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Need some ideas for Physics C/W

Hey guys, I'm doing OCR B Advancing Physics at AS, and for the first piece of coursework you need to pick any material from, the human hair, aluminum, to nano tubes & spider webs. Whatever.
I'm really finding it difficult to find a material to discuss in depth for the presentation. Any Ideas?
All the ones I were interested in have been taken!
Regards
-Icy

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Reply 1

Blackspur

Something like carbon fibre? It has so many applications these days and there are many different types you could examins.

You could look at carbon fullerenes such as buckytubes - i don't know how much progress has been made with these yet but there has been a lot of hype about them over the past few years.

EDIT - looks like you could do a fairly in depth presentation on buckytubes! http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1293

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

IcyG

Thanks man, I'll take a look into those. Hopefully that stuff has alot of info on it and it aint so complicated, cos when a brother gets asked questions in class, and I can't answer. I lose marks.
Any more suggestions guys?

Reply 3

didgeridoo12uk

carbon nanotubes. did mind on it, tonnes to talk about and theres always new research on it.

you could always do stuff on spandex and related materials, allows you to fill your presentation on tonnes of pictures :tongue:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 4

Soph Soph

Aerogel, Bose einstein condensate, boron nitride (did about it in chem a2, harder then diamond if cubic and insulates carbon nanotubes if hexagonal), the stuff geckos have on their feet, teflon, nylon, uranium (ties in nicely if you do stuff about nuclear power), dark matter, neutron stars, water (lovely to do if you're into biology as my course covered how its properties are useful for life) fibreglass, glass, proteins, mercury...
Any help?

Reply 5

Ollie901

Just don't do water.

What a disaster that was :frown:

Reply 6

IcyG

Mad sweet! I heard people say don't pick new/complicated materials like that though, because it'll cause loss in marks, for the reason I stated in my last post

Reply 7

IcyG

Ollie901

Just don't do water.

What a disaster that was :frown:

Haha, damn man.

Reply 8

IcyG

Soph

Wow that's mad helpful! Any you recommend in particular? :O

Reply 9

Soph Soph

Get a peroidic table and stick it on a dartboard!

Reply 10

TheBigRC

I loved doing Physics c/w at A-Level, i got so into it :biggrin:

you're doing the same exam board as i did as well.

I chose Kevlar as my material, you can get really technical with the physics in terms of bullet proofing.

Reply 11

Soph Soph

IcyG

Wow that's mad helpful! Any you recommend in particular? :O

I did WJEC, so i'm not sure what you're after. What other subjects are you doing (is there any overlap in bio, chem, history etc)

Reply 12

IcyG

@ThebigRC - Someone took Kevlar already )':

@SophSoph - I'm doing Physics, Economics, Maths & Eng Lit (P.S. : FML) :tongue:

Reply 13

Soph Soph

Gold? Economic importance, use in electronic components, teeth fillings, gangsta bling etc...

Reply 14

IcyG

Soph

Gold? Economic importance, use in electronic components, teeth fillings, gangsta bling etc...

Damn, sounds good. I'll take a look at it. I'll found out what we need to talk about to, xD

Reply 15

sam92

I did the same course and did mine on Silicon, you can expand into computer chips (transistors), construction materials, silicon dioxide made into glass, lubricants, insulators, surgical implants ect. It gives a fair amount and variety of information for the project :smile:

Try not to pick something too specific as it will limit the amount you can write.

Reply 16

IcyG

sam92

Try not to pick something too specific as it will limit the amount you can write.

but will that not also increase chances of a ques you cant answer? :P What do you think about the previous suggestion of gold!

Reply 17

sam92

As long as you don't include anything you don't understand you should be fine, as i remember this section of cw doesn't need to be that in depth. Chances are your teacher won't have an in depth knowledge of each material anyway :P but gold would be a decent choice, got enough properties and uses and easy enough to explain the science behind the properties (Y) as long as you pick something you find interesting....makes it a lot easier to write :smile:

Reply 18

IcyG

Thanks man, mind if I PM you today or tomm?