research paper

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jrig1
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:16 pm
Occupation: letter carrier
Project Question: My daughter is doing a project on infinity mirrors powered by potatoes. We can find info on potato batteries, but not on the mirrors (except wikkii & they can't use that website. trying to get info for her research paper (history of, ect.)
Project Due Date: research paper 11/7/14
Project Status: I am just starting

research paper

Post by jrig1 »

I am doing my research for my science fair project on infinity mirrors. I am only able to find information on how to build them. I need some assistance trying to look up back ground information (ie history of) I did see one site that showed the math behind it. Can someone please help me in a source for my research.

thank you

jirg1
audreyln
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Occupation: Engineer - Chemical
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Re: research paper

Post by audreyln »

Hi jrig1,

Infinity mirrors are cool and I'm always surprised how many places I can find them.

Here's a neat website on how to build an infinity mirror but also includes some information on the math and some cool things to try with your mirrors. I poked around online a bit but like you couldn't find any background information on them beyond the math. I searched for the history of infinite mirror and uses for infinite mirrors hoping to find something I that might help but wasn't successful.

It seems like infinite mirror are fun to play with and understand the math behind them but other than that there is no history or other uses. If you project requires research or background information then the subject of infinite mirrors may not be the best topic for you because they are mostly a novelty. Perhaps your teacher can give you some advice on what types of background information would be appropriate for this type of project.

Good luck!

Audrey
bradleyshanrock-solberg
Former Expert
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Project Question: BS Caltech Engineering & Applied Science (Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science)
Research in Traffic and Ceramic Composites
25 years doing IT, various roles, for multinational manufacturing company
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Re: research paper

Post by bradleyshanrock-solberg »

I got into trouble in grad school because I got interested in an experimental technique without tying it to a question I was getting paid to research. With 30 years of hindsight, I know now that I could have tied them together (the experimental procedure we were using was very slow, and this might have sped it up a lot - that's why it grabbed my interest, deep inside I had made the connection but I did not approach my presentation that way). So you might find yourself at science fair time the way I was during my oral exams - with something really interesting, but not providing the Hypothesis -> Test -> Results -> Explanation that is the foundation of doing science.

A science fair project is entirely structured around trying to answer a question. You ask, you try to predict the outcome (Hypothesis), you work out a way to test your prediction, your results do or do not back up your hypothesis, and you explain what happened along with what you'd do if you were to take the research further.

So what you have is an interesting oddity - point two mirrors at each other, or at an angle, and you see images stretching out to infinity. You could change angle, you could change size of mirrors, type of mirrors, available light, may things and what you see will change. Interesting questions to answer would be trying to predict those changes, or finding their limits (how many images can you really see? It isn't infinite, they get smaller and darker as they go further back. Can you change things to see more images, less? Why do they change? How much do they change?)

So start with a question. That can lead to research explaining why you see what you see without changing anything. Then predict what should happen if you change things, based on the research and see if your predictions work out in the real world. If they do not, it is as interesting as if they do (you have to then find a reason why your predictions didn't pan out)
jrig1
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:16 pm
Occupation: letter carrier
Project Question: My daughter is doing a project on infinity mirrors powered by potatoes. We can find info on potato batteries, but not on the mirrors (except wikkii & they can't use that website. trying to get info for her research paper (history of, ect.)
Project Due Date: research paper 11/7/14
Project Status: I am just starting

Re: research paper

Post by jrig1 »

I thank you both for your replies. The actual topic she chose was can you power a infinity mirror with a potato battery. we found plenty of research on potato power, but not so much on the mirror. I did help her (via my uncle who is a retired H.S. math teacher) to work the math into it. We are using the Hypothisis that if you can get LEDs to run off a battery pack you can use a potato to power it. If you are interested here are the references we used for the potato battery.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovatio ... 60/?no-ist

There was an article titled “A Potato Battery Can Light up a Room For Over a Month”, written by: Tuan C. Nguyen; on December 2, 2013.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2013111 ... -the-world

Also at BBC.com had an article: from “Matter of Life & Tech” 12 November 2013; titled:
“Potato Power: the spuds that could light the world” by Johnathon Kalan

http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/06/12/potato-battery/

Spud Sunday: The Electric Spud
Posted by Daily Spud on Sunday, June 12, 2011

We thought it was an interesting read and we learned something.

again thank you for your replies
jrig1
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:16 pm
Occupation: letter carrier
Project Question: My daughter is doing a project on infinity mirrors powered by potatoes. We can find info on potato batteries, but not on the mirrors (except wikkii & they can't use that website. trying to get info for her research paper (history of, ect.)
Project Due Date: research paper 11/7/14
Project Status: I am just starting

Re: research paper

Post by jrig1 »

I thank you both for your replies. The actual topic was "can you power a infinity mirror with a potato battery." I found plenty of research on potato power, but not so much on the mirror. I did get help to work the math into it from my uncle who is a retired H.S. math teacher to explain the math. My Hypothesis is that if you can get LED's to run off a battery pack you can use a potato to power it. If you are interested here are the references I used for the potato battery.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovatio ... 60/?no-ist

There was an article titled “A Potato Battery Can Light up a Room For Over a Month”, written by: Tuan C. Nguyen; on December 2, 2013.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2013111 ... -the-world

Also at BBC.com had an article: from “Matter of Life & Tech” 12 November 2013; titled:
“Potato Power: the spuds that could light the world” by Johnathon Kalan

http://www.thedailyspud.com/2011/06/12/potato-battery/

Spud Sunday: The Electric Spud
Posted by Daily Spud on Sunday, June 12, 2011

We thought it was an interesting read and we learned something.

again thank you for your replies
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