Struggling to Invent? Need Ideas for Your Physics Project?

[equinox]

Hi i have a physics project due in about a week and need to come up with an invention that relates to physics somehow. I'm so stuck and have been thinking and thinking and still i got nothing! I actually have to build a prototype of my idea so anything doable would be great. Any help is appreciated!

 

[berkeman]

Hi i have a physics project due in about a week and need to come up with an invention that relates to physics somehow. I'm so stuck and have been thinking and thinking and still i got nothing! I actually have to build a prototype of my idea so anything doable would be great. Any help is appreciated!

Welcome to the PF.

That's a lot for a 1-week assignment! What topics are you studying in your physics classes right now? What ideas have you had so far? Do you know what any other students may have come up with so far?

 

[equinox]

Welcome to the PF.

That's a lot for a 1-week assignment! What topics are you studying in your physics classes right now? What ideas have you had so far? Do you know what any other students may have come up with so far?

Yes, I am running out of time! Well, we've studied all the major mechanics subjects. Kinematics, tension, friction, pulley systems, rigid body, oscillation, momentum, torque, and energy. {Not in the correct order, just listing off the top of my head} So far, I don't know to be honest. Everything i keep thinking of doesn't really relate to physics. I had a thought for using a keyring and attaching to the inside of a backpack or purse, a magnet would be on one end and you could use another sticker type magnet to apply to anything you use often for example, chapstick. It gets lost all the time in your bag and it would be nice if you always had it there. The keyring would just be so that you could pull on your chapstick and know its attached to it all the time. But again, i don't know if that has anything to with physics haha. I think one other student said he was going to make a cushion device for his phone so that if he ever drops it, the phone is cushioned and reduces the damage the phone goes through.

I can't think of anything that would be a pretty good physics related invention and not too complex to build either!

 

[berkeman]

Yes, I am running out of time! Well, we've studied all the major mechanics subjects. Kinematics, tension, friction, pulley systems, rigid body, oscillation, momentum, torque, and energy. {Not in the correct order, just listing off the top of my head} So far, I don't know to be honest. Everything i keep thinking of doesn't really relate to physics. I had a thought for using a keyring and attaching to the inside of a backpack or purse, a magnet would be on one end and you could use another sticker type magnet to apply to anything you use often for example, chapstick. It gets lost all the time in your bag and it would be nice if you always had it there. The keyring would just be so that you could pull on your chapstick and know its attached to it all the time. But again, i don't know if that has anything to with physics haha. I think one other student said he was going to make a cushion device for his phone so that if he ever drops it, the phone is cushioned and reduces the damage the phone goes through.

I can't think of anything that would be a pretty good physics related invention and not too complex to build either!

I'd recommend making something relatively simple that just uses principles of leverage (torque, moments) or a pulley system to make some daily task easier. Can you brainstorm along those lines, and post your thoughts?

 

[andrevdh]

Might a suggest that you skim through the topics that you cover in you handbook and see what comes to mind?
Invention is a creative process which not everyone possesses, but it can be cultivated by getting the left and right brain to work together.
So if we suggest it, it would probably not be inventive (we are all over developed left-brains here)!
I heard about a shool girl that developed a radiation delivery system that targeted only cancer cells - nanotechnology!
Another boy designed and tested an electric generator in speed bumps powered by cars going over it, but yours
would need to be relatively simple due to limited time.

Cell phone on a bungee cord?

 

[equinox]

Might a suggest that you skim through the topics that you cover in you handbook and see what comes to mind?
Invention is a creative process which not everyone possesses, but it can be cultivated by getting the left and right brain to work together.
So if we suggest it, it would probably not be inventive (we are all over developed left-brains here)!
I heard about a shool girl that developed a radiation delivery system that targeted only cancer cells - nanotechnology!
Another boy designed and tested an electric generator in speed bumps powered by cars going over it, but yours
would need to be relatively simple due to limited time.

Cell phone on a bungee cord?

I'd recommend making something relatively simple that just uses principles of leverage (torque, moments) or a pulley system to make some daily task easier. Can you brainstorm along those lines, and post your thoughts?

I was thinking of a pulley system as well, the only thing is the teacher showed a clip of an invention that relied on pulley system and i don't want it to seem as though i just copied that idea completely. But seeing as to how i have little time to come up with something, i might resort to that.

 

[equinox]

Might a suggest that you skim through the topics that you cover in you handbook and see what comes to mind?
Invention is a creative process which not everyone possesses, but it can be cultivated by getting the left and right brain to work together.
So if we suggest it, it would probably not be inventive (we are all over developed left-brains here)!
I heard about a shool girl that developed a radiation delivery system that targeted only cancer cells - nanotechnology!
Another boy designed and tested an electric generator in speed bumps powered by cars going over it, but yours
would need to be relatively simple due to limited time.

Cell phone on a bungee cord?

I took your advice and started looking through some things I could do with springs. I figured there's a lot of simple prototypes i can make using springs and since it is related to physics why not? How about a compressed napkin holder device that takes up less room? i could use springs to compress and decompress the device?

 

[AlephNumbers]

How about a compressed napkin holder device that takes up less room?

That sounds like a good idea. I have seen some napkin dispensers that do something similar to that at my local Dunkin Donuts. Except they just angle the dispenser so that gravity pushes the napkins to the front. I think that your idea is cooler, although good springs can be hard to come by.

 

[paisiello2]

As a last resort you could try a cup of dirt:

 

[andrevdh]

Two sites where you can get more ideas (that you can handle), but keep in mind that it is about physics!
Personally I have an interest in wearable electronics, think they have a great future.
http://makezine.com/category/science/?path=FromNav
http://www.instructables.com/
These just seem to be weighed down:

 

[CWatters]

Good inventions solve problems. Find a problem and it might lead to a solution and an invention.

This weeks "problems"...

When you put ties on a clothes hanger the weight tilts the hanger and they all slide to one end.
When you are fixing chicken wire it's hard to hold the mesh, the staple and the hammer.
When you go on holiday who feeds the chickens?
How does the delivery man find your house if it only has a name not a number?
How does someone leave a message if they call at your house while you are all out?
When you use a spring loaded solder sucker the recoil can make it hard to keep it in the right place.

(PS: Some have obvious solutions!)

 

[andrevdh]

So what you are trying to do is solving a
problem or making life easier using physics.