Physics 101 - Spring 2006
A FEW TERM PAPER TOPICS TO AVOID
The following objects or topics are covered extensively in the textbook for Physics 101. You would have
difficulty writing a paper on one of these subjects that is truly your own work. It would be just too easy and
too tempting to use the same approach. My lectures and notes should be only part of the reference
materials you use for your term paper. Find an object that I do not discuss directly in depth and use
similarities between your object and some of mine to identify the physical principles that make your object
work. (This list has and text has been taken almost verbatim from the U. VA. web page of Robert
Wadkins)
Air Conditioners
Air Purification
Airplanes
Audio Amplifiers
Automobile Engines
Automobiles
Balloons
Baseball
Bicycles
Cameras
Compact Disc Players
Centrifuges
Clocks
Computers
Electric Motors
Electrical Power Distribution
Electrical Power Generation
Elevators
Falling Balls
Flashlights
Fluorescent Lamps
Glass
Heat Pumps
Incandescent Light Bulbs
Knives
Lasers
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetically Levitated Trains
Medical Imaging
Medical Radiation
Microscopes
Microwave Ovens
Nuclear Reactors
Nuclear Weapons
Pipe Organs
Plastics
Radio
Ramps
Refrigerators
Rockets
Roller Coasters
Scales
Seesaws
Sunlight
Tape Recorders
Telescopes
Television
Thermometers
Thermostats
Vacuum Cleaners
Violins
Water Faucets
Water Purification
Water, Steam, and Ice
Wheels
Xerographic Copiers
Here is a list of suitable term paper topics.
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Maintained by: rjones@sc.edu
Last Modified 01/10/06