Mystery Cylinder Assignment

Purpose To help you learn how to keep good lab notes and make predictions.

Rationale A key piece of science is to record the work you do so that you can learn from what worked and what didn't. Keeping accurate records of the work that you do can make all of the difference. Patents and other scientific discoveries can be worth a lot of money to those that can prove that the work they did was theirs. This requires accurate and honest note keeping.

Instructions For this assignment, you will be working with your teaching assistants to determine the contents of a "mystery cylinder".  You will have the opportunity to see, touch, and manipulate each cylinder in the lab and you are expected to work within your lab group to come up with 3 experiments that your group will conduct. Once you have completed the experiments, you will be expected to make a prediction regarding the contents of your "mystery cylinder".

If you do not take extensive notes in your lab notebook throughout the experimentation process, you will not have the information that you need to complete this assignment.  

Submission For this assignment, you will submit your predictions for the contents of your mystery cylinder, along with a rationale that explains how the experiments you ran, which were documented in your lab notes, support your prediction.

You have two options for submission of this part of your work:

  1. You can submit a 1-page written prediction, with rationale. It should be no more than one page (double-spaced, Arial 12pt font, 1cm margins)
  2. You can submit a video (no more than 2 min)

You will upload your mystery cylinder assignment on Canvas via the dedicated assignment entitled "Mystery Cylinder Submission".

See Canvas for assignment due date.

While it is encouraged that you work together prior to submission, your lab submission must be entirely your own work.

This means:

  • No copying and pasting from other sources - even if you plan to 'tweak'. This is not your own words.
  • Do not work it out together, and then alter the final draft to make it look less similar. Figure it out together, and then go away and write your final submission yourself.