Claire Tobin
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Michelle Kuchera
Chaotic Pendulum Solved with Fourth-Order Runge-Kutta
Charles Liam Carriker
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Michelle Kuchera
Chaotic systems are dynamic, physical systems where initial conditions can greatly impact the resulting motion of the system. This project is meant to model a double pendulum, a simpler chaotic pendulum. Double pendulums are a type of chaotic oscillator and therefore, the initial conditions where the pendulum starts greatly affect the path it will take, with each small change in initial position leading to a unique motion. This project models this system using two-dimensional position (x and y) graphs, and graphs of angles (made by the masses on the pendulum) over time.
Modeling the Energy States of an Electron Trapped Between Two Sulphur Atoms.
Evan Frank
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Michelle Kuchera
In this project I compared how different models of an electron trapped between two sulphur atoms compare to experimental data. Specifically I used a quantum harmonic oscillator model (QHO) in an infinite potential well and a quantum aharmoic oscillator(QAHO) also in an infinite potential well. The simpler QHO model actually seems to do a better job describing the electrons behavior then the more complicated QAHO.
An Interactive Tutorial GUI: Simple Harmonic Motion
Sabid Hossain
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Michelle Kuchera
This project is intended to address the discrepancy in physics exposure/education towards incoming students. The fast-paced nature of the Physics introductory courses often leaves students (those without previous exposure to Physics) feeling lost within the course. The GUI is meant to provide basic concepts of information regarding Simple Harmonic Motion (which was taken as a pilot concept), including VPython Visualization and interactive randomly generated questions.
DIG 401 Subjunctive Projects
Claire Biggerstaff, Drew Kromer, Olivia Liccione, Catherine Lori, Caroline Macaulay, Alivia McAtee, Will Messner, Arianna Montero-Colbert, Tony Nguyen, José Olvera, Blake Skelton, Danae Theocharaki, Victor-Alan Weeks
Faculty Sponsor: Mark Sample
DIG 401 students will present their “subjunctive projects”—speculative design projects that raise questions culture, technology, and power in the digital age.
Trajectory of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
Jordan Scott
Faculty Sponsor: Michelle Kuchera
The creation of a viable ICBM was revolutionary in the Cold War. Take for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is the closest the United States has ever come to entering full nuclear war. The missiles threatening the United States were stationed in Cuba were less than 1000km away from the US mainland. An ICBM, however, has a minimum range of 5500 kilometers making an enemy on the other side of the globe a viable target. Naturally, this made the global threat of nuclear war much more realistic since distance was much less of a consideration now. The ICBM accomplishes this task with a large and extremely powerful engine fueled by hundreds of thousands of pounds of rocket fuel. The purpose of this project is to explore how the rocket is affected by various forces, namely lift, drag, and thrust, and how different altitudes and velocities affect these forces as the rocket moves through the air. Included in this project is an animation of the rocket’s flight created using VPython. Throughout the flight various values such as angle of elevation, height, distance from launch, and drag are tracked and displayed to explore how they change throughout flight. Although the ICBM is a deadly weapon of war, the wonders of its physics are a testament to modern technology.
To Conserve or Consume? The impact of Natural Protected Areas on the Food Security and Sovereignty of Indigenous Amazonian Communities
Adde Sharp
Faculty Sponsor: Matt Samson
This study employs a comparative ethnographic approach to examine how the creation of two Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) in the Peruvian Amazon, the Bahuaja Sonene National Park (PNBS) and the Tambopata National Reserve (RNTAMB), compromise the food sovereignty of three indigenous Amazonian communities known as the Ese Eja people. Semi-structured interviews with community members and government officials are used to compare the ancestral food system before the creation of the two NPAs and the present food system. My prior research affirms that, due to the new restrictions and entry requirements imposed upon the protected areas, especially the RNTAMB, the indigenous communities are both food insecure and lack sovereignty over their daily diets. As a result, the customary daily diet has changed considerably, contributing to dramatic increases in diseases such as anemia and malnutrition. The results also indicate that, although the creation of the NPAs has fundamentally altered the lives and typical diet of the Ese Eja people, they are supportive of the environmental preservation. The obvious discord between the current conservation practices and the compromised well-being of the communities is a product of the way “conservation” is defined and executed. The Ese Eja people view environmental conservation in a more holistic manner, employing sustainable-use practices and actively monitoring and tending to the natural resources they rely upon. Government imposed conservation practices do not recognize the Ese Eja Nation’s ancestral rights to the NAPs, defining conservation as natural areas with limited or no human entry. Finally, the Ese Eja people are not adequately equipped with alternatives for sustaining themselves, such as agriculture, further contributing to their insecurity and lack of food sovereignty.
This study employs a comparative ethnographic approach to examine how the creation of two Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) in the Peruvian Amazon, the Bahuaja Sonene National Park (PNBS) and the Tambopata National Reserve (RNTAMB), compromise the food sovereignty of three indigenous Amazonian communities known as the Ese Eja people. Semi-structured interviews with community members and government officials are used to compare the ancestral food system before the creation of the two NPAs and the present food system. My prior research affirms that, due to the new restrictions and entry requirements imposed upon the protected areas, especially the RNTAMB, the indigenous communities are both food insecure and lack sovereignty over their daily diets. As a result, the customary daily diet has changed considerably, contributing to dramatic increases in diseases such as anemia and malnutrition. The results also indicate that, although the creation of the NPAs has fundamentally altered the lives and typical diet of the Ese Eja people, they are supportive of the environmental preservation. The obvious discord between the current conservation practices and the compromised well-being of the communities is a product of the way “conservation” is defined and executed. The Ese Eja people view environmental conservation in a more holistic manner, employing sustainable-use practices and actively monitoring and tending to the natural resources they rely upon. Government imposed conservation practices do not recognize the Ese Eja Nation’s ancestral rights to the NAPs, defining conservation as natural areas with limited or no human entry. Finally, the Ese Eja people are not adequately equipped with alternatives for sustaining themselves, such as agriculture, further contributing to their insecurity and lack of food sovereignty.
Modeling the Trajectory of a Discus
Andrea Robinson
Faculty Sponsor: Michelle Kuchera
The discus throw is a track and field event dating back to the original Olympic Games. The goal is simple: throw your discus farther than your opponents. Several variables detailed below are important in controlling how far the discus travels. This project models the trajectory of a discus throw to see how different initial conditions affect the distance thrown. It does so by using computational methods to solve the equations of motion for the discus.
