Describe in detail how you would go about making your measurements.

A project proposal will be submitted by each person. The proposal should be typed and should include a
detailed plan for what you are planning to do. A portion of the project points counts towards the writing
of the proposal. The proposal should contain the following sections:
1)What is the question that you are trying to answer?
Specify your question and state your hypothesis. It would be a good idea to choose a topic that
you think is important and interesting. Also, your question must be a scientific question –
something that can be determined by an experiment. If you are doubtful about this, you can
contact me!
2)The Experimental Set up: What is the set-up for your experiment? Choose something simple,
that you can change and take apart easily. In the first part of your project, you will be building a
prototype of your set-up. If the prototype is good enough to get your results, you may simply use
it for the final project. The goal is to learn some Physics and have fun, so do not spend most of
the project time on simply building the set-up.
You must include
• A diagram showing your prototype (a NEAT hand-drawn clearly labeled diagram is fine).
Use a ruler and clear lines. Avoid cluttered drawings and tiny images.
• A list of materials needed with the estimated quantity.
• A list of sources for the materials with estimated prices. You should not have to spend a
lot of money either on the prototype or the real thing. You can learn a lot of Physics with stuff
that is lying around your house or with relatively inexpensive materials.
The total cost for your project must not exceed $50.00.
3) What variables are you controlling and what will you be changing?
What are the variables in your experiment? What variable can you measure reliably? What
variables will you keep constant? What are your dependent and independent variables?
Describe in detail how you would go about making your measurements. If you do not have
equipment to make your measurement or do not have a guaranteed way of getting the equipment,
you should not pursue the experiment.
Just as important as making your measurement is controlling the other variables. Come up with
a plan to keep the other variables constant. If this requires other equipment, then describe how
you will acquire this equipment (again source and price, if relevant, must be included).
Or, because of our special circumstances, you may opt to look for data from experiments
that have already been done and discuss the experiment and the results. Or, you may use
apps to measure certain variables.
4) How many trials do you think you will need to do for each value of the changing variable
before you are confident of your results?
This means one of your classmates or the instructor should be able to repeat the experiment and
get the same results.
5) How much time do you think you will need?
This is a tough one – and this is the reason you should start off with a simple system. Things
can go wrong and very often do. So, you should be ready for setbacks and extra time to rebuild
and measure again. Be prepared for several iterations before you get it right – this will ensure
that you will really get the maximum out of your project experience.
Make a project timeline and stick with it.
Project Plan
Specify the timeline – When are you ready to start? When do you hope to finish?
Include a table of the main tasks to achieve your goal and the date when you plan to finish (use the
deadlines in your FlipIt Calendar as your guide
6)Potential Problems
What possible problems do you expect to encounter? If you think through this, you may be
better able to deal with them and go to Plan B if needed.
It is very important to cite ALL references in APA format for everything you submit for the
project.
You will receive a zero on the project and (possibly) the course if you copy other people’s work
or if you fail to cite references.

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