Purpose:

This page establishes the criteria for the project that you will choose. I'm not sure I'm literate enough to describe the various criteria succinctly. I will do my best but ultimately we'll need to check in and have a quick discussion about your proposal. Take a look at the Project Outcomes page as you consider potential projects so that you have a sense how they might connect. Here is a page of general descriptions of examples from different fields of physics that could be reasonable projects and might spark some ideas for you.

Criteria:  

Underlying physics from PH211/PH212: It makes the most sense to me that you would pick a project setting that is described by physics that we explored in the first two terms. This should mean you are more comfortable with your conceptual understanding and the mathematical tools. The idea is that your project setting could be described analytically (math formula) when reduced to it's most simple form.

When you think of a possible project I will ask you to write out your answers to the following 3 questions:

I: What is the most simple form of the problem and what are the physics tools you would use to describe and predict it's behavior?

II: What is it about the problem that needs to be modeled as an evolving situation? Is the air drag that keeps changing magnitude and direction? Does one or more of the forces in the problem change with time or position? This is the feature of the problem that requires us to consider a numberical approach to solving the problem.

III: How do you picture incrementally improving the model? Describe what you envision as a series of small improvements that you might make to get from the very simple model in (I) to something that approaches the true complexity of the 'real' problem.

Instructor Approval: You will have a quick meeting with your instructor during lab or ofice hours to get formal approval for your proposal. Past experience suggests students find really interesting but alarmingly difficult projects to propose. Even problems that might at first seem too simple can be dialed up into worthy numerical problems. Be aware that sometime during the term I will google your project to see if someone has already written a Jupyter or Python notebook for your proposal.

Project Proposal:

1) Submit your proposal that answers the three questions posed above

2) Meet with you Instructor to discuss

3) Get signed approval to proceed!