Short introduction to my research

This is my first ever blog, it I have been looking into laser during the 20% time in physics. I've always been interested in lasers since i first watched star wars. Laser is basically an intense beam of light. Ordinary light is scattered in variable wavelengths and frequencies, whereas laser beams are highly organized light with all photons travelling in the same frequency and wavelength. I will further my research as far as possible and i am looking forward to the upcoming star wars which is star wars 7 by the end of the year. Thank you for reading my short introduction of my blog. I will update soon.

Assembling a Computer Part 1 (Types of Computers)

During the 20% time I had in physics, I have been going through several parts of the computer to produce the best possible build for an average user, budget user or even an for a computer enthusiast. I have also looked at the common problems that occur when piecing together a computer, the biggest example may be bottle-necking. This is when one component limits another components potential because it is unable to cope with its speed or power. I will also include the price to performance data when presenting this project. I aim to have 3 types of build towards the end of this project, the builds are as mentioned above, budget, average and enthusiasts. In future lessons I will be going through every component needed in a computer and their functions and how they link to each other.

Building and Customizing your own Personal Computer
It has never been easier or cheaper to build a personal computer (PC). Parts snap together like Lego bricks. To simplify it is really just Lego for adults.Current cases come with sliding hard drive trays, unlike previous models where we had to mount the hard drive ourselves onto hard drive cages, which were annoying! Dust filters and more fan mounting positions than you'll ever need. More importantly the competition between         pre- built computers and custom computers have driven individual parts and components prices down and driven up features and performance. So with today's technology you can build a decent computer without cutting corners for less than RM1500 depending on which components are essential to you.

Budget Computer
A budget computer is recommended for people who just need a computer for surfing the web, watching videos, composing presentations, excel worksheets or documents for printing. It is also for people looking for a cheap personal computer and not really wanting to spend a lot of money on it. These types of computer are not meant to run graphic intensive programs and can't really multitask without experiencing the occasional LAG.

Average/Mid -High Range Computer
This type of computer is aimed for users that require more power, whether it be in the graphics compartment or in the processing and multitasking area. This type of rig is very common with students as they can run multiple windows and tasks at once so it makes completing schoolwork at ease, students also run graphic intensive programs such as Photoshop and video editing software's like Sony Vegas Pro.These builds are also built to run games smoothly due to the power of graphic processing given. These computers are usually priced around RM2500

Enthusiasts Computer

Computer that are aimed for enthusiasts are built only for perfection, where every component runs at its maximum potential, every inch of processing power and graphic production is being pushed to its limits, components at this range are rather expensive and have a very appealing look to them. Enthusiast builders built their computers with premium components and will only focus on extremely high end hardware architecture. Building a enthusiast computer could cost you up to RM6000

The Life Cycle of Stars (Intro)

I have been looking up and about for resources about the life cycle of stars. Though resources are in abundance, there have been many occasions where I have read things that I do not understand. Apart from wishing upon the stars, I do want to know how how stars begin, which is the first and biggest part of the project. I have started reading several articles published by NASA and briefly took a look inside the chemistry of the formation of stars. Fun fact, stars are fueled by hydrogen and formed with the aid of gravity. Without gravity, we won't be able to wish upon stars as there will be no attraction forces between the atoms to even hold them together for a start. So, a big thank you to gravity!

Throughout the course of reading these articles, I was surprised to see that there were many formulas linked to the formation of stars. During the next blog post, I will (hopefully) have summarized a small segment on the formation of stars for you all to read.

The Earth (I)

hey fellow readers!

Over the next couple of months, i will be spending part of my time in and out of physics lessons to investigate and develop an understanding upon the topic The Earth, in terms of physics. Geology has been part of my interest and this project allows me to explore how the concept of physics influence other area such as geology. Over this course, i will be looking at how thermal physics, friction, and pressure structure how the movement of nature happens. As a starter, i will be watching two movies related to my topic to gain and relate the ideas together. Over the few physics lessons, i have collected a few information regarding my topic and hopefully the next few plans will be helpful for my project where i can explain clearly to you guys in a prezi presentation. 

For my next post (22 May), i will write a review of how the movie went and how helpful was it in giving me any further knowledge. In this post, i will also be talking about the next step for my project and any setbacks or difficulty that i am facing.

thats it for now, till then!

