Research Topic

[princessd3]

Hey there SDN,
Well...I'm taking Physics 1 this semester. I didn't do very well on the first exam but it was the first one of four and only worth ten percent. The professor has offered us a means of making up lost points (extra credit). You see if we research any topic in physics, fully understand it and be able to present it to the class we would then extra credit. I'm in the position now where I really need that extra credit to make up for that first exam. The thing is I'm at a total blank as to what to research. All I'm asking for is a mere idea, a suggestion as to what would make for an interesting topic. All the other research I will do on my own. Well...anyone willing to help me out?

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[ready]

This summary was in Science last year....don't know if it'll help....the citation is at the bottom.

Many explanations of how the tip of a bullwhip is accelerated to
supersonic speeds include hand-waving (or perhaps arm-waving)
arguments and rely on kinematic analysis of the conservation of
energy or of linear or angular momentum. In fact, all three quantities
are conserved, and a full dynamical treatment is needed to
satisfy conservation constraints as well as the known requirements
for a good whip, such as a tapered shape. Goriely and McMillen
provide a numerical analysis of a loop traveling down a whip and
show how this leads to rapid acceleration of the tip.They show
that the tip can reach velocities more than 30 times that of the
initial velocity, well in excess of the speed of sound. ? PDS
Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 244301 (2002).

 

[Shadowfax]

Physics I - so you're doing mechanics?

topics involving amusement park rides are always interesting...maybe you could do research on how the engineers design the rollercoaster loops/how they work.