1 measurement techniques technical information and some hints for the reports practical measurement...

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Measurement TechniquesTechnical Information

and Some Hints for the Reports

Practical Measurement Techniques, University of Bremen, SS 2008

Andreas Richter

room U2090

tel: 218 4474

e-mail: [email protected]

Astrid Bracher

room U 3215

tel 218 8958

e-mail [email protected]

A. Richter & A. Bracher, Measurement Techniques SS 2008 - 2 -

General Information I

• In total 4 lab experiments have to be completed successfully• One lab (Satellite Image Analysis) takes place during the present term

break. The remaining 3 labs will take place during the summer term• The labs will take place on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. if not

stated otherwise• The labs will be performed in groups of 2 students each• Lab instructions, including descriptions of the experimental setup, the

tasks to be performed and further literature are available for every experiment on the Measurement Techniques website

• The “Measurement Techniques“ folder in the PEP office also contains all the lab instructions and in some cases additional material


General Information II

• Please get a copy of the lab instructions at least 2 weeks before the lab takes place

• At least one week before the labs take place contact the lab instructor about the exact time and location of the lab, and perhaps have a first look at the instruments you will use

• For each lab experiment a lab report / protocol has to be written• For the first two of the four labs (Satellite Image Analysis and the second

one) each student has to hand in an individual report• For the remaining two labs one report per group is sufficient


General information III

• The complete reports have to be handed in 2 weeks after the lab to the tutor

• If the report is not accepted by the lab instructor it can be corrected ONCE within two weeks after receiving it from the lab instructor

• A special report form will accompany you through the practical and the review process. This form will be given to you during the first lab and has to be handed in at the end of semester

• You will need this report with all signatures to be admitted to the oral exam


General information IV

Note:

If you: fail to show up, are not prepared appropriately,submit a revised report which is still not accepted by the instructor

you will have to do an additional experiment at the end of the semester to be admitted for the exam.

Extra experiments can only be done once and should you fail this one also, you will not pass the course.


The available Experiments

• Satellite Image Analysis (done during term break)

• Natural and man-made radioactivity in soil

• Ozone and NOx measurements

• DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) measurements of stratospheric species

• Acoustic Current Measurements

• FTS Measurements


Time Schedule

Date A B C D E F

March 6 Lectures

March 25 – April 3

Satellite Image Analysis

April 9 Lectures

April 16 Lectures

April 23 Lectures

April 30 Lectures

May 7 Radioactivity Ocean FTS

May 14 DOAS Ocean FTS

May 21 FTS DOAS Ocean

May 28 FTS O3 Ocean

June 4 DOAS Radioactivity O3

June 11 Ocean Radioactivity DOAS

July 9 Lecture

July 16 Oral Exams

July 17 Oral Exams


Reporting on the experiments

• for each experiment, you will have to submit a report• students within one group submit two separate and two joint reports• after the experiment, you have 2 weeks for writing the report and

submitting it to the tutor• reports are prepared with a word processor• the length of the report is typically 6 – 8 pages • the supervisor will read the report and usually ask for some revisions /

corrections / additions / changes• you then have another week to submit a corrected report• if necessary, you will have to submit a second revision• should the supervisor still not accept your report, this will be discussed

with the lecturers (A. Richter and A. Bracher). If all else fails, you will have to take another (additional) experiment

• only when all your reports have been accepted, you will be admitted to the oral exam


Contents of the Report

• ideally, your report should enable another scientist to set-up a similar experiment, to repeat the measurements and to compare his results with yours

• it should also give the motivation why things have been done the way they were done

• for the purpose of the practical, it should show that you have understood the experiment

• questions to answer in the report:1.What have you done?

2.Why have you done it?

3.How have you done it?

4.What are the results?

5.What are the associated errors?

6.What are the conclusions?


Structure of Report

1. Title of the experiment; group and name of the students; date

2. Introduction: Short description of the experiment and its objectives

3. Theoretical background: Scientific background on which the experiment is based

4. Experimental set up: Description of the set up used; components and their principle of operation

5. Experimental procedure: Description of each step followed during the experiment, indicating the time and relevant details

6. Data analysis: Description of the data obtained, analysis and conversion procedures applied to obtain the results for interpretation

7. Results and error analysis: Final numerical and graphical results with the corresponding associated error. A detailed description of the error analysis should also be included

8. Discussion of results: Interpretation of the final results in relation to the objectives of the experiment. You can use the questions given in the instructions for the experiment as a guideline

9. Appendix: Raw data in a table, in graphs or on a floppy disk / CD


Use of external sources of information

• in addition to the explanations provided in the experiment description and lecture, you are expected to use other sources of information (papers, books, web pages, discussion with your colleagues)

• any information source used must be acknowledged in the text through appropriate citations

• quoting another text verbatim (“cut and paste”) is rarely a good idea and has always to be indicated by using quotation marks

• if you can’t say it in your own words, you have probably not understood it• quotes from the experiment description are not acceptable• using data or text from the reports of other groups is considered to be

fraud


Use of graphical data representations

• Graphical representation of data and results is highly recommended “Ein Bild sagt mehr als 100 Worte”

• All figures must haveclear axis labels indicating the quantity plotted and the units usedfigure captions explaining the contents of the figurefigure numbers for referenceproper reference and explanation in the text

• figures must be large enough to see all the necessary details• line thickness and symbol sizes must be adequate, colours often help• the ranges used for x and y axis must be appropriate for the range of

values shown• individual measurement points should be shown by symbols• connecting lines should usually be linear, not spline or polynomials • where possible, add error bars


Example for graphical representations

useless

Fig 1: Variation of tropospheric NO2-column with latitude. Data from GEOSCHEM model for July 1997 [Martin et al., 2001] .

useful


Numerical results

• often, a numerical result is expected from your experiment• all numerical results have to be given with units• checking units often helps to find errors• all results must be accompanied by error estimates• the number of digits given must make sense with the errors:

E = 13.45278456 +-2.54378 W m-2 => E = 13.5 +-2.5 W m-2

E = 3E8 +-2.5 W m-2 => E = 31 786 209 +- 2.5 W m-2

• all results should be put into context e.g.is of expected order of magnitudelies within 5% of the predicted valueis twice as large as expected for clean situations


Overall form

• form matters!• use section numbering• use clear section headers• use numbering for equations, figures and tables• don’t forget page numbers• before submitting, check your report for

logic completenessgrammar and spelling

• submit your report in a binder and not as a staple of sheets• clearly indicate your names, date of the experiment, date of submission of

report on the cover sheet


Final Exam

Type of exam: Oral exam (45 minutes)

Prerequisites: Successful completion of all 4 labs

Content: 15 minutes presentation on one experiment

Questions related to the lectures

Questions to the 4 labs

Date: On July 16 and 17, 2008

exact times TBD

Contact:

Andreas Richter Astrid Bracher

Room: U-2090 Room: U-3215

Phone: 218-4474 Phone: 218- 8958

e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]

1 measurement techniques technical information and some hints for the reports practical measurement...

Documents

measurement techniques

lab instructor

lab instructions

lab experiments

lab report protocol

measurement techniques

measurement techniques

lab satellite image