EE topic Decision

[Hrishi98]

I Have finalized my topic and now I have to show it to my supervisor to draft the topic.

But I want to know is this good a topic for a 4000 word essay or no...,..,.

EE topic- To what extent does the no. of blades in a wind turbine affect its rotational velocity and how that influences the turbine's energy input(electrical energy which will be stored in battery)?

 

Independent Variables:-

1.  Wind speed(Using a Fan)
2. No. of blades used in the setup

Dependent Variables:-

1. Rotational Velocity of the turbine
2. energy input by the turbine

Controlled Variables:-

1. The Material of the blades
2. The Design Patterns of the blades
3. the Distance of the fan to the wind turbine.
4. The Height of the wind turbine

If there are more variables I can use, can anyone just point that out to me?

It would be a great favor for me.

[Vioh]

I Have finalized my topic and now I have to show it to my supervisor to draft the topic.

But I want to know is this good a topic for a 4000 word essay or no...,..,.

EE topic- To what extent does the no. of blades in a wind turbine affect its rotational velocity and how that influences the turbine's energy input(electrical energy which will be stored in battery)?

 

Independent Variables:-

1.  Wind speed(Using a Fan)
2. No. of blades used in the setup

Dependent Variables:-

1. Rotational Velocity of the turbine
2. energy input by the turbine

Controlled Variables:-

1. The Material of the blades
2. The Design Patterns of the blades
3. the Distance of the fan to the wind turbine.
4. The Height of the wind turbine

If there are more variables I can use, can anyone just point that out to me?

It would be a great favor for me.

 

In general you have gotten some basic ideas to starting your EE research. However, I think your plan still needs quite a lot of improvements & details before you start any experimental work:

1. You shouldn't use "to what extent" in your RQ. First of all, to investigate a "to what extent" question, you need to examine all possible factors before you finally reach your conclusion. Secondly, "to what extent" tends to be used in a more subjective subject (as in TOK or history), because in science, things are usually very precise & exact. So I think you should re-phrase your RQ to be: "How does the no. of blades in a wind turbine affect its rotational velocity and how that influences the turbine's energy output?" (I think what you actually mean here is the energy output. Remember that energy output is always lower than energy input, depending on the efficiency of the turbines, which is affected by many factors, such as the resistance, or the no. of blades of the wind turbines; in fact, energy input should always be kept constant, because it should be your controlled variable)
2. I think your independent-dependent-controlled setup is fine. However, you gotta now think about how you're actually going to test it. Are you going to build a mini-model from scratch? If you are, then you gotta think about the materials, the design (such that it's gonna best resemble the reality) of the experiment. This part is gonna be quite expensive.
3. Finally, i want to remind you that a physics EE is not like an extended design lab report. Don't think that they are the same thing. I made that mistake, and my EE turned out to be really bad. The major difference between a physics EE & a lab report is that in the EE, you gotta have to include a theoretical model (which will serve as the hypothesis for your experiment) and a theoretical analysis of your data after the experiment. This is important because these theoretical parts of your essay would provide an important proof showing that you actually understand all the concepts. So I recommend you to use everything that you've learnt (including Newtonian mechanics & thermal physics) as well as information you get from internet & books (such as about the design of the wind turbines) to derive the relationship between the no. of blades & the energy output (using mathematical analysis of course). In fact, I strongly advise you to do this first before you do any experimental work, because it would save you a huge amount of time later on.

In general, I think this is a fine topic, & can possibly be developed into a 4000-word essay, especially because the design of the experiment will take quite a big part of your essay (as you gotta have to mention all the limitations and stuff). Anyway, good luck!

[Hrishi98]

 

I Have finalized my topic and now I have to show it to my supervisor to draft the topic.

But I want to know is this good a topic for a 4000 word essay or no...,..,.

EE topic- To what extent does the no. of blades in a wind turbine affect its rotational velocity and how that influences the turbine's energy input(electrical energy which will be stored in battery)?

 

Independent Variables:-

1.  Wind speed(Using a Fan)
2. No. of blades used in the setup

Dependent Variables:-

1. Rotational Velocity of the turbine
2. energy input by the turbine

Controlled Variables:-

1. The Material of the blades
2. The Design Patterns of the blades
3. the Distance of the fan to the wind turbine.
4. The Height of the wind turbine

If there are more variables I can use, can anyone just point that out to me?

It would be a great favor for me.

 

In general you have gotten some basic ideas to starting your EE research. However, I think your plan still needs quite a lot of improvements & details before you start any experimental work:

1. You shouldn't use "to what extent" in your RQ. First of all, to investigate a "to what extent" question, you need to examine all possible factors before you finally reach your conclusion. Secondly, "to what extent" tends to be used in a more subjective subject (as in TOK or history), because in science, things are usually very precise & exact. So I think you should re-phrase your RQ to be: "How does the no. of blades in a wind turbine affect its rotational velocity and how that influences the turbine's energy output?" (I think what you actually mean here is the energy output. Remember that energy output is always lower than energy input, depending on the efficiency of the turbines, which is affected by many factors, such as the resistance, or the no. of blades of the wind turbines; in fact, energy input should always be kept constant, because it should be your controlled variable)
2. I think your independent-dependent-controlled setup is fine. However, you gotta now think about how you're actually going to test it. Are you going to build a mini-model from scratch? If you are, then you gotta think about the materials, the design (such that it's gonna best resemble the reality) of the experiment. This part is gonna be quite expensive.
3. Finally, i want to remind you that a physics EE is not like an extended design lab report. Don't think that they are the same thing. I made that mistake, and my EE turned out to be really bad. The major difference between a physics EE & a lab report is that in the EE, you gotta have to include a theoretical model (which will serve as the hypothesis for your experiment) and a theoretical analysis of your data after the experiment. This is important because these theoretical parts of your essay would provide an important proof showing that you actually understand all the concepts. So I recommend you to use everything that you've learnt (including Newtonian mechanics & thermal physics) as well as information you get from internet & books (such as about the design of the wind turbines) to derive the relationship between the no. of blades & the energy output (using mathematical analysis of course). In fact, I strongly advise you to do this first before you do any experimental work, because it would save you a huge amount of time later on.

In general, I think this is a fine topic, & can possibly be developed into a 4000-word essay, especially because the design of the experiment will take quite a big part of your essay (as you gotta have to mention all the limitations and stuff). Anyway, good luck!

 

Thanks for the advise.... and yeah I will look the corrections to be made to perfect my RQ. TO clarify, I will be building a model from scratch which will provide me a lot of data to interpret and to avert to a conclusion. 

[Csaba Goeroeg]

The windmill Idea sounds great but "number of blades" is really simplistic and makes it hard to control your other variables.

You should think of another variable to investigate, in my opinion 

[gus]

Hey guys i was wonder if doing an EE  on doppler effect on weather satellites. Do you guys think it adequate for 4000 words.

Edited May 7, 2015 by gus

[That_IB_Guy]

well, for my physics EE i did it on thermographic surveys and infrared cameras (i think it's the first of its kind so they'll be lenient while correcting it) i made sure all the criteria were met. the aspect which made my EE special was the use of an actual infrared camera which costs a lot, luckily my father helped me out and lent me his camera. it was a great experience. 

the most important thing you should do is follow the criteria. don't go overboard in explaining concepts just keep it simple so you don't go over the word limit. 

trust me cutting down on words is harder than adding words. it's always better to have a little less than a little more (ONLY FOR YOUR EE AND IA's) so you know where you should put more emphasis. 

 

cheerio!