Human Resources Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Human Resources Development - Essay Example The oil spill proved to be a violation of the water act, migratory bird act and related acts on the conservation of natural resources (Graythen, 2013). The reader also gets an overview of the five-month oil disaster and a detailed background on how the leakage resulted. Moreover, the author narrates how the explosion occurred and outlines the government response to the incident. As expected, the spill affected the American energy policy something that the author also gave attention. In addition, the article mentions the efforts that taken to bring the exploded well back into control and the setbacks hindering rescue by the team charged with that responsibility. The article also mentions the probable recovery after the disaster. This article relates the saddening truth about the mine disaster in 2010 that left 29 dead in West Virginia. The author describes the desperation evident in the families of the victims concerning the loss. In addition, the author emphasizes on the long hours taken by the rescue teams in their effort to uncover the debris in the collapsed mine and unearths the bodies. Moreover, the moving story mentions that the tragedy resulted because of the mines negligence to abide by the stringent safety rules in place to protect the welfare of workers in the risky mines. It becomes clear from the story that the rescue task was difficult because of the state of the collapsed mine (Urbina, 2010). The West Virginia mine disaster highlights the surging problem in many mines and that concerns safety of the workers. Occupational safety in the mining industry deserves a priority in any mine because risk assessment reports have shown that the workers are always at a great risk. This explains the stringency of the rules and regulation that govern mining. However, the West Virginia case just highlights the reluctance with

Gathering Research Data Paper Essay Example for Free

Gathering Research Data Paper Essay Within the criminal justice system there are various types of data gathering research methods that can be utilized. The method chosen for this research paper is the email survey method. The proposed research for this paper is job satisfaction within the police field with emphasis on the patrol officers. With patrol officers being the backbone of the police departments the research should be pretty insightful. The main goal of this research is to pinpoint the patrol officers’ main dissatisfactions during their workdays. The specific interview structure that will be used is an email questionnaire survey. This type of survey will allow and hopefully enable every patrol officer to participate and it will also allow graphical results. Just about every criminal justice case begins and ends with a patrol officer. Beginning with the criminal offense report, to the arrest, and ending at the testifying in court. Although there are many various key players in most cases besides the patrol officer, it is highly unlikely that crime reduction would exist without the patrol officer. Understanding the needs of a patrol officer and what is pleasing and displeasing on the job is key to crime reduction. A happy employee does their job successfully and to the best of their ability. An unhappy patrol officer will definitely not complete tasks let alone risk their lives for another individual. The department has the responsibility to ensure that the majority of its patrol officers are satisfied with their working conditions to prevent silent strikes and to also prevent behavior manifestation. Using an email questionnaire survey would be the interview structure used to conduct the research regarding the employee satisfaction. This survey will involve the simple format of a YES or NO option only. Constructing a different variables list will enable determination of what issues the questions will be based on. This list will also ensure that main concerns and topics are covered along with not duplicating any issues. Configuring what type of  data and data analysis is needed will be the next venture followed by figuring out how to word the questionnaire. Taking into consideration patrol officer lingo and technical wording to avoid any biased or compounding variables to each question. Some examples of questions that would be asked are: 1. Do you intentionally avoid police functions when off duty? 2. Do you take a level of pride when wearing your uniform? 3. Do you take sick days when you are not ill? 4. Do you hide your profession when off duty? 5. Do you take extended training courses or classes to avoid fieldwork? 6. Do you use cellphones, tablets, or any other devices to entertain yourself while on duty? 7. Do you avoid public interaction while on duty? Using these initial questions will not only help me gather data on satisfaction but will also help me gather data on other issues as well. An example of other issues would be the topic of whether or not response time intertwines with officer satisfaction and how this affects crime statistics. This type of qualitative data gathering is a great advantage because it records attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. (Analyse This!!! Learning To Analyse Qualitative Data, (2008)). As mentioned also opens up new topic areas that were not initially considered. These initial questions are also structured or closed ended questions in which will involve the needed information. Which means the data collected from the answers won’t involve thorough answers that need to be explained. In completion of the questionnaire questions, a small group of similar respondents will take a pretest that will point out any confusion or misunderstanding of question formatting and wording. To have the best outcome of participants and to ensure the best results, compensation would be offered in the form of extra paid time. This will also ensure a more quantitative data analysis due to a larger number of people responding to the survey. Some researchers believe that rewards and/or incentives given to people who participate in surveys increases response and reliability A tailored design method or TDM will be used with this email survey question. According to Hagan ((2010)), â€Å"The â€Å"tailored design method† or TDM, â€Å"uses multiple contacts seeking response and endorsements to increase response rates† by â€Å"tailoring the survey to the  group being studied in order to foster trust, increase rewards, and decrease the cost of participation.