PH2150 Team Project
What it’s about:
practice your programming skills, learn some elements
of computational physics, and learn how to get a project
done as a team
Your assignment and how it’s assessed:
teams, project, report, talk, lab notebook
Overview of the projects:
planetary motion (Runge-Kutta method)
pendulum motion (Runge-Kutta method)
method of least squares (numerical minimization)
Laplace equation (relaxation method)
telescope ray tracing (Monte Carlo method)
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Project organization
Form groups of 3 or 4 (hopefully already done...)
You will receive a script describing the project and the goals to be achieved.
Your team must:
figure out the physics/mathematics behind the problem;
implement a solution;
produce a single written report;
produce a single oral presentation.
Each student should keep a lab notebook with notes on the problems being
addressed, attempted methods of solution, how the work fits into the team’s
efforts, etc.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
The written report
Your group should appoint a report “editor”, but all members of the
team must contribute.
It should include a discussion of:
the nature of the problem;
the algorithms you are using for its solution;
how the algorithms have been implemented;
results with illustrative plots;
discussion of limitations and possible extensions.
Include short pieces of code (or pseudo-code) in the body of the
report as needed to explain your method; include all of the code as
an appendix.
Grammar, spelling, style, and clarity of explanation are important.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
The oral presentation
Your group should appoint a speaker and presentation editor, but as
with the report, all members of the team must contribute.
Suggested mode of delivery: PowerPoint and data projector
(but feel free to explore alternatives).
Keep in mind that your fellow students will not understand the
problem at the same level of detail as you do, so:
explain the nature of the problem;
the main ideas behind your solution (not the details);
illustrate your ideas with meaningful plots and graphs.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Assessment
Project report:
50%
Oral presentation:
15%
Lab notebook:
35%
Dates
Oral presentations: 14:00, Thursday 12th December,
in T118
Written report due: Friday 13th December
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Planetary motion
y
x
Newton’s laws lead to four coupled partial differential equations
describing planetary orbit.
Numerical solution using Runge-Kutta method.
Explore solution with gravitation force modified by effects of
general relativity, investigate precession of Mercury’s orbit.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Pendulum motion
d 
d g
 2
 sin   0
2
dt
dt l
2

Find angle and angular speed numerically (Runge-Kutta method)
Investigate accuracy of solution, include driving force, chaos...
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Method of least squares
Galileo’s data on projectile motion:
h
d
1000
828
800
600
300
1500
1340
1328
1172
800
Test several hypotheses for relationship between d and h.
Use method of least squares to estimate parameters.
Numerical minimization.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Laplace equation
V0
  
   2  2  2 0
x
y
z
2
2
2
2
Find electrical potential in volume by defining grid, use “relaxation
method”.
Plot equipotential lines, investigate different boundary conditions.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Telescope ray tracing
Investigate optical aberrations in telescopes, e.g. coma:
optical axis
Generate rays with Monte Carlo method, trace through optical system.
RHUL Physics Dept.
Autumn term 2002
Teams 2002
A
Rebecca Smith, David Stafford, Jamie Cowdry, Simon Long
B
Sofia Kallitsi, Angeliki Kiakotou, Paul Milligan, Terence Norman
C
Charlotte Lacey, Dahlia Haleem, Jason Richardson
D
Martyn Bryant, Rob Bennett, James McKemey
E
Ian Dejong, Robin Reilly, David Neary
F
Harilaos Kashouli, Andrew Morris, Salem Yateem
G
Ben Yager, Kelvin Ng, George Acquah
H
Sudhir Gadhok, Suraj Shah, Christina Potter