Student Projects

Some Possible Student Projects

Below is a list of possible student projects for the physics 3356 class. You may pick from this list or you may develop your own course project. Because some topics are prerequisite to others the order of student presentations may be dictated by the topic you pick. The choice of your project must be approved by the phys 3356 course instructor. The following topics are not pre-approved. Students are required to develop and document a project plan in order to get the instructor's "go ahead" on the project.

This list is just meant to be helpful and does not restrict what you can do.

Text Book Topics

This is a course in Classical Mechanics. There is a wide range of topics that have not been covered, or have been skimmed over in the lecture part of this course and the prerequisite course, phys 3355. So pick one. Find a good introduction. Read about it. Do some problems. Choose a subset of what you read and assign that to the class. Figure out a way to get this text distributed to the class. Assign some problems to the class. Keep a record of all of this on your project web pages. When the time comes you'll present a seminar to the class. Consider yourself as a lecturer for the course. Keep it at the level that your follow students will understand.

• Linear Fixed Point Analysis

  This is a good example of a course topic. This is a standard method used in studying dynamics with ordinary differential equations (ODEs) which may typically come from a Hamiltonian formulation. There are lots of text books on this. This topic is starting to be accepted as part of undergraduate studies in classical mechanics, though it is barely touched on in Fowles & Cassiday.

• Chaos

  There are lots of intro-level texts on this. This is a very broad topic, so you'll need to pick a sub-topic, like the Lorenz System.

• Nonlinear Oscillations

  There are lots of intro-level texts on this.

• Bifurcations

  This is related to the last three topics and the first Applied Topic, Interactive Phase Space Plotting. Make an introduction to bifurcations, with a couple of examples.

• Fractals

  What is a fractal? There are lots of text books on this. Producing fractals with numerical simulations. This could be lots of fun.

• Nonlinear Waves

• NMR Principles

• Superconducting Josephson Junctions

• Control Theory

  You can pick examples from linear or nonlinear controls. This is a very popular engineering field of study, and there are lots of text books on the linear systems. How much can a physics mechanics student soak up of this in one class? It may twist your way of thinking, but keep your physics wits about you.

• Ocean Waves

  Start with the basics of wave modes, and work your way to answering the question: What's a tsunami?

• Continuum Mechanics

Applied Topics

• Interactive Phase Space Plotting

  Write a program or find a program already written that solves ODEs and plots the solution is phase plots while the solution is being calculated. If the program is already written you can use it to study many different sets of ODEs. This project complements the Linear Fixed Point Analysis project above. Phase space was covered briefly in Fowles & Cassiday.

• 6D Motion Platform

  Explore the dynamics of a six degree of freedom motion platform (Stuart platform, hexapod). The platform pictured will be the object of the study. It is in 3050 Torgersen Hall. The instructor has considerable experience using this and can help get this project going.

• Motion Cueing

  Develop motion cueing algorithms using the motion platform that is in 3050 Torgersen Hall. In this picture a chair is bolted onto the motion platform. The instructor has considerable experience using this and can help get this project going.

• Numerical Simulation

  Do a numerical simulation of a non-trivial physical system. Any one of the other topics listed are good candidates for numerical simulation. So look at them all again with this in mind.

• Physics of Bowling

• Atom Traps

• Optical Spectrometry

• Aircraft Gyroscopes

• Onset of Turbulent Flows

• Ballistics

• Solar System Dynamics

• Seismology

• Helioseismology

• Shock Waves

• Doppler Ultra-Sound

• Cornering Stability (McPhereson Struts)

• Torque Converters

Advanced Topics

Of course any of the above topics could be as advanced as you like, but some topics just seem to have more prerequisites than others. Sometimes a less formal approach can dump prerequisites.

• Action Angle Variables

If you would like to learn how to program in C and/or C++, this course would be a very good forum to start learning this. Your instructor is an expert C/C++ programmer and can guide you, but you must be willing to work. If you're interested in being a physicist you may need to learn to program computers at some time.

Google is a good research tool.