What Should I Choose for My Year-Long Physics Project?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around project ideas for a year-long physics project in a high school setting. Participants explore various topics related to physics, including special relativity, quantum mechanics, and the physics of acoustic guitars, while also considering the feasibility and depth of each idea.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Homework-related
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests a project on special relativity, emphasizing the need for a central question and proposing to prepare lectures for classmates.
  • Another idea proposed is to write a paper on "The Evolution of Quantum Mechanics and its Influence on 20th Century Physics and Mathematics," with concerns about the topic's breadth and originality.
  • A third idea, though considered less likely, involves researching the physics of acoustic guitars, with uncertainty about its suitability for a long-term project.
  • One participant recommends creating a computer simulation using open-source physics tools, suggesting it could be a valuable learning experience, particularly in simulating sound in guitars.
  • Several participants express surprise and curiosity about a tenth grader brewing beer as a project, sharing anecdotes about unconventional school projects.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best project idea, with multiple competing views and suggestions remaining throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Participants express concerns about the scope and originality of proposed topics, indicating that some ideas may be too broad or overdone. There is also uncertainty regarding the complexity of certain projects, such as the physics of acoustic guitars.

Who May Find This Useful

Students considering physics projects, educators looking for project ideas, and individuals interested in high school-level physics explorations.

guitarphysics
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This year in my school, we get to do huge project on whatever we want (literally, whatever we want- someone is brewing their own beer, someone is writing some songs, etc.). Of course, I want to do mine on something physics related, but I'm not quite sure what I should do...
Some ideas that I had (ranked by order of preference):
1) Do a project on special relativity. I would learn about it as much as I could, but the problem is that I need sort of a main question for my project- I don't think I can just learn about something and write a paper about it, I think I have to ask and eventually answer a big question. One idea I had was to learn about it a lot and then prepare one or two half-hour "lectures" for my classmates to give them an introduction to special relativity and an intuition for what it's about. However, I'm open to suggestions.

2) A paper on "The Evolution of Quantum Mechanics and its Influence on 20th Century Physics and Mathematics". I'm allowed to write a paper with a main topic and sort of question, and it can be maximum 5000 words. I think this topic would be really fun to write and research about. I don't know much about the impact of QM on other physics in the 20th century or math (if there is any impact). The problem is that this topic might be too broad, so if you think it's good but should be narrowed down, please let me know. Also, I'm not sure if this has been done too much by too many people, so that would be good to know as well- I don't want to do something too overdone.

3) This one I probably won't do, but it's still a maybe: Research the physics of acoustic guitars. This was my dad's idea because I play the guitar, but I don't know if it's good for a long-term project. It might be too advanced, or too basic (I really have no idea).


Extra information: This is a 10th grade high school project and we'll be getting approximately 9 months to work on it. It's called a Personal Project so I'll be doing all the work, but each student gets a supervisor (who could be a teacher or student who already did the project) who they meet with once a month. I work very hard, love physics, and have a decent math background (know algebra, trig, geometry, and differential and integral calculus of one variable).

If you have any other ideas for other projects I could do, criticisms of my project ideas, suggestions for my project ideas, or think that one of my ideas will work best, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Thanks
 
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how about doing a computer simulation of something using the open source physics toolkit (www.compadre.org/osp) and/or the processing.org software for graphuc artists.

You'd learn how to do physics simulations of real world things even if you don't yet know how to analyze the underlying differential equations.

It would be a lot of work but could pay off big. You could think about how to simulate sound in a guitar.

like this one a stradivari variant:

http://vimeo.com/42469151
 
That looks really cool, I'll look into that as well. Thanks :)
 
A tenth grader is brewing his own beer?
 
Hercuflea said:
A tenth grader is brewing his own beer?

Funny as this sounds, my son in 7th grade was buying and selling virtual shares of playboy stock for a class project making great gains until the teachers realized what it was and made him change it.
 
Hercuflea said:
A tenth grader is brewing his own beer?

That's what I thought. But apparently he's allowed to! He'll make a nutrition facts section and things like that, which convinced the teachers.
 

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