lab report

Title of Experiment

By

Alex Bell

Bert Einstein

Tommy Edison

Mike Faraday

Date of Experiment: October 1, 2007

Date Turned In: October 17, 2007

For

ME125: Engineering Measurements

Professor Marbach

Abstract

The abstract is a brief summary of the entire experiment. It should include at least one sentence summarizing each of the following areas: background, objective, setup, results and conclusions. The abstract should stand alone, so do not refer to any figures or references.

1. Introduction and Background

Discuss the theory behind the lab. Make sure to address the physical laws that apply and any approximations or assumptions that can be made. Write the equations and EXPLAIN them completely and clearly. Identify all properties that must be measured (the properties come directly from the physical laws). You do not need to explain HOW you will measure these properties yet, that’s in the Experimental Setup and Procedure. Any other appropriate background or history should go here.

2. Objective

Get directly to the point, start this section with something like… “The primary objective of this experiment was to …” Secondary objectives included the following:

1. blah

2. blah

3. blah

3. Experimental Setup and Procedure

Provide a simplified schematic and a photograph of the actual setup. Discuss the relationship between the simplified system and actual device. After providing an overview of the system and connecting it to the background discussed in Section 1, explain how each property identified in Section 1 will be measured, calculated or assumed. Also carefully describe the procedure that was followed to conduct the experiments.

4. Results and Discussion

Provide a general overview of the results that will follow. Then, break down the results into sub-sections. Discuss the calculation/solution procedure, but put sample calculations in the appendix. Carefully think about the best way to present the data. Use tables, figures, contour plots or other graphical representations to present the results and clearly discuss the MEANING of the results. Discuss EVERY figure or table that is presented. If it’s not worth discussing, it’s not worth putting in the report! Were your results expected or are there significant differences from your expectations. Where did the errors come from? Did you make poor assumptions (if so which one(s)), were measurements inaccurate, etc.

5. Conclusions

Like the objectives, get right to the point. Provide one, overarching conclusion (ie. “The Sac State Wind Tunnel is Hella-Rad …”). Then, provide more detailed conclusions.

References

Doe, John, “Forces on a cylinder in viscous flow,” Journal of Cool Stuff, Vol. 5, Issue 6, pp. 1-11, 1776.

Appendix A: Sample Calculations

Appendix B: Raw Data

Appendix C:…