The paper will consist of a critical discussion of either some physical phenomenon or of an invention important to humanity which depends on the principles of physics in a non-trivial way. The paper should show how such a phenomenon or device works. A draft version of your paper will be peer-reviewed by your classmates. I expect of order 10 typewritten double-spaced pages. References should be made to material used to construct the paper and should be given in some standard form -- I don't care which. However, at least three references for this paper should be ``library'' as opposed to WWW references.

Please read (and abide by) these recommendations when writing your paper.

Due dates are as follows:

• Approval of topics by me: 18 Sept.
• Two paper copies of draft version of paper due: 2 Nov.
• Reviews due: 9 Nov.
• Final version of paper due: Friday 4 Dec. (hard deadline!).

Suggestions for possible subjects are as follows:

• Lasers.
• Nuclear reactors. -- Nick Pincus
• Bipolar transistors.
• Field effect transistors.
• Conductors and insulators.
• Black holes.
• Neutron stars. -- Matt Napolitano
• Quasars.
• Interstellar gases and magnetic fields.
• Star formation.
• Nuclear fusion. -- Sayre Christenson
• Superfluids.
• Quark model of matter.
• Radio interferometry.
• Parity non-conservation.
• Neutrinos.
• Radioactive dating.
• Atomic bomb.
• Hydrogen bomb.
• Bose-Einstein condensates.
• The observable effects of general relativity.
• The automobile ignition.
• Cathode ray tubes.
• Liquid crystals.
• Magnetic recording.
• Doppler radar. -- Max Brister
• Particle accelerators.
• X-ray machines.
• Nuclear magnetic resonance. -- Robert Migliori.
• Shell model of the nucleus.
• Geiger counters.
• Scintillation counters.
• Effects of nuclear radiation on life.
• Alpha, beta, and gamma decay.
• Radios.
• Big bang.
• Holograms. -- Andrew Arrasmith
• Jet propulsion.
• How precipitation forms.
• Physics of greenhouse effect.
• Formation of solar system.
• The atmosphere of Jupiter.
• Ion engines and space exploration.
• Comets.
• Large-scale Structure of the universe.
• Solar wind.
• Stellar evolution. -- Bryce McKenzie.
• Telescopes.
• Lightning. -- Shane Coffing
• Active galactic nuclei.
• Transistor amplifiers.
• Earth's magnetic field.
• Physics of flight. -- Horace Whitt
• Gamma ray bursts.
• Principle of least action.
• Cloud physics. -- Leah Lindsey
• Galaxy formation. -- Charlotte Hausman
• Ion thrusters. -- Karl Matthes

There will be one person per topic --- first come, first serve on ``hot'' topics! Let me know what you want to do before the deadline.