Your honors physics project for the first nine weeks is to delve more deeply into an aspect of physics that interests you and to create a presentation on your work to the class.  There are a variety of ways in which you may undertake your study of a chosen aspect of physics, and the following list is intended to provide a starting point for your thinking.  You may use any of the ideas on this list, or if you have another idea, please discuss it with me concerning suitability for this project.  Please note that I am only human, and as such you may be researching a topic with which I have limited knowledge myself; go for it!  I will be available to assist you in any way I can.

Reading
 One very common method of undertaking this project is to do some reading on a topic and create a report; such a report should be typed, double-spaced, and approximately 3-5 pages in length, i.e. enough to describe the subject in detail, but not a dissertation on the subject.  You will also be asked to give about a 5 minute presentation on your topic to the class; you can create a poster, use overhead transparencies, create other visual aids, or use other resources during your presentation.  Following is a potential list of books you may choose from: some I have found in Southern’s media center, some are my personal books which I will lend out to students (the prices of my personal books are listed in the event a book is lost so that you will know the replacement cost to you), and others are books that you will have to locate in other places, such as a public library, a university library, a bookstore, order over the internet from a vendor such as amazon.com, or purchase directly from a publisher.

In Southern’s Media Center

Asimov, Isaac.  Asimov on Physics.
Explains the laws of the Universe in an understandable way.  Uses many examples.

Asimov, Isaac.  The History of Physics.
Starts with Galileo and takes the lay reader through Einstein and modern physics.  Accessible to the lay reader.

Cohen, I. Bernard.  The Birth of a New Physics.
Examines the scientific and philosophical revolution of the 17th century (Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, etc.)

Cole, K.C.  Sympathetic Vibrations – Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life.
Connecting physics ideas to everyday life.

Feynman, Richard.  Six Easy Pieces.
Taken from motivational lectures given at Caltech to his first year physics classes. Not really so easy.

Guillen, Michael.  Five Equations that changed the World.
Historical summary of the people and their work who developed 5 basic physics concepts.  Anecdotal and readable.

Motz, Lloyd and Weaver, Jefferson Hane.  The Story of Physics.
Narrative that traces the development of physics from over 2000 years ago to now.

Shallis, Michael.  On Time.
Tour of our concepts of time in our new relativistic universe.

Shamos, Morris.  Great Experiments in Physics.
Collected accounts from the physicists who performed the experiments.

Sherwood, Martin and Sutton, Christine.  The Physical World.
Readable, up-to-date survey of scientific knowledge to describe the processes underlying a vast range of phenomena.

Speyer, Edward.  Six Roads from Newton – Great discoveries in Physics.
Tour through current fields of physics since the time of Newton.

White, Michael and Gribbin, John.  Stephen Hawking – A life in Science.
Part biography, part physics as they detail the life of today’s most famous superstar of physics.

Available from Mr. Tretter

Asimov, Isaac.  The Relativity of Wrong.  ($4.00)
Seventeen essays written over time for a monthly magazine.  The essays are grouped into 3 main categories: Isotopes and Elements, The Solar System, and Beyond the Solar System.  A student could choose to focus on just one of these categories if desired.  The essays are short and very clearly written – Isaac Asimov has a special talent for explaining science to all people.

Capra, Fritjof.  The Tao of Physics.  ($4.00)
The parallels between modern physics and the ancient philosophies of Eastern mysticism (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism) are striking.  The author first describes in general terms the basic concepts of modern physics, and then describes the basic philosophies of each of the Eastern mystic philosophies above.  Finally, he highlights the parallels between the two.  Very readable discussion of both the physics and the Eastern mystic philosophies.

