Purpose:

We will be exploring a particular physics project in parallel with your first steps on this project. This may lead to you having second thoughts about your proposed project as we move through the first several weeks of the term. Don't worry -- amendments and changes to your proposal are reasonable and expected. Feel free to bounce ideas off your lab instructor or talk to others.

Process:  

Go read the Project Criteria webpage and consider what might interest you. The questions you need to answer are reiterated below.

When you think of a possible project I will ask you to write out your answers to the following 5 questions:

I: Describe the physics/engineering setting that you would like to understand better. Be as complete as possible without writing a book. Articulate what physics concepts you believe apply to this problem setting. Connect each physics concept you articulate to your setting and explain why it is relevant.

II: Will you be building a physical object that demonstrates the physics described above? I will need to see a description of projected materials costs and your access to tools to approve this. I expect budgets to be extremely limited.

III: 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?

IV: 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? Are there variations in the forces in different settings that need to be addressed. This is the feature of the problem that requires us to consider a numberical approach to solving the problem.

V: 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 office 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.

Draft and Final: Remember that the criteria require that you submit a draft and a final proposal so that it is clear that you are already developing a richer appreciation of the problem you have chosen.

Project Proposal:

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

2) Meet with your Instructor to discuss (via zoom or in person)

3) Get signed or verbal approval to proceed!