† This phase would be to get endorsed by the patrol unions to ensure and response, respect, and acceptability of the survey in the patrol officer’s eyes. These unions were founded and organized to assist and defend patrol officers, with the backing of these unions the participation and legitimacy would be highly prosperous. In turn, the unions will be knowledgeable with the results of the survey. One of the main focuses of this survey will be that it is truly an anonymous survey, and that each individual who fills out a survey remains anonymous and has no ties or repercussions from their answers. A few approaches to this could be survey kiosks or ballet boxes. These would allow no log on requirements or have any tracks on keystrokes. It is detrimental that informed consent and confidentiality be withheld and not compromised. According to The Role Of Numeracy In Informed Consent For Surveys ((2009)), â€Å"Two key ethical issues for survey researchers are obtaining informed consent and maintaining the confidentiality of responses. Informed consent implies that two requirements have been met: (1) that research participants have been informed about the essential elements of the research, including the risks and benefits of participation, and have understood the information; and (2) that they have given their consent to participate†. If compromised the survey answers could potentially cause issues with employment or job environments. This type of outcome could cause the survey to become unreliable and null and void. References: Analyse This!!! Learning to analyse qualitative data. ((2008)). Retrieved from http://archive.learnhigher.ac.uk/analysethis/main/qualitative1.html Hagan, F. E. ((2010)). Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology (8th ed.).Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. The Role of Numeracy in Informed Consent for Surveys. ((2009)). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2857726/

The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare

The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare is a comic, revengeful and tragic play which is set in Venice and the nearby country estates of Belmont. Shakespeare wrote the play during times when England like much of the Europe had restricted the rights of the Jews and even escalated to extremes of banishing them from England in 1290 by King Edward I and were not officially allowed to return until1655 when Oliver Cromwell allowed them. This exile of Jews was still in effect when Shakespeare wrote this play and many scholars believe that some Jews still lived in England at the time of the Christian guise. At the time renaissance Christians disliked the Jews because they believed that their behaviour of charging interest on money they lend (usury) was against the societal morals. During the time of renaissance Christians had become heavily indebted to the Jews who had loaned money to them with interests rates hence their increased hatred for the Jewish counterparts who started terming them as inhuman by demanding usury on the monies they lend. This was a selfish and unfair reaction from the Christian community in Venice because they started treating Jews harshly by imposing hefty taxes on them failure from which their land was confiscated and defaulters imprisoned. Such heavy taxing was intended to boost the financial status of the government especially during adverse economic times (Mahon, 345). Merchant of Venice is a revenge tragedy play which its plot revolves around the quest of its main character shylock a Jew who is bitter on the way his neighbors supposedly Christians treat him and he is on a mission to avenge for such in human treatment. He plans and implements his revenge by engaging in money lending which offers him chance to avenge when a Christian defaults him after he lend the money. In Venice Bassanio borrows money from his merchant friend Antonio to help him woo a wealth noble woman Portia. Antonio does not have ready cash to lend to his friend but he gives him a permission or guarantee to borrow the money he needs on his credit. Antonio is expecting his ships to arrive at the harbor with a lot of merchandise that will enable him to settle the loan. Bassanio is given loan of 3000 ducats by the Jewish moneylender Shylock that is not in good terms with Antonio. Their dispute is a racial and religious one and shylock seizes the opportunity to offer a bizarre alternative to Antonio if he defaults and for sure Antonio chances of defaulting hits peak as the news that his ships had been wrecked. Shylock then takes the case to court demanding that he be given permission to cut one pound of flesh from the defaulters chest as agreed upon earlier. The case is solved amicably by the judge and the play ends in a good way when the main characters Bassanio and Portia marry ea ch other and the ships of the Antonio are found and arrives at the harbor. Shylock is a Jewish money lender who lives in Venice and he has been bittered for many years by the way Venetian Christians have been mistreating him especially by the merchant Antonio. The mistreatments by the Christians have shaped the religions and racial identity of shylock. The character of Shylock in the play merchant of Venice is portrayed as devilish and murderer whose dear intentions is to take away the life of the Christian Antonio believed by his fellow Christian to be the most kind mind to have ever lived in Venice. Shylock wants revenge on the Christian Antonio because he wants to avenge his revenge on the Christians who even call him a villain because nothing seems to stop him at getting the pound of flesh from Antonios chest even after Bassanio offers to pay him twice the agreed upon debt of six thousand ducats. He adamantly refuses to accept the money and demand for the pound of flesh which he claims he bought it hence he must have it because its legally his. Jews like shylock hate Christians at the time so dearly because Christians themselves had no liking for Jews because they believed they killed crucified Jesus Christ hence were on the side of the devil. Christian also hated Jews because they believed they were not human by charging usury on money they lend to Christians but the truth is that Christians had become heavily indebted to Jews who had lend money to them hence their intentional unfair reaction by being anti-Semitic. So the murderous character of Shylock is as result of the hatred and bitterness his arbors against Christians who constantly show hatred towards him and other Jews. He claims for what he believes is his rightfully and seizes the opportunity of Antonios defaulting to make himself to be recognized a as a just man by the Christians who always sees him as an unjust man. This newly earned character of shylock can mainly be attributed to Christians who forced him to hate them and even have a conspiration to kill Anton io, hence offering yet evidence why Christians are portrayed to have contributed to the construction of Shylocks character in the play. Shylock is forced to charges some interest on the money he lends and this becomes his obsession as he wants