Physics Project Experiment Ideas

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The discussion revolves around finding suitable physics project ideas after a teacher rejected a proposed experiment comparing travel speeds on different paths. Suggestions include investigating the insulating properties of hair and food, as well as testing the flammability of various household and food products. The student expresses concern that these ideas might also be dismissed as trivial. The project must involve an experiment with data collection and analysis, and alternative options include creating a video project or building a physics-related item. Overall, the focus is on developing a project that is engaging yet meets academic requirements.
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I need help coming up with an idea for my physics project, my teacher rejected my idea of which will a ball travel from two points faster on a straight line, palabora, or cyclode. she say is obvious its the same for each and we studied that, she says its a mickey mouse project.
so yeah I am in 9th grade, and need some cool but also not too hard to do. some ideas i have are these:
Do different shades of hair insulate at different levels?
Do different foods insulate at different levels?
What household products are the most flammable, why?
What food products are the most flammable, why?

but even if i do one of those shell probably call them mickey mouse projects
here are the instructions

It must involve an experiment, with data collection and analysis, and involves several steps:

Possible Topics: You may pick one of the following types of projects, or perhaps something different (must be approved by teacher). Not all teachers are using all projects; your teacher will tell you which ones you can choose from.

1. Video Project: make a video and use Videopoint software to analyze some aspect of motion, conservation of momentum, conservation of energy, etc. BE SURE to consider whether the event involved (ie, a collision) is appropriate for this – for example, many events like golf swings and baseball batting occur too fast to capture with a normal video camera. It’s HIGHLY ADVISABLE that you discuss this with your teacher before writing your proposal.

2. Build something: research and build something related to some topic studied this year (ie, solar oven, musical instrument, telescope, many more). Remember this must also involve data-taking and analysis!

3. Hobby/sports: If you have some favorite hobby or sport, devise an experiment that somehow involves it (must be physics-related).
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Ask your physics teacher if she knows calculus of variations, which Isaac Newton invented and used about 1696 to solve the problem of finding the fastest path for a frictionless mass sliding from point A to a lower point B. The popular name for the problem is the Brachistochrone problem, which Newton solved in one day. See Newton's solution at
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BrachistochroneProblem.html
I have seen photographs of a brachistochrone built out of rosewood. It would be interesting to see a brachistochrone and a standard straight ramp perform side by side.
 
would need some pretty serous adult supervision but Rubin's tube. Nice example a standing sound wave.

Although food flammability study could be fun.
 
I do not have a good working knowledge of physics yet. I tried to piece this together but after researching this, I couldn’t figure out the correct laws of physics to combine to develop a formula to answer this question. Ex. 1 - A moving object impacts a static object at a constant velocity. Ex. 2 - A moving object impacts a static object at the same velocity but is accelerating at the moment of impact. Assuming the mass of the objects is the same and the velocity at the moment of impact...

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