Davies, Owen (ed.).  The Omni Book of Space.  ($4.00)
A collection of short essays written in the late 70’s and early 80’s concerning space.  It is interesting to read predictions made by the authors for “by the year 2000....” and to see where we actually are now.  The topics of the essays vary widely.  To give some examples: terraforming other planets to make them livable for humans; mining asteroids for valuable minerals and ores; various strategies for building everyday rockets for people to use in the solar system as well as strategies to construct interstellar spaceships; constructing colonies on other planets; politics and law for space use and colonization.  These essays are not merely science fiction – they are written by knowledgeable experts proposing feasible ideas using currently available or foreseeable technology.  A student could concentrate on a portion of the essays.

Hawking, Stephen.  Black Holes and Baby Universes.  ($22.00)
Thirteen essays written between 1976 – 1992 by the most celebrated physicist since Albert Einstein.  Some essays are autobiographical, others purely scientific.  Topics include imaginary time, how black holes can give birth to baby universes, efforts to find a complete unified field theory, and also how science converges with – and diverges from – science fiction.  The report should focus on the science-related aspects of the essays, but the autobiographical essays are interesting reading too.

Einstein, Albert.  Out of my Later Years.  ($10.00)
Collection of essays discussing the urgent problems of modern society: social, religious, educational, and racial relationships.  He also explains his theory of relativity in several chapters “to make it comprehensible to any intelligent person”.  A student could report on the portion of the collection concerning Einstein’s theory of relativity or report on the short (2-3 pages each) essays discussing 9 different personalities important in the development of physics.

Feynman, Richard.  The Meaning of it All.  ($22.00)
Three consecutive lectures given at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1963.  The topics covered include “The Uncertainty of Science”, “The Uncertainty of Values”, “This Unscientific Age”.  Feynman is internationally known for his humor and ability to explain science to an average person, and these lectures fall in that category.  He discusses the conflict between science and religion, on peace and war, on the fascination with flying saucers, on faith healing and telepathy, and on people’s distrust of politicians.  A look at our society from the point of view of a scientist.

Feynman, Richard.  Surely you’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.  ($14.00)
Amazing true stories of the antics of Richard Feynman throughout his career.  Stories like: trading ideas with Einstein and Bohr on atomic physics and trading ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek; cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets during the development of the atomic bomb, and countless hours spent studying and experimenting with ants.

Highfield, Roger.  The Physics of Christmas.  ($22.00)
From the aerodynamics of reindeer to the thermodynamics of turkey.  Discussions such as “assuming each of the 2 billion children get nothing more than a medium-size construction set weighing about 2 pounds, Santa has a payload of about 2 million tons.”  Then the author goes on to discuss the required acceleration needed to cover the world in the limited time of “Christmas”, the frictional forces due to the speeds, the number of reindeer needed, etc.  He also speculates that Santa may use nanotechnology whereby the toys are delivered as a few atoms which then build themselves up from available molecular material.  Many more topics covered (sled material, guidance system, etc.)

Vogel, Steven.  Cat’s Paws and Catapults.  ($29.00)
Professor of Biology at Duke.  Discusses the similarities and differences of biological systems vs. manmade systems.  Very readable and thought-provoking about how we approach design vs. how nature approaches design, taking into consideration the various constraints involved.
 
Other suggested reading

I have not read all of the works below and only have a general sense of the content, so I cannot give a brief summary.  However, this list is merely intended to give you food for thought as you decide on your interest for this first honors physics project.

Asimov, Isaac.  Asimov’s Guide to Physics

Crease, Robert B.  The Second Creation, 1986
Mann, Charles C.

Clarke, Arthur C.  2010:  Odyssey Two.  Describe all of the physics in this science fiction novel.  The book is different from the video; do not rely on the movie.  NOTE: you may choose to describe the physics in a different science fiction book as well, but please make sure that there is enough substantial physics central to the story to merit an honors physics project.

