Chapter Five: Labs and Logs (~jinghan)

Note from the Author: I’m feeling like you readers out there are needing some insight into the study life of a science student (as opposed to my venting about my daily struggles) so here’s your run down on attending laboratory classes in physics!

I was riding the train to my Monday classes at the VCA. On my lap was my laboratory manual – a somewhat fragile plastic-spiral bound book. My incentive to read it? Well I have a 9am lab the next morning and being on par with your partner seems to be the way to maintain one’s physics ego – oh, and the best way to finish the lab and leave early.

I pull out my green highlighter from my bag trying not to drop anything onto the floor to be lost among commuters’ feet. I highlight, “from a medium of lower refractive index (n-lower) into a medium of higher refactive index (n-higher), the reflected light has a phase shift of  π radians (i.e.180˚).”  I only vaguely understand these concepts I last learnt back in year 9 science, but I promise my highlighter that it’ll all make more sense when I get into the lab and do the experiments.

The thing about physics laboratories is that they are completely unrelated to the material currently being covered in lectures. In lectures we are watching the lecturer throw glued-together balls across the room, race hot-wheels cars down ramps and shoot teddy bears with projectiles… but in laboratories we are shining light through strange bits of glass and plastic. At first it had made no sense at all, but as the weeks went on it was oddly refreshing to have three hours of isolated hands-on learning that I could promptly forget without worrying about its effect on my final exam mark.

But of course I would have to do my reading to finish my pre-lab questions first…

I skim read the instruction for the experiment, “1. Dip a metal ring into the soap solution… 2. Hold the… Why are there bands in the soap film when it is held…” Why, indeed, are there bands, I wonder. Despite reading the theory I am still unable to imagine the situation in my head. I promise my highlighter that it’ll all make more sense when I get into the lab and do the experiments. (What is a “traveling microscope” anyway?)

I am still reading my lab manual when I reach the VCA*. As we wait for class to begin, I wonder if the other students notice the difference of this strange publication from their fat thermal-bound readers. By the time the tutor strolls in I have finished skimming the experiment instructions while systematically ignoring the questions, which, at this point, make no sense at all. (“If there are fringes, are they straight or curved?”?)

As a rare treat I go out to see a performance by the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in Pahran in the evening. Evenings out are dangerous when one has a lab at 9am the next morning, its a wonder I wasn’t thinking about physics as the circus arts students swing dangerously high on trapezes and fling each other around off see-saws. But the evening passes with a wonderful performance and without regrets. Afterwards I head home with my friend who will stay the night.

As my friend switches the TV on to watch Supernatural, I sit besides her with my physics lab manual and laptop on the coffee table. I click “Enter pre-labs” . The first time I did this back in week three I thought this link would take me to some strange wonderful virtual pre-lab world, but I am no longer disappointed at the rather pathetic range of four multiple choice questions. Considering my long day, I was actually relieved by the simplicity of the task.

“The diameter of what object will be measured using optics theory in Experiment III? a) a human hair; b) a small wooden rod; c) a piece of string; d) the moon.” It’s almost a joke. But I must admit the process is smart. 5 marks for a timely submission, and 5 marks for correct answers is enough to bribe me into flicking through my lab manual before my lab.

“Correct! Correct! Correct! Correct! Your pre-lab has been completed with the result: 100%,” my friend reads over my shoulder. “Miss fancy 100% correct,” she teases. Fancy? For four multiple choice questions? Sure, I’ll take the credit. With that completed I can sleep soundly… Except that its way past midnight before I actually do get to sleep.

BRINGLINGLINGLING LINGLING A DI LING

My phone alarm is annoyingly loud. Especially at 7:15am after a late night of heart-to-heart sleep-over conversation. Just to add to the evils of the morning, my train is late, when it does arrive it is so packed I cannot get on and the next train is late as well. So when I reach the university I am 15 minutes late for my laboratory.

“So are there any questions about all that?” My demonstrator asks after he finishes explaining the basics of the lab. I smile without saying anything, for someone who just walked in breathless I have no right to ask questions about something that may have already been explained. Thank god I read the manual.

I’m not sure whether my lab partner is annoyed or relieved to see me finally show up. Its a strange partnership that was only established two weeks ago. In my first lab I had walked into a deadly silent lab-classroom and was told to “find a lab partner”. I had (with only a little loss of pride) approached three people with a cheerful “Hi! Are you doing the thin lenses experiment?” followed by a negative answer before I approached one of the anti-social boys sitting by themselves to finally get a positive answer. It turned out that I was the only girl in our experiment group. But this strange last-resort partnership had managed to co-operate through labs rather smoothly and without resentment from either party.

I pick up my physics log book (the last one on the pile kept in the lab) and write in the title and date on the next blank page. For $5.20 the log book was nothing more than a bound exercise book with grid paper. Despite the officialness of the name of this book, it was more of a lab-journal with unstructured recordings, strange simplified diagrams and handwriting that got messier every page.

The lab from the previous week had been rather long, and no one from the group had completed all the experiments. According to the lab manual we should have only lost four marks, but when I look at my score sheet in the front of my log book I am surprised to find 10/10. It seems labs in physics are pretty casual and a moderate demonstration of understanding and genuine effort is all it takes to get the marks. This is the beauty of the physics lab class: it’s all for the lab experience, no pressure on marks or theory or assessment. The one place where you can truely have fun while learning stuff.

Together we stumble our way through the experiments. Everything in the lab manual is in a linear fashion, so there is no flicking back and forth between pages. Scattered among the experiment instructions are questions to be answered in a few sentences in our lab manuals, and theory to quickly read and revise before commenting on the experiment. Sometimes it’s hard to work in a group because either everyone wants to do something or no one wants to do anything, but labs turned out to be easy to co-ordinate: we look at the experiment results together, discuss something, decide the best wording for ourselves and write our own version into our own lab book. Socializing is optional.

Back in high-school practical work had been my least favourite part of studying science. The results never seemed to match the theory, and then you would warp your results (or steal some off another group) so you could complete your write up. It always seemed so pointless – couldn’t the teacher just do a demonstration? It’s why I never chose chemistry, physics involved less experiments. When I looked at my timetable and noticed that I had three hours of lab-class every week (and pre-reading! and pre-lab questions!) I had many doubts about whether I would enjoy it. But instead of being my low-point of the week, the casual learn-as-you-do attitude of physics labs is quickly becoming my favourite part of the subject.

*VCA: Victorian College of the Arts, home of the music, dance, visual art, film and etc. students; a 10-15min tram ride from the main Parkville Campus. I have my breadth subject, “Poetics of the Body”,  here once a week.