to acquire lot money to ensure his own security from the ungrateful Christians. With is addiction to getting more money he becomes a greedy person who is not his true self he only need the money as a reaction to the treatment he receives from the Christian community. Shylock sees that getting financial security is the only way to proof to the Christians like Antonio that he is also somebody worth respect and human dignity and not the way they always see him. He thinks that being wealth will make the Christian treat him well but that ends up not the truth as everything he has worked for ends up in the possession of his enemies when the court fines him for conspiring to kill Antonio and that costs half of his property and he later becomes broke and desolate forcing him to become a Christian hence making him loose his identity. Shylocks fate of losing his identity as a Jew is attr ibuted to his past greedy behavior of charging usury on the money he lends to Christians to get as much wealth as he could just to get at his Christian enemies hence it can be successfully argued that Christians can be held responsible for the final man that Shylock becomes as its their hatred and ill treatment that forced him to charge usury which converted him to a greedy person. Through out the play merchant of Venice Christians in Shylocks neighborhood show a consistent hatred and dislike for the Jewish shylock and even fail to call him by his given name but prefers calling him detestable alienating names like the Jew, cruel devil, harsh Jew, currish Jew, infidel, impenetrable cur, the villain and even the devil in the likenesses of the his Jewish identity. Such name calling alienated shylock from the Venetian Christians and make him diabolically foul which gradually constructs shylocks identity and makes him a bitter man who focuses in taking revenge against the Christian community who he beliefs are treating him in humanly. Shylock notices the habit of Christians to assess the worth of them and others according to faulty standards like using money value or grade ones status and value in the community. Christians belief is that the more money one has the greater value and status one belongs to and Shylock in his conspiration to unleash his monomaniacal lus t for revenge against his Christian enemies forced him into money lending ventures which he earns a living from the usury. Shylock sees this means as the only way for him as a Jew to compete with his fellow Venetian Christians. Shylock exhibits a monstrous behaviour especially against his Christian defaulters like Antonio as he sees it as the only achievable and fulfilling way of unleashing his revenge. This change in shylocks behaviour is as a result of the constant cold treatment he receive from his Christian neighbors and this has made him a different person which is not characteristic of the Jew he was at first hence an evident that Christians in Merchant of Venice greatly contributes to the construction of Shylocks racial and religious identity. Shylock in the play admits that he hates Antonio and even declines his invitation to dinner on the grounds that he is a Christian. Shylock hates Antonio even more because he himself is a usurer who lends money with high interest rates that has enabled him to acquire immense wealth. He accuses Antonio of lending money to people in distress without demanding for any interest charge and this escalates his hatred for Antonio because he sees him as a person who threatens his job since he causes his business to lose money as a result of reduced business. Shylock is therefore made to act harshly towards Christians because he accuses them of stealing his business and his run away daughter. This illustrates that the behaviour of Christians like Antonio being kind makes Shylock to change his character and become more harsh and unkind towards his perceived enemies Christians hence the construction of his character in the play. In the play Shylock has been portrayed an isolated, greedy, unreasonable and self-thinking individual who doesnt think of the needs of other people. He even loves money more than his daughter and doesnt want to eat, drink or even pray with anyone and he avoids making friendship making him cranky and steadfast and even rigid in his beliefs. He does a stereo-typical profession as a money-grabbing money lender; a job which makes him hard to let go off his greedy tendencies as he doesnt see any reason why he should do so event at the point where it warrants mercy and pity. He describes the idea of getting a pound of flesh from Antonios chest as a merry sport and finds it very pleasing when flesh is cut out of someones body and this is evident when he insist only for the pound of flesh even after being offered double the priced he is owed. Such unreasonable and weird secluded behaviour portrayed by Shylock is attributed to the racist treatment he receives from the Christians who have neve r seen anything in him other than his Jewishness. Shylock wonders why he is being treated that way by Christians yet he has eyes, has hands, and has organs, dimensions, feelings, senses and even passions just like them. The unreasonable and rigid character of shylock is as a result of the racial discrimination that he has received from the Christians hence the argument that Christians are the ones responsible for construction of his character. Christians are seen as the main modes through which the character of Shylock is shaped through out the play as Shylock constantly claims that he has done no wrong by treating Christians badly because he is simply following what his Christian neighbors has taught him which it eventually becomes an integral part of his character later in the play. His conspiracy to kill Antonio is borne of the insults and injuries which Antonio had inflicted upon him in their previous encounters. This means that by planning to kill Antonio he is does not consider himself as a murderer but rather as a mechanism of applying what his past relationship with Antonio has taught him. For instance Shylock when responding to Salarinos query on what good thing that having the pound of flesh will benefit him, he answers that it will offer him a chance to execute the villainy that Christians has taught him. This means that almost every action that Shylock does is attributed to some past experience that Christians have done to him hence the evidence of the role that Christians play in construction of Shylocks character in Shakespeares play the Merchant of Venice (Bradbrook, 126). During the court session, Shylocks proofs that he is a smart character who can defend himself in every adversary despite the great opposition from his Christian enemies who want to stop him from succeeding in demanding for the pound of flesh from his defaulter Antonio. Shylock guided by his keenness for