Balancing forces is something you will do in physics, statics, dynamics, and all of your mechanics classes.
Statics Group Lab Write-Up:
I would like to give everyone some practice creating a lab write-up so that when it's time to put together your big project report you will be comfortable making a technical report. Lab write-ups are something you will do in a lot of your classes - if you learn how to use all of the tools in word it will help you in all the classes you have to write reports in.
Technical writing notes:
http://intro1201.blogspot.com/2015/01/chap-13-technical-communication.html
How to create numbered section headings in word -
just google which version of word you have!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X5-M6fsnCI
How to insert numbered equations in word -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T34BMW7wxWI
You can turn this in as a group, but please find a time and place to sit down and work together on this (rather than just emailing one another) so that everyone understands how to do everything for the test. Please indicate who worked on what section of the report.
Start report with a header:
ENGR 2301 Section _______________ Statics Lab Date: __________
List Group members & their contribution:
Sarah Jane - set up excel tables and performed error analysis, created graphs and histograms
John Doe - Literature review, wrote intro and conclusions section
Harold Smith - Formatting and editing, created figure captions, numbered sections
Mathew Brown - Methods and procedures section, created diagrams, typed up equations in calculations section
Your reports and lab write-ups should all have numbered sections:
1. Introduction (10 points)
5 points for lab objective & experiment description, 5 points for literature review
The experiment we performed was....
Background information: We compared our results to ... (literature review) ... Smithson and Johnson reported that xyz [1] ← insert numbers that correspond to references in reference section at end of report.
2. Methods and equipment (15 points)
2.1 List of materials used in experiment: (5 points)
1.
2.
3.
2.2 Procedure: (5 points)
1.
2.
3.
Figure 1: Diagram of apparatus used to measure the static coefficient of friction between various materials. (5 points)
How to insert figure captions in word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8bw_6lar0
3. Results (40 points)
3.1 Calculations (15 points)
Use the word equations editor to add equations to your report. Show equations for how to calculate the coefficient of friction from inclination angle. There are you tubes on how to use equation editor for all the different versions of word, just find and watch the instructions for the version you have.
3.2 Graphs and Tables (15 points)
Graphs use numbered figure captions, tables use numbered table headings. Be sure to include units, and an appropriate number of significant figures in your results.
To set sig figs in excel:
1. Highlight cells
2. Right click on cells
3. Select "format cells"
4. Select "Number"
5. Set number of decimal places
or
For average, standard deviation - Use excel functions to check yourself, but understand what equations excel is using. (ie, you should be able to write the equation for finding the standard deviation on a quiz or test, and use it.)
For most versions of excel - the arrow next to the "sum" key leads you to other functions like standard deviation etc.
standard deviation = STDEV(C12:C14)
square root = SQRT(E15)
=AVERAGE(C12:C14)
Use excel "help" or online youtube tutorials to find what you need. (You will always be dealing with different versions of software, so just get used to using online resources to find what you need to).
Tables have a header (Table 3.1... ABOVE table) - figures have a footer (figure 2.5 UNDER figure)
- Discussion of results (10 points)
The bald tire had a larger (smaller) coefficient of static friction because ....
Our results are only approximate because we assumed that ....
4. Conclusion (20 points)
Summarize findings, compare results to literature (site your references), provide recommendations for future experiments, and comment about results.
References (15 points):
How to add references in word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnVq_BpwP2E
Your write-up should have at least 5-8 references.
Points assigned based on:
- Content - complete? good discussion?
- Format & Writing style
Good resource for Friction/Tribology info:
explore the links within the text in the below article!
http://www.stle.org/files/About_STLE/Tribology/files/What_is_tribology/Tribology.aspx?hkey=99353e5d-423e-4d93-82f5-8ecaf56ece12
http://www.stle.org/files/What_is_tribology/Tribology_Friction.aspx
