[time-nuts] Anybody have suggestions for time related science fair projects?

[jimlux]

On 5/12/18 5:01 PM, Adrian Godwin wrote:
> How about a demonstration of how GPS works, substituting sound waves for
> radio ?
> 
> Maybe three sound sources with harmonically-related frequencies, then
> measure their phase difference on an oscilloscope.
> 
> Cheat a bit : you don't need to do cdma acquisition. Have one reference at
> a low frequency, switch two more on alternately at a higher frequency.
> Measure the phase difference between one pair at a time and calculate your
> location relative to the stationary sources.
> 
> 

In science fairs that are judged, the rubric really demands something 
that can be cast into the classic "literature search, hypothesis, 
experiment, data reduction, conclusion" form.  Even straight up 
engineering is sometimes knocked down - the International Fair (being 
held this week, as it happens) does have separate rubric for engineering 
projects.

So what you want to do is cast this as an experiment or engineering 
project.  For the latter: "Performance characterization of acoustic 
multilateration"

For a more "sciencey" approach, you'd postulate some theory/hypothesis:
"air temperature measurement can be used to compensate for speed of 
sound variation in acoustic multilateration"