6 - 8 Good all
sections essentially correct and/or well argued
presentation generally of a high standard 5 -
6 Adequate all sections acceptable (at least 50
correct) and/or reasonably well argued 4 -
5 Passable some sections fall below an
acceptable standard, some errors untidy
presentation 0 - 4 Fail generally inadequate in
most or all sections
4
Bonuses and Penalties
Lab Practice -1 Poor lab. practice (e.g. late
arrival, lack of attention to safety, poor
teamwork) 0 No problems 1 Good performance /
technique Treatment of Equipment -1 Mistreatment
of equipment, bench surfaces etc. (e.g. leaving
the lab in a messy or untidy state, not
returning equipment borrowed equipment) 0 No
problems 1 Good use of facilities
5
Keeping a Lab Book 1

• Lab book experimental lifeline
• write down everything instrument settings, data,
  observations, questions, calculations, etc
• lab books are not to be written up later - never
  rely on your memory
• whilst it must legible, it does not need to be in
  best copy
• never use scraps of paper, if there are extra
  bits, they must be glued in straight away
• always use a pen (never a pencil)

6
Keeping a Lab Book 2

• NEVER use tippex, what you measure is what
  happened. Never try to second guess Mother
  Nature! If an experiment needs to be repeated,
  just make a note in your book why, and record the
  new data as usual
• seriously consider making a photocopy backup of
  your lab book
• get used to doing calculations as you go along
• plot graphs as the experiment is going on - never
  wait until the experiment has finished - this
  means that you must estimate the limits of the
  equipment
• at the same time, keep a table of results