Christina Powell

I.  Title: Graphic Modeling of the Solar System

II. Problem Statement: Our knowledge of the solar system has been expanding for
centuries.  Because space is becoming such an important new frontier, it is 
important for people to know at least the basics of our solar system.  For this
reason, I will be building a working model of the solar system.

III. Purpose: The purpose of building a detailed model of the solar system will
be to gain both a greater comprehension of our solar system and a greater working
knowledge of computer graphics.  Once the basic model is finished it could be 
expanded either for the purpose of teaching children about the solar system or 
for use in a game.

IV.  Scope of Study: Thorough research into graphics programming in Java will be
required in order to complete this model, along with a moderate amount of research
into the workings of the solar system.

V.  Background and review of current literature/research in this area: There is 
nothing at all new about the area of graphics.  Many games already exist that 
far exceed the scope of my research project.  The idea of computational physics,
too, is already far along.  There are courses on computational physics, a Journal
of Computational Physics, and a company called Computational Physics, Inc., so 
what I will be doing will not be in any way new.

Some books that may shed more light on these subjects are: Computational Physics 
by J.M. Thijssen, Computational Physics : Problem Solving with Computers by 
Rubin H. Landau, et al., Computer Graphics for Java Programmers by Leendert 
Ammeraal, and Computer Graphics Using Java 2D and 3D by Y. Daniel Liang and 
Hong Zhang.

VI.   Procedure and Methodology: I will be conducting this project in stages so
that I will not run into a problem with time.  My first and simplest task will 
be to build a simple 3-D model.  I will then attempt to make this model partially 
physically accurate (each planet will orbit the sun in accordance with the 
gravitational attraction between itself and the sun ¿ attraction between the planets 
themselves will not be included).  This has the potential to take a fair amount
of time because this will be my debut into the area of computational physics. 
My final and most difficult task will be to add realistic texture to the planets. 
This should require the remainder of the time allotted me.

I will be programming this model in Java, and will be making use of books on 
graphics in Java throughout this project.  My first and second tasks will also 
require me to review some basic knowledge of the solar system and of gravitation.
I will obtain this data online.  The third task will require me to research 
topographical data on the various planets in the solar system.  This data I will
collect using visuals in books on the planets and online.

Because my project is a graphics one, the testing of my model can easily be 
performed step by step simply by viewing the results of my programming.

VII.    Expected Results & Value to Others: The end result of this project will
be a graphically complex, partially physically accurate model of the solar 
system.  It could prove helpful in teaching young children about the solar system.

This project should take me the full time allotted me.  I should be able to 
complete it in that time, though the planets may not have quite as much texture
as I would wish.  I will probably expand this project over the summer, and find 
a use for it at least among people I know.

I will track my tasks and subtasks using a task chart, and will display the end
results on my poster and online using screenshots.  Online, I will also display
the model itself.