-Qaniah 

Introduction to my Research: Quantum Physics

The topic I will be researching for the next few months will be about Quantum Physics. The topic itself is quite a challenging one to understand as it usually involves things that are so small that they get really weird. Here are some examples:

"The more you know about how fast something is, the less you know about where it is; and the more you know where something is, the less you know about how fast it is."

Sounds odd? How about this:

"In a quantum world, put a cat and a bomb with a 50/50 chance of blowing up in a bunker. Before we open the bunker, the cat is not dead nor alive, but it's both dead-alive at the same time... until we open it."

Quantum Physics intrigues me, and I want to find out more about it. The quantum field is still a mystery to even the greatest scientist in the world today, and it is up to us, the new generation, to uncover those clues. We knows what invention Quantum Physics might bring us. 

By the end of my research I will be able to explain to you guys about Quantum Mechanics and it's phenomenon with the simplest terms possible. Hopefully I can successfully introduce the field to you guys and develop your understanding in it. 

Maglev Train

Hi guys! My topic is somewhat related to Kevin;s topic, magnetism. But its much more specific. I'm doing research on the Maglev Train. Maglev is short for magnetic levitation. I have been doing some research on it including watching a real Ted talk on magnetic levitation .
Link is here: http://www.ted.com/talks/boaz_almog_levitates_a_superconductor?language=en
My final product would be power point presentation and maybe a live presentation on levitating magnets. I have requested to the school for the equipment needed and is still waiting for an official reply.

Thank you for reading.

Justin

Music Production, Sound Design & Audio Mixing

I've changed my topic slightly, but it is still very much similar to what I originally planned on doing. For my project I'll be doing "Music Production, Sound Design & Audio Mixing". For my first blog post, I'll be explaining why I chose this topic and as well as making some detailed explanations about how sound waves play a big part in designing sound.

The reason why I chose this topic is because I produce music in my spare time, and I'd like to learn more about the technical side of music. For most of my project, I'll be looking more into more complex audio mixing and sound design techniques, but the main goal of this project is to show how much I've improved at producing music by the end of it.

For those who don't already know, sound is produced when something vibrates, which in turn, causes the medium (water, air, etc) around it to vibrate. This travelling vibration is called sound wave (A type of longitudinal wave). Although we can't see sound waves, we can view the properties (here we want to view the time and amplitude) of a sound wave by using an oscilloscope. So the sound wave of a violin would look somewhat like this on an oscilloscope.

As you can see it's rather messy, that is because this wave is a combination of many different frequencies. The most prominent frequency is called the "fundamental frequency" or sometimes simply referred to as the "fundamental" and any other frequencies besides the fundamental are called overtones. Now this is heavily related to what I'm going to do in this project, designing sound, because to create new sounds, one has to understand how sound waves work.

Sound design is something I'm not exactly great at, as I've only been designing sounds for a year and a half (that may seem like a long time, but really sound designing is very time consuming and takes a long time to perfect), and the most I could do are 3-oscillator sounds. Lately, I've been really interested in sound designing, so I saw this as a good opportunity to delve more into this.
I'll be using the internet heavily for my research, as there are tons of articles, videos tutorials regarding sound design, Also I have few books which I bought while I was in Kuala Lumpur. And I'm also in contact with a number of established music producers, so asking for feedback regarding my project should be easy enough.

As some of you already know, I began working on the first track for my project about a month ago (as I mentioned in my introductory presentation, I plan on making 2-3 tracks, about 4-5 minutes long each), because making music takes up a lot of time (about a month minimum at full pace), and school is taking up a lot of that time, I'd imagine it would take about 3 months to finish one track at the current pace of the project.

For my future posts, I'll probably go more into detail about Music Production and Audio Mixing. Hopefully, I'll have enough time (and a new mic) to make a short video about how I go about making these sounds, and talk about the new stuff I've learnt (or developed) while working on this project. Also in these videos I'll be listing out whatever software is being used in the video, just in case anyone of you wanna try start producing music yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to read through my post
and I hope you've learnt a thing or two from it!
- Dareil

The Physics Of Ice Skating

During the 20% Time in physics, I have gathered information on my topic, the physics of ice skating. I took the time to analyze how people ice skate efficiently and maintain their balance by watching several clips on Youtube. I also looked at the direction of motion control when trying to skate like a professional would. In the upcoming lessons I will be focusing on how friction affects the speed when skating and will the size of the blades on the shoes alter the movement and traction when skating. Thank you for reading my post! I will update soon!

