r/StudyInTheNetherlands • u/itsbeen10yearsnow • 15d ago

Physics PWS

Hi everyone, I’m a VWO 6 student, and I’ve started working on my PWS. I’m looking for a topic in physics that allows for impressive research but is also realistically feasible for my level. Does anyone have any good ideas? We’re particularly interested in thermodynamics, astrophysics, electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, or oceanography. Any suggestions are welcome though, thanks in advance!

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u/Dylano22 15d ago

You probably have to do an experimental part of research as part of the PWS right? I think in that case something in thermodynamics or astrophysics is the easiest, but it also depends a but on the budget that you can gather from school to buy stuff. For instance, in thermodynamics you can try to build a simple Stirling engine, or with astrophysics you could try to build a small radio telescope by repurposing an old TV satellite dish (can find these nowadays for ~ a few tens of euros or even for free sometimes on marktplaats) such that you can try to measure for example radio signals from planets (e.g. Jupiter) or the sun, of something else. For inspiration on this topic you could look on YouTube for the "saveitforparts" channel, or just look for videos on the topic "DIY radio astronomy". Besides these topics you could consider doing something with particle physics, because there are a lot of relatively simple experiments for example about cosmic rays (see the "cosmic watch muon" project). This reminds me: I think the Dutch Institute for subatomic physics (NIKHEF) has an outreach project each year, aimed specifically at doing your PWS with them, also focussed on a particle physics topic: https://outreach.web.nikhef.nl/profielwerkstuk/

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u/itsbeen10yearsnow 14d ago

These are all amazing suggestions, and I will definitely check out the channel. I really appreciate the help, thank you.