Physics CW suggestions (not cheating!!)

right, teacher has said that there arnt enough "physical properties" to talk about, just to fill you in this is a-level coursework, i need to talk about the properties like tensile strength, malleability, toughness, that kinda thing, need to hand in my initial plan tomorow so ideas needed pretty desperately by now!
 
go for timber, it has tensile strength shear strength, its flexible, it has strength properties similar to steel, it can out last steel in terms of fire protection. There are soft woods and hard woods. The strength depends on the cut of the wood and the way the grain runs in relation to loading.

It wasn't me being boring earlier, its a good varied subject with plenty of material about it easily available.

Aero
 
chuck990 said:
right, teacher has said that there arnt enough "physical properties" to talk about, just to fill you in this is a-level coursework, i need to talk about the properties like tensile strength, malleability, toughness, that kinda thing, need to hand in my initial plan tomorow so ideas needed pretty desperately by now!
Click to expand...

Asbestos or Kevlar will always be easy to do.

Both are very widely used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevlar#Applications / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#Uses
 
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Look into Gecko tape.

You can then talk about Van Der Waals forces, plus the entire premise is cool.

EDIT: Actually after reading the thread properly, Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic is your best bet. It has different fracture mechanism due to it being a composite i.e. it has high toughness due to a large fracture surface, fibre pullout etc. It has a high specific stiffness and has a high yield strength, you can then talk about how the angles of the fibre in resin effect it's stiffness. Plus its starting to become a heavily used material in aviation and aerospace, look into the Boeing 777 Dreamliner.
 
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Are you doing the OCR Physics B course by any chance?

Bit late if you've chosen timber already, but when I did this (didn't have the option for a poster, had to do presentations) I did mine on reinforced concrete in construction.

It sounds boring, but I found those who did their presentations on new, cutting-edge materials (carbon nanotubes, silicone polymers, etc.) came a cropper when they discovered there isn't a great deal of information available about such materials.

As far as reinforced concrete is concerned you can discuss how it is produced, talk about the various reinforcing techniques (steel reinforcing bars, fibre reinforcement, etc.) and the advantages and disadvantages of each with regards to material properties, comparisons to alternatives such as steel in construction, the sustainability and limited environmental impact of concrete (I recall the mark scheme placed an emphasis on discussions of this kind)
 
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