Outofmydesire Posted April 24, 2014 Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 (edited) Hi. Im in 11th grade and have been thinking and researching for my extended essay. I'm interested in aerospace engineering and highly curious about the work of Nasa. I've been very curious about wind tunnels utillization in Nasa. Hence I have decided to surround my research topic with my curiosity, but I am having a hard time in formulating a decent yet sophisticated and innovative research question. So far my ideas have been inspired by the work of Nasa.1) how does different wind speed impact the lift of the airplane?2) how does different parachute designs respond to constant wind speed?Please give feedback and any suggestions to my extended essay. Ishall be grateful! Edited April 24, 2014 by Outofmydesire Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmi Posted April 24, 2014 Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 A science EE needs to have some sort of experiment in order to do well. How are you planning on testing all of these potential topics? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outofmydesire Posted April 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 Yes i am planning on conducting an experiment. I am planning to build a wind tunnel. For the wind speed, I'll use anemometer. For different parachutes, perhaps the mass or design will be my variables. If I choose to determine the lift of the airplane wing, couldnt I use lift coefficient formula? Would logger pro be any useful? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negotiation Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 The IB states:"The domains of aerodynamics and hydrodynamics are theoretically and experimentally very demanding; forexample, the construction of wind tunnels can be problematic and time-consuming. A topic within these domainsmust be chosen and defined very carefully." If you think you can do it, go for it, but be aware that a simpler experiment may be more appropriate for scoring well. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outofmydesire Posted April 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 Thank you Negotiation. I'll take your suggestion into consideration. I'll be grateful if you could suggest what I could do further and I thought making a wind tunnel would not be so difficult. :/ Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negotiation Posted April 26, 2014 Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 I'm not at all sure about wind tunnel creation, but even if you got it working, it would be quite difficult. The EE isn't just about the experiment, it's also largely based on theory. If you seem to have no idea why what's happening is happening, it won't go that well. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outofmydesire Posted April 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 True, I would talk to my supervisor and see what she says. I have found some theory behind wind tunnels, but I need to connect the theories to get the big picture. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negotiation Posted April 26, 2014 Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 Another idea could be to do something like how materials (e.g. metals) are affected by heat. That would be highly relevant to aerospace. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outofmydesire Posted April 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 Oh yes, this suggestion sounds more achievable. Through this I could bring in the information on Thermal Physics and perhaps mechanics too! And since EE has to be something that is beyond the syllabus, I could connect it to Aerodynamics. Thanks Negotiation, you are weaving in ideas that I hadnt thought about. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negotiation Posted April 26, 2014 Report Share Posted April 26, 2014 I'm just happy to help Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outofmydesire Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hi Again! I consulted my teacher and she repeated the same words that you, Negotiation, had written to me! I'm passionate (at least I think I am about doing an extended essay on aerodynamics), any other ideas in mind to help me out?! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negotiation Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 Honestly I'm not all that great with EE ideas. It took me ages to come up with mine. You just have to think of all the aspects with aerodynamics (maybe even launch pads, etc.) and see whether you can come up with something interesting. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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