Design and Demonstration of a Physical Principle

Joshua EnszerLeo McWilliamsKerry MeyersUniversity of Notre Dame

Overall Concept

Develop a system to verify a relationship or principle describing a property of interest Design a suitable demonstration Predict the performance of the system using

computing tools (Excel, Matlab…) and explaining assumptions

Measure system performance Compare prediction to experiment

Module Goals

Gain experience with experimental design Understand implications of uncertainty in

“real world” systems Work within constraints (cost, space, time) Further develop communication skills Make use of computational skills and tools

Deliverables

Preliminary report and presentation Investigation of property and principle Dimensioned drawing of proposed design Timeline for project completion

Live (in-class) demonstration of system Poster presentation/ Summary of results Final report Mid-project and final peer evaluations

Seven-week module Week 1: form teams based on interests Week 2: dimensioned drawings / advising meetings Week 3: inventory and part ordering

Project Work

Project Work Week 4: preliminary presentations / reports Weeks 5 & 6: system construction and testing

/ advising meetings

Project Work Week 7: demonstration / poster / report

Project Examples

Flight dynamics Pneumatic cannon Rail gun

Friction loss Cars on inclined plane Water flow in a pipe

Heats of solution Molecular diffusivity