The Physics of...

Final project description and requirements

Description

Research and design a physics experiment explain the physics of something that interests you

1. Pick a topic
2. Research topic
3. Design experiment and collect data OR Physically Model
4. Write lab report
5. Make summary poster
6. Present Poster During Finals week

You will hand in:

1. Project Proposal
2. Final Lab Report
3. Final Poster

Project Requirements:

1. You complete some mathematical modeling -> need to collect quantitative data and model the situation (No model found is a possible outcome)
2. You design an experiment to limit uncertainty
   1. Repeating experiment may be necessary
3. You should collect more data than you would for an regular lab

Ideas...

Ideas...

Timeline

1. Submit Project Proposal and Prelab Questions (Google Form)
2. Design Experiment
3. Collect Data (follow LabWrite Guide)
4. Analyze Data
5. Create figures for Lab Report
6. Complete Data Review meeting with Porter
7. Write Lab Report in on Overleaf with NCSU LabWrite Process
8. Turn Lab Report into a Poster with and Overleaf

NCSU LabWrite

Paper Example

Poster Example

2025.05.21 AP Physics Day 1

of the : What rule do you wish they would introduce into your favorite sport (or game)?

2025.05.21 AP Physics Day 2

of the : Any big Memorial Day Weekend Plans?

Day 3 - Experimental Design & Research

of the : If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce?

1. Finish Research
2. Finish Experimental Design
3. Start Collecting Data
   • Build Experimental Devices
   • Set up data tables
   • Organize Necessary Equipment
   • Etc

5.28 Start Experimenting

of the : What three items would you take with you on a deserted island?

Agenda

1. Set up your experiment
2. Start Taking Data

: Week Goal: Complete data collection

2025.05.29 - Collecting Data

of the : Which body of water: ocean, lake, pond, river, stream, pool?

Agenda

1. Collect Data
2. Analyze Data

Week Goal: Complete data collection

2025.05.30 - Finish Data Collection

of the : Should we terraform Mars for human habitation or focus on fixing Earth?

Data Analysis

of the : What did you do over your long weekend?

Day 9 - Writing Your Lab

of the : If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals, living or dead, who would they be?

Day 10 - Writing with

of the : What form of public transportation do you prefer? (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.)?

Day 11 - Writing with

of the : Do you have a regular summer vacation spot? If so where?

What is ?

• Type setting program for professional documnets, made for scientific and mathematical documents
• Plain text file that interspersed with LaTeX commands and complied with a TeX engine
  • Sort of like a computer program
  • Converts commands into a PDF File
• Not WYSIWYG like Microsoft Word or Google Docs

Why use ?

• support for typesetting extremely complex mathematics, tables and technical content for the physical sciences;
• facilities for footnotes, cross-referencing and management of bibliographies;
• ease of producing complicated, or tedious, document elements such as indexes, glossaries, table of contents, lists of figures;
• being highly customizable for bespoke document production due to its intrinsic programmability and extensibility through thousands of free add-on packages.

Making your first document

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
First document. This is a simple example, with no 
extra parameters or packages included.
\end{document}

Add in Titles

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\title{My first LaTeX document}
\author{Hubert Farnsworth}
\date{August 2022}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
We have now added a title, author and 
date to our first \LaTeX{} document!
\end{document}

Bold, Italics, Underline

Some of the \textbf{greatest}
discoveries in \underline{science} 
were made by \textbf{\textit{accident}}.

Add Figures

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{{images/}}
 
\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.75\textwidth]{mesh}
    \caption{A nice plot.}
    \label{fig:mesh1}
\end{figure}
 
As you can see in figure \ref{fig:mesh1}, 
the function grows near the origin. This 
example is on page \pageref{fig:mesh1}.

\end{document}

Adding Math

Inline Math

In in the middle of a block of text:

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\begin{document}
In physics, the mass-energy equivalence is stated 
by the equation $E=mc^2$, discovered in 1905 by Albert Einstein.
\end{document}

In physics, the mass-energy equivalence is stated by the equation

Adding Math

Display Math

\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\begin{document}
The mass-energy equivalence is described by the famous equation \[ E=mc^2 \] discovered in 1905 by Albert Einstein. 

In natural units ($c = 1$), the formula expresses the identity
\begin{equation}
E=m
\end{equation}
\end{document}

More Math Things

• for sub and superscripts we use _ and ^
  • E = mc^2
  • F_N or F_{normal}
• Fractions
  • a = \frac{\Sigma \vec{F}}{m} \frac{num}{dem}
• Trig:
  • \sin\theta \cos\theta \tan\theta

Day 12 - Finish Lab Report

of the : What is your ideal burger (or veggie burger)?

Day 13 - Start Poster

of the :

Poster Day

of the : What do you want to learn about yourself this summer? What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Poster Procedures :

One member of your group should be at your poster at all times (exception: if you worked alone). Rotate who this is.
Visit all posters and ask presenter questions about their project

• "What do you learn" or "What would you change if you were to do this again?" or "What is your most interesting fining?"
• Do no crowd any poster, spread out, go to posters with fewer people and rotate around the room