Introduction of my research

I have been looking at the inside of a guitar and found many shocking information that I myself had never know. The physics and designs of this instrument is indeed complicated and I will be looking to further my research to know as much as possible. The current topics that are involved that I have briefly looked at are electromagnetism, electrical properties and sound. I have faced many challenges because of the complicated physics language and formulas but I will be looking to summarize it to everybody's understanding including myself.

Chris's lightning investigation

Lightning is a very wide topic which you all know, I love playing with electricity and its dangerous but when you think of it you only live once so might as well live with excitement. So for this topic I will research about lightning and explain it to you guys about how it works, this is just an introduction so I am not going to get into much detail. By the end of my research I will be able to present to you about lighning and summarise information that I got from books and websites. I hope this topic will excite more people so they will be looking forward to see my presentation. I hope this project goes well and may help people to understand more about lightning.

Sammm's project

Hi guys!:) My project is about biology. Surprise surprise. To be more specific its about how technology has changed the medical and health care field? This is also my individual Globals project. So I'll be researching on the types of technologies that has changed this field, how it changed this field and comparing the areas that have this technologies with areas that don't. My final product will be a prezi presentation and hopefully programme my own robot. I've been researching about the types of technologies but i won't reveal it in my first blog. So stay tune!

Thanks for reading.

Short Introduction to my blog- Magnetism

Hey guys! This is my first blog so it's going to be quite a short one. So what my blogs will be about is magnetism. I have been reading the textbook we use for our physics lessons on the topic. Since this is just an introduction so I will not go into details. My final product might be presenting prezi to the class or I might make something related to the topic magnetism. I will be researching more into this topic as time passes and update the blog every few weeks or so. I hope this project goes well and may help students who have troubles in this topic.

Thank you for reading this

Kevin

Hovercrafts Intro.

Hey guys! My blogs will be about hovercrafts. I will be posting my research on hovercrafts every month or so. I have been watching a few videos about how other people made mini hovercrafts. There were three levels of mini-hovercrafts. The easiest was having a CD attached to a bottle cap and a balloon. The link:(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhInI7voJsU&noredirect=1). The next way was to have styrofoam, a rubbish bag, some motors, batteries and fans (you can also add some design). This took more steps but the end result feels more satisfying and fun. The link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OMSdA4-Gn4). The final level of a mini-hovercraft was to have a wooden plank, a leaf blower motor, duck tape and a big plastic sheet.. I like this one the most but it is also the most costly and needs more effort to be put in. The link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HI137m7XA4). I personally would love to have the final mini-hovercraft but I don't think I can raise the funds for a leaf blower. So I will probably make the middle level hovercraft for my end product. I also researched on hovercrafts work. The way they work is, when the giant fan on the back is turned on, some of the air gets diverted into the "skirt". This creates a layer of air from the vehicle and the ground. This is why the hovercraft can maneuver on the ground and water quite well. Now what I would love to see happen soon is the actual flying hovercraft that is shown in movies. But I can only dream about that currently.

Introduction to my blog- The Physics of Skateboarding

Hello to the people who are reading this!

This is my first post for my blog and I apologise if my English is not that good. This blog is actually for my Physics project so hopefully, I will update at least 1 post every week. At least that is my goal. Anyways, the topic that I choose for my project is "The Physics of Skateboarding". For those who skates, you know where I'm going with this. *wink wink* For those who does not know anything about skateboarding, then this is a great opportunity for you to learn about skateboarding!

Most people just play around and do skills with their skateboard without even caring about the physics behind it. In my case, I will be looking into details on how each skateboarding skills requires physics. I chose this topic because I love skateboarding even though I do not know how to skate. By doing this project, I will have the opportunity to learn how to skate. 

Generally, skateboarding uses various types of forces to be able to do one skill. So far, the forces that I know that applies to do a skateboarding skill is weight, friction and contact. I will continue doing my research by using Google, Youtube videos and ask all my skater friends about skateboarding.

I will try to post pictures and maybe videos of me learning how to skate and using the knowledge of physics to improve my skills. I will also upload pictures and videos of my friends doing a skateboarding skill (of course with their permission).

That is all for now, so thank you for reading my short introduction of my blog,
A'

Mark's First 20% Time Update - String Theory

I’m researching possibly one of life’s most important yet so far unanswered questions – how can we explain the world around us in simple terms? String theory seems to suggest a plausible answer. My project investigates what this may mean. Questions that have arisen so far are:

What is string theory? What it means to the world? What is its significance? Is there is any evidence for it? Is it yet another dead end in Physics? Why don’t the theories of relativity and quantum correlate? Why are so many research institutes funding string theory research if there is no conclusive evidence of it so far? Could particle accelerators such as CERN provide some evidence that may eventually lead to a solution (it's just finished getting a 2 year renovation)? How far away is this solution? What are the alternatives to string theory?

