P2_9 The animals float two by two, hurrarh!

Genesis, 6:13 – 22, God commands Noah to build an ark, and to do so God provides exact dimensions. Ultimately the ark will home at least two of all the Earth’s animals. Using Archimedes principle we conclude that the ark will be of sufficient buoyancy to withstand a mass of 50.54x106kg and therefore can safely support the mass of the animals

P2_7 Not So Incy Wincy

This paper takes the abilities of spider silk to the extreme by examining how thick a single strand would have to be in order to stop a commercial airliner mid-flight. We found that a 50m long strand with a diameter of 12.57cm would be able to bring the aircraft to rest without exceeding the limit of elasticity

P2_10 Laser Powered Elevator

 The aim of this paper is to analyse how powerful a laser would have to be in order to lift a standard passenger elevator. The lifting force in this case is provided by the radiation pressure alone. We found that the laser beam would need a power of 3.8×1012 W to provide sufficient lifting force to accelerate the elevator car upwards at a rate of 1.7ms-2.Â

P2_11 Drop and give me ten

The press-up is commonly used for strength building purposes. This paper however calculates the amount of energy expended when performing a press-up to determine whether it is an effective exercise for burning calories. By considering the person’s centre of mass and the energetics of the system we calculate 342 Joules are required to perform a press-up

P2_5 Bouncing Back

This paper aims to calculate the probability of a person being reflected back from a cliffs edge whilst try to run off of it. This is by treating the cliff as a negative potential step, and the person as a point of mass. The probability of reflection is found to be = which although extremely small, is non-zero. The paper also discusses the limits of the model presented when considering decoherence

P2_3 Tennis Ball Tunnelling

This paper aims to calculate the probability of a tennis ball quantum tunnelling through a tennis racket. This is done by treating the tennis ball as a single particle, and making the potential barrier equal to the energy required to break the strings classically. The probability of tunnelling through a racket is found to be 3.6exp(-2.9x10^31). This very low probability matched with what would be expected. The paper also briefly discusses the problem of decoherence when applying quantum mechanics to macroscopic systems

P2_8 It's the wrong trousers Gromit! Part 2

Following on from a previous paper by Raymer et al. (2013) this paper considers whether the magnetic field generator in the boots of the ex-NASA Techno Trousers would work. It is found that the field generated needs to be 0.37T. A flat, cylindrical electromagnet with an iron core would be able to produce a field of this magnitude and hence the trousers would work