P3 8 Which Earth material is most similar to doonium?

We aim to explore which of the primary metallic candidates (carbon steel, titanium, and aluminium) would most closely resemble doonium, a heavy metal found in the Star Wars universe for constructing starships [1]. Here, we compare the time taken to cut vertically through a 2m tall door with a lightsaber from Season 1 Episode 5 of Star Wars Rebels [2], as the Ghost crew flees from the Grand Inquisitor to the time taken to cut through the three identical doors made from Earth materials mentioned above. We find that the time taken to cut through two doors made from carbon steel, titanium and aluminium are 31.6s, 25.7s, and 15.7s respectively

P3_1 A Water Powered Funicular Railway

We are investigating the weight of water needed to overcome frictional forces to power a funicular railway. We find that the amount of water required depends on the angle of the slope, and that angles below ∼ 28◦ are forbidden, and only above ∼ 35◦ do they become physically viable

P3 4 A Near Fatal Lecture

Despite rising carbon dioxide levels, it is not currently high enough to cause any long-term effects on the body. There is no common consensus as to what concentrations of CO2 can cause hypercapnia, but this tends to occur at concentrations greater than 5%, with levels of over 10% often leading to fatalities [1]. We investigate how long it would take for a typical lecture hall to reach this 5% critical level, which begins to affect consciousness, with a standard physics cohort just by breathing, which we find this length of time is around 6.5 hours

P3_5 “The Expanse” Science or fiction?

In this paper we discuss and explore the feasibility of the propulsion and energy sources in the series “The Expanse” by means of discussing if the vessel could feasibly carry the reaction mass required to produce the energy the drive would require, assuming a high efficiency of 95%. We find that the series is actually well seated in physics and these vessels could carry the fuel required, in the case of the MCRN Tachi: assuming the tanks can hold ∼ 20 tonnes of reaction mass the ship could burn at 0.3g for at least 4 months before running out of fuel

P3_2 Railguns! Miniaturised?

Rail-guns (RG) are theorised to be the weapons of the future, with the ability to propel ordinance at large velocities in excess of ∼ 2kms−1 [1]. We are investigating whether this technology can be miniaturised into mobile soldier equipment. We find that these weapons could be miniaturised to ∼ 700mm barrel length, however there is currently no power source small and powerful enough to be deployed in this manner

P3_3 You really can’t boil the ocean

There is a well known phrase, “you can’t boil the ocean”, to describe an impossible task. This statement is technically a false statement given a large enough source of energy and enough time. However, is it really possible? In this paper we discuss and discover if you could feasibly boil any ocean in a reasonable time-frame given some assumptions. We discover that the energy required to boil the “easiest” ocean is 6 × 1024J, equivalent to the annual energy output of ∼ 4 × 107 times Canada’s T.C Energy Bruce nuclear generating stations [1]

P3 12 More Star Wars? We are all Doonium-ed!

In our previous paper, we discussed which of our chosen materials was most similar to Doonium [1]. Here, we build upon this paper, using the suggested improvements to establish a more accurate picture. Using the iconic scene from The Phantom Menace, where Qui-Gon Jinn cuts through the door with his green lightsaber in 14s [2], we find that aluminium most closely resembles Doonium, taking 13.8s to cut through the door, compared to 29.8s for titanium and 39.6s for carbon steel

P3_9 Modelling Spider-Man’s Swing as an Elastic Pendulum

We investigate an elastic pendulum to see if it could be used to model the trajectory of a particular Spider-Man swing. Our aim is not to find exact parameters, but rather to see if such a swing could be modelled in this way. We find that for reasonable constants (e.g. k ∼ 30 Nm−1 ) and initial velocities ˙r = 5 ms−1 and ˙θ = 1 rads−1 , it might be a useful way to describe this swing