As we start to understand more and more about science and particularly physics, we start to realise that the simplistic model of the atom with electrons spinning around a nucleus starts to break down drastically. Why don’t negative electrons spinning around a positive nucleus suddenly collapse into it? After all, don’t opposite charges attract? It turns out that the answer is not as straightforward as it seems. This is one of the issues that quantum theory attempts to solve and it provides part of the premise of my project. Another part is the idea of relativity which Albert Einstein postulated back in 1905. It suggests that all motion is relative to a frame of reference and that space and time are relative, not absolute quantities. The problem is that the quantum world doesn't seem to agree with relativity. This is what string attempts to unify.

I started off resuming Lee Smolin’s The Trouble With Physics which I started reading back in 2009 on a train in Italy (I even found the train ticket from Bologna to Milan that I was using as a bookmark). It gives an account of the state of modern physics and the problems it currently has. The five problems that Smolin lists are:

1. unify quantum theory and general relativity to come up with a complete theory (an example of two ideas that were successfully unified is electricity and magnetism which we’ll meet later this year in our unit on electromagnetism)
2. explain quantum theory in more simple terms or invent a new theory which does
3. determine whether or not all fundamental particles and forces can be unified in a single theory
4. explain the free constants in the standard model
5. explain dark energy and dark matter and if they don’t exist, explain why gravity changes on large scales

However, I realised quickly that I needed to backtrack and review quantum theory as I had forgotten much of what I had previously struggled to learn. I then picked up a copy of Manjit Kumar’s Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality which is a book I’ve heard great things about. Sure enough, I wasn’t let down. Kumar has done a fantastic job of outlining the history of the debate since Max Planck unwittingly started the revolution back in 1900 when he suggested an equation for blackbody radiation (A blackbody is a perfect absorber and emitter of radiation.).

1900 may not seem that long ago, but back then the concept of electron was very much a new idea. JJ Thomson ‘discovered’ them a couple of years previously in 1897. There was much controversy back then regarding even whether atoms existed but it was Albert Einstein in 1905 (a particularly fruitful year for him) who finally proved that atoms were real with his paper on the mathematical analysis of Brownian motion which proved Dalton’s atomic theory. Kumar goes on to outline the theories, the characters, the experiments, the debate and the controversy which raged for over half a century surrounding the nature of the quantum world. It was this nature that led Erwin Schrödinger to pontificate “Did God play dice?” as he questioned if the universe and everything in it could be reduced to a bunch of statistics.

One of the most striking things that has been revealed to me is just how much debate there was and there still is regarding some aspects of science. Science has never been as easy and as clear as a school textbook presents it and I believe much of the debate is lost in a bid to reduce everything to a simple model for students. I think this is a big problem as many people then take science to be a bunch of facts to be memorized without really understanding the nature of how science works.

I’ve also recently started reading John Gribbin’s In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat as I attempt to further my understanding of the quantum debate from a different perspective. In my next blog post, I’ll share more of what I read and learned from both books before I get into the string theory aspect of it. One of the issues I’m having is that I read Kumar’s book cover to cover in less than 48 hours, but I’m finding that since I didn’t make any notes from what I was reading, it’s making it difficult to think back now. Now I’ve started a separate notebook in Evernote to help me compile notes.

Thanks for reading,

Mark

References

Gribbin, J. (1984, 2012) In search of Schrödinger’s cat: Quantum physics and reality. London: Black Swan.

Kumar, M. (2008). Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the great debate about the nature of reality. London: Icon Books Ltd.

Smolin, L. (2006) The trouble with physics. London: Penguin Books.

Welcome to our 20% Time Blog

Welcome to our 20% Time blog where we are researching various topics in Physics throughout our final year in TPS. We are a class of Year 11 IGCSE students who will be spending part of out time every week researching an area of Physics in which we are interested in. We pitched our project around 2 months ago. Below is a link to our Project Pitches where ideas for topics ranging from aerodynamics to lasers to music production to star constellations will be explored.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qyqM_OQTOWSEZuZEgtV0d1UE0/view?usp=sharing

Now we've started blogging, we're hoping to keep you updated with regular posts before our project finishes in September. Over the coming days we'll be updating you with what we have been doing since then.