Elements of Mechanics (Practical Work (TP) Booklet)

Abstract

This booklet of practical work is intended for first-year undergraduate students in the Science and Technology (ST) common core. It accompanies the "Elements of Mechanics" course and comprises five laboratory sessions. The first session introduces measurement and error analysis: SI units, absolute and relative uncertainties, experimental standard deviation, the uncertainty of the mean, and the propagation of uncertainties by the quadrature and logarithmic methods. The following sessions apply these tools to fundamental mechanical phenomena. In the free-fall experiment, the gravitational acceleration g is determined by linearising the measured data. The simple pendulum is used to verify the period law in the small-angle approximation. An air track equipped with photogates is used to study uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion and to verify Newton's second law. Finally, the torsion pendulum allows students to determine the torsion constant and to measure the moments of inertia of various solids, together with a verification of the parallel-axis theorem. Each session presents the theoretical background, the experimental protocol, the data processing procedure and a critical discussion of systematic errors, followed by a report template. The booklet aims to develop students' experimental skills, rigour in measurement and scientific reporting.