Other Senior Project (HS): Physics Research Paper

[Biscuit]

Ok I can't tell if this should go in academic guidance or homework questions so I'll just put it here. I decided to do my high school senior project writing a paper on a recent discovery in physics. I narrowed my topic choices down to either photonic particles, exotic hadrons, or the Higgs. I want the paper to be around 20 pages but the problem is that I'm not sure how much mathematics I should include when discussing the detection or the application of these topics. Should I just include some main equations and briefly describe what they do or should I really dive into the details. I only have 8 - 12 minutes to actually present my topic so I'm at a loss here on exactly what my paper should mainly consist of. I don't want it to be too pop sci/pseudo science sounding but I also want to avoid making it look like it came out of a textbook. Also I doubt I have the mental fortitude for a paper completely about the mathematics. any recommendations on topic or paper structure would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[Mark44]

With only 8 to 12 minutes, you don't really have enough time to dive into details of the equations. Also, as this is a high school class, the details might be well beyond the level of comprehension of the people in your audience.

 

[Biscuit]

With only 8 to 12 minutes, you don't really have enough time to dive into details of the equations. Also, as this is a high school class, the details might be well beyond the level of comprehension of the people in your audience.

The presentation is to a group of judges not students. And to be honest I don't care how complicated it is because I'm mainly doing this for college stuff not high school grade

 

[Mark44]

The presentation is to a group of judges not students.

Are the judges knowledgeable in the field your topic is in? If they are, can you fit a detailed explanation of the equations into ~10 minutes? This shouldn't be at the expense of a higher-level description. Also, trying to present 20 pages of material in ~10 minutes would be difficult, I would think.

 

[Biscuit]

Are the judges knowledgeable in the field your topic is in? If they are, can you fit a detailed explanation of the equations into ~10 minutes? This shouldn't be at the expense of a higher-level description. Also, trying to present 20 pages of material in ~10 minutes would be difficult, I would think.

I honestly don't care that much about the judging and all of that. I expect on getting an A no matter what way I approach the paper. The reality of it is that I want it to look like I know something for colleges. But now I just realized they probably won't end up reading it so its probably best to avoid the complex math for the judges sake. I guess Ill check with my teacher to see if they are going to be educated on the topic.