Laboratory Safety Rules
GENERAL ELECTRICAL SAFETY RULES
1. Keep electrical equipment far from water.
2. Keep areas around electrical equipment dry.
3. Check to make sure that any electrical equipment is turned off and unplugged
before you leave.
4. Hands must be completely dry before touching an electrical switch, plug, or
outlet.
5. Report damaged electrical equipment immediately. Look for things such as frayed
cords, exposed wires, and loose connections. Do not use damaged electrical
equipment.
6. When removing an electrical plug from its socket, grasp the plug, not the electrical
cord.
7. Never work on a closed circuit - ALWAYS remove the power source.
8. Never solder when circuit is closed – could result in electric shock.
9. Take off all jewelry when soldering
Read ALL of the following rules carefully, and remember them while working in the
laboratory
1. Never hurry. Haste causes many accidents.
2. Always see that power is connected to your equipment through a circuit breaker.
3. Connect the power source last. Disconnect the power source first.
4. Never make wiring changes on live circuits. Work deliberately and carefully and
check your work as you proceed.
5. Before connecting the power, check your wiring carefully for agreement with the
wiring diagram for an accidental short-circuit and for loose connections.
6. Check out the supply voltage to make sure that is what you expect. For example: AC
or DC, 120V, 208V or 240V.
7. Do not cause short-circuits or high currents arcs. Burn from arcs may be very severe
even at a distance of a few meters. Report all electrical burns to your instructor.
8. Be careful to keep metallic accessories of apparel or jewelry out of contact with live
circuit parts and loose articles of clothing out of moving machinery.
9. When using a multiple range meter always use the high range first to determine the
feasibility of using a lower range.
10. Check the current rating of all rheostats before use. Make sure that no current overload
will occur as the rheostat setting is changed.
11. Never overload any electrical machinery by more than 25% of the rated voltage or
current for more than a few seconds.
12. Select ratings of a current coil (CC) and potential coil (PC) in a wattmeter properly
before connecting in a test circuit.
13. Do not permit a hot leg of a three phase 208V supply, or of a 240V or 120V supply
to come in contact with any grounded objects, as a dangerous short-circuits will result.
“THINK SAFETY, PRACTICE SAFETY, AND DEVELOP GOOD SAFETY
HABIT.
Laboratory Report
There is no one best format for all technical reports but there are a few simple rules concerning
technical presentations which should be followed:
Number report pages and report sections
Number all figures in the order as they appear in the report text.
Number all tables and give them titles; they should be placed on top of tables
The order to be followed during report writing is:-
1. Cover Page
2. Theory
3. Objective
4. Material required
5. Procedure
6. Calculated and Experimental Data
7. Discussion: A critical part of discussion is error analysis. In comparison of theory,
calculation and experiment you may not get and usually do not get a perfect
agreement. Sometimes the agreement is poor. It does not necessarily mean that your
experiment was a failure. The results will be accepted, provided that you can account
for the discrepancy. Precision and accuracy of the instruments or your ability to read
the scales may be one limitation. The best way of analyzing strings of data, such as a
frequency distribution, is to make an appropriate graph on which the theory is
represented by a continuous curve and experimental data by points, as described in the
previous section.
8. Conclusions: should contain several short statements closing a report. They should
inform the reader if the experiments agreed with the theory. If there were differences
between measured and expected results, try to explain possible reasons for the se differences. You
may also say what could have been done differently, how experiments may be improved, or make other
comments on the laboratory. Constructive and original statements are highly valued.
Sections you should include:
Abstract: The abstract should describe the lab’s purpose, method and results. This is not the
same as an introduction!
Introduction: This section describes the purpose of the lab. The introduction can be brief. You
just want to put the lab in context for the reader.
Theory: The next section would correspond to the theoretical description of the circuit behavior
and if there is a design component to the lab, it should list design equations (make sure to define
variables). This section often encompasses the work done in the pre-lab, as well as design done
during the lab.
Procedure: The procedure should describe everything you did in the laboratory. Include not just
what you measured but how you measured it. It should be written out in complete sentences and
in your own words. It should be more complete than the text given in the assignment. For
example, the assignment might use a phrase like “Test your resistive sensors to see if their
behavior matches what you expect…” Your report should describe how you tested them (in past
tense passive voice).
Experimental Results: This section should list results, in tables or plots, as appears appropriate.
Discussion: This section should include any further calculations and comparisons between the
results and what was expected. You should also address any discussion points specified in the
assignment here. If a proof or lengthy calculation is required you can include the work in the
appendix, for which you can attach work in pencil on engineering paper.
Conclusion: This section should briefly sum up the lab.
