DNAOBN98 Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 So, as soon as I got back from the summer break, my physics teacher put up an assignment to send her our IA topics, methods and materials needed. I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I came up with the idea of testing how the force of attraction and repulsion between two magnets varies with distance. As we haven't studied magnetism yet, I thought this would be interesting to test. I would use a scale to see how the "weight" measured of the magnet changed as I approached a magnet from the top, while measuring the distance between them. However, on the first class we had after sending her the topic, she told everyone on the class our topics were "too simple", and we should develop the ideas better. I thought an IA was supposed to be simple, so I have no idea how I can make my idea "harder". Is this experiment really that simple? What would make it better? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevG Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Are you doing physics at SL or HL level? 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShootingStar16 Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 I'm not in physics, so I don't know much about it, but a lot of the people I know in IB chem and bio keep it simple. Simple is good because that makes it a lot easier for you to do an analysis and also just write about it in general (LOL I always come up with complicated topics and so, I'm making life harder for myself ). My chem teacher says it can be simple, but make it your own idea. Like maybe change up the variables a bit? When you submit an IA topic for the first time, don't expect it to be perfect because you almost always have to focus your RQ more. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevG Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 it can be simple but not too simpleyou can't go ahead and do an experiment about something that you already know the results to 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNAOBN98 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Are you doing physics at SL or HL level? HL, but the problem is that she told literally everyone in our class (HL and SL) that our ideas are too simple. Then she was supposed to call us one-by-one to talk about these IAs, but she spent half of the class with one (new) person, so most people didn't get the chance to talk to her. And now we have no idea what she meant by "too simple", and I'm supposed to send a better idea until tomorrow... I'm not in physics, so I don't know much about it, but a lot of the people I know in IB chem and bio keep it simple. Simple is good because that makes it a lot easier for you to do an analysis and also just write about it in general (LOL I always come up with complicated topics and so, I'm making life harder for myself ). My chem teacher says it can be simple, but make it your own idea. Like maybe change up the variables a bit? When you submit an IA topic for the first time, don't expect it to be perfect because you almost always have to focus your RQ more. The problem is that I don't really see which variables I could change in this case... maybe add more magnets? I guess I'll suggest this idea and see what she thinks about it... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiona Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Hi, I did not take Physics HL personally but I kind of agree with your teacher that the topic and measurements you decided to undertake are quite simple. At least for Physics HL since in my opinion it more suits Physics SL. What would I advise you to do is to make an investigation more related to real life. It might sound really simplified but maybe something like... how does the altitude reached by a ball depend on a material it is made of (e.g. from different sports... football, volleyball and etc.)You might want to have a look at this because I cannot really explain what I mean: http://nothingnerdy.wikispaces.com/IB+IA+EXPERIMENTS Hope this helps! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volkan_Turgut Posted February 10, 2017 Report Share Posted February 10, 2017 It doesn't have to be challenging. For example one of my seniors did an experiment about calculating the coefficient "g". She calculated it using 3 different methods, from F=ma, energy conservation "mgh=1/2mV^2", and the last one must be momentum (I am not sure about the last one) and she got a 23 out of 25. We are SL students and that really matters. For example in chem I am comparing the amoun of nitrogen in endustrial and organic fertilizers using titration. It is not that easy believe me, the experiment is tough. When I bring simple RQ for chem, my teacher gets angry with me all the time until I came up with this RQ. He liked it because it was tough, complex, and the most important thing was neither he knows the anser nor me. GOTCHA! I believe you can find a good question BRA. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamirAliyev Posted March 10, 2017 Report Share Posted March 10, 2017 My teacher says that it never has to be hard. Write it simple but perfect(I mean try to use as good as you can like). If you look at IA examples, you will see that most of the people who get high from Physics IA are ones that write simple things. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmhaj Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Did you ever conduct your IA in regards to the topic in which you talked about ? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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