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MIT 6 002 - Laboratory Information

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Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science6.002 – Circuits & ElectronicsSpring 2006Lab InformationIntroductionThis handout discusses aspects of the experimental lab work that you will perform in 6.002. Itbegins with a discussion of good lab practice, and ends with a discussion of lab safety. You shouldpay special attention to the EECS Electrical Safety Notice attached to the end of this handout. Asindicated, its last page must be signed and returned to the EECS Instrument Desk in the Lab inorder for you to pick up your lab kit.Your Lab NotebookYour lab notebook should become a complete and perm anent record of the experiments you performduring the semester. The notebook itself should be a bound hard cover notebook with graph-ruledpages. Since your lab notebook should contain your raw experimental data, you should never copydata into your lab notebook from some other paper. If you do not have your lab notebook withyou when you record your d ata, you should staple the page of raw d ata into your lab notebook.Copyin g data into your lab notebook after completing an experiment risks beautifying your labnotebook with copying errors.Like any lab notebook, your 6.002 lab notebook should contain three distinct sections for eachexperiment performed:(1) the design, analysis and predictions you complete before your experimental work;(2) the data and observations you record during your experimental work;(3) and the analysis and interpretations you complete after your experimental work.If your lab n otebook is organized in this manner, then anyone including yourself should be ableto pick up your lab notebook at a later time and follow your preliminary analysis, r econstruct theexperiments you performed, reproduce your raw data, and reach equivalent conclusions.Since your lab work is only useful if it can be explained to and reproduced by others, your labnotebook must be more than analyses and numbers with no context. The following guidelines shouldhelp you produce more consistent lab records with clear distinctions between your expectations,your actual data, and your analysis of the d ata.Pre-Lab WorkPre-lab work is designed to motivate and define your experiments, and thus prepare you for yourin-lab work. Pre-lab work should be treated like a small h omework, and sh ou ld be written up inyour lab notebook. The questions asked in the 6.002 pre-lab assignments are indicative of the typeof questions you should ask when examining a scientific or engineering hypothesis. Your analysisof these questions should motivate and guide the experiments you will perform, and su ggest howthe experimental resu lts will confirm or refute the hypothesis under examination.The 6.002 pre-lab assignments will generally an alyze and predict the performance of an elec-tronic circuit, and result in predictions for the data you will record during your in-lab work. As youwork through the assignments, you should thin k about how you could experimentally d eterminewhether your analysis is correct. If you do not see how the in-lab work seeks to verify your pre-labwork, then neither effort is of value even if both are correctly performed. Finally, as you work onthe pre-lab assignments, you should take the time to neatly draw the circuits you will build duringyour in-lab work, and to prepare any graphs and tables necessary to organize data recording.In-Lab WorkThe notes you take during your in-lab work are simply a record of what you did and what youobserved. A minimal record includes at least the following.(1) A labeled circuit diagram in your lab notebook adjacent to the recorded data. The diagramshould include: voltage and current source amplitudes and frequencies; resistor, capacitor,and inductor values; semiconductor and integrated circuit names; oscilloscope and multimeterconnections; and any other comments you think are important to circuit operation such asshielding, component temperature and so on. You should also note or sketch your pred ictionsbefore you take a measurement.(2) A record of your specific procedures and measurements. This should include key oscilloscopeand multimeter s ettings, source adjustments made while recording data, small componentchanges and so on. You should record raw data in your notebook and interp ret it later,even if later means only a few minutes later before you move on to the next experiment.For example, if you u se the voltage drop across a resistor to measure a current you shouldrecord the measured voltages in you r lab notebook and convert these measurements to currentlater. If any data is unexpectedly large or small, or noisy or noise-free, for example, or someadjustment is particularly large or sensitive, you should note this in your lab notebook as partof the data. Finally, included in your notebook should be all comments necessary to recreateyour experimental procedure.Waveforms sketched directly from the oscilloscope warrant a few additional guidelines. Nevermake a rough sketch that you will copy into your lab notebook later; each time data is copiedfrom one medium to another, new errors and interpretations creep silently into the data.Rather, neatly sketch the waveform directly into you r lab notebook as accurately as possible.Such sketches should be at least as large as the oscilloscope screen, and are most accurate ifyou let the ruled squares of your notebook graph paper correspond to the r uled graticule onthe oscilloscope screen.(3) Commentary about inaccuracies in your data. Record and plot precisely what you see asaccurately as possible; do not record what you expect to see. Related to the accurate recordingof data is the issue of precision. You must indicate in your data how precise your readings are.Such an in dication can be as simple as an estimate of the noise in the measurement. Wh ensketching oscilloscope data be sure to indicate the trace width and any other relevant featuresof the waveform.Post-Lab WorkPost-lab work concerns your interpretation of your results in terms of the analyses and predictionsof your pre-lab work. It is the time to discuss not only wh at the data tells you about the circuitoperation but also whether the data answers your questions from the pre-lab, and supports orrefutes any hypotheses you have made. Important questions to ask and answer in the notebookinclude at least the following.(1) Did the data match the predictions? Why or why not?(2) What does the data say about the theories


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MIT 6 002 - Laboratory Information

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