Einstein, Albert.  Relativity

Feynman, Richard.  What Do You Care What Other People Think?
                              QED: A Strange Theory of Light

Fritzch, Harold.  An Equation That Changed the World: Newton, Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity, 1996

Galilei, Galileo.  Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, 1991

Hawking, Stephen.  A Brief History of Time

Kevles, Daniel.  The Physicists: The History of a Modern Scientific Community in Modern America, 1995

Krauss, Lawrence.  Fear of Physics, 1995
                              Physics of Star Trek, 1995

Ne’eman, Yuval.  The Particle Hunter, 1996
Kirsch, Yoram

Newton, Isaac.  Principia

Smoot, George.  Wrinkles in Time, 1995?
 

  In addition to the more traditional research method of reading and creating a report and presentation outlined above, you may choose from a number of alternative research techniques listed below.  If you have an idea for an honors physics research project that is not listed, please confer with me.  Your idea should incorporate some meaningful aspect of physics that you would investigate to deepen your understanding in that area.

Current Events

You may choose to research a topic of current relevance related to physics.  Many of the information for these topics would not come from a book, so you would use newspapers, journals, the Internet, or interviews with people as sources.  Some ideas:

 Research the physics involved in designing and building the International Space Station.

 Research the physics involved in the series of Deep Space missions planned by NASA to test futuristic technology.  Deep Space One was recently launched that was designed to test, among other things, an ion propulsion drive (Star Trek fans?)

 Research the physics involved in the NASA launch of the Mars probes as part of  Deep Space Two.

 Report on the discoveries and activities of the Hubble Telescope and more at the web site Mysteries of Deep Space.

 Explore Amazing Space, web-based activities designed for classroom use and convert some of those ideas into an appropriate project.

Many other physics-related sites dealing with current events on the web - have fun exploring!

Other Ideas

 Build a device such as a wind tunnel or radio telescope and use it to run tests.  The journal Scientific American has many good projects designed to be built without specialized equipment.  For example, a wind tunnel can be built using primarily a fan and cardboard, and then you can test various wing shapes in the tunnel.  Check back copies of the journal for ideas.  Also, the Southern media center has The Scientific American Book of Projects for the Amateur Scientist which has lots of good ideas.

 Develop a “moon sport” for a future permanent colony on the moon (or an asteroid).  Of course exercise will be important in a low-gravity environment, and games will be needed for entertainment, recreation, and fitness.  Your design should take advantage of the peculiar conditions on the moon (low gravity and no air resistance, among others) and should describe the physics concepts involved in your game design.  Rules, scoring, etc. should be included.

 Design and develop a space settlement (a space settlement is a permanent community in orbit, as opposed to one that is built on the Moon).  This is a project sponsored by NASA and entry forms and full details are available over the Internet at the Space Settlement site.  As the rules state, you may focus on only one aspect of orbital life or you can design an entire colony.  There are certificates for participants and winners are invited to tour the NASA Ames Research Center.

 There are physics-related competitions such as Physics Bowl and a Duracell-sponsored competition that may interest you.

Timeline and Evaluation

 To help you make steady progress on this research project, the following guidelines are established and portions of your grade for the project will be earned at each step.  I intend to grade the intermediate products easily; I mainly want to check that you are making progress toward your final research report (construction, contest entry, etc.).

Due dates are underlined, and the percentage of the project grade is in bold type.

 Aug. 25  Rough outline of your idea for the project, including a list of possible resources and an outline of how you will proceed to further develop your idea.  Also include what you would intend to submit as your final product. 20%

 Sept. 7  Rough draft of your research project.  This rough draft may be just a list of concepts and a summary of ideas that you intend to address in your report along with your ideas for the classroom presentation, or you may have already typed a rough draft for me to review.  You may include drawings of posters or other visual aids you plan to make for use during the presentation.     20%

 Oct. 6  Final report and presentation preparation due.  The presentations will be given to the class during the week of Oct. 6 - 8.    60%
 

NOTE:  You are welcome at any time to submit drafts of your work for my review and comments in addition to the above deadlines.
 

Return to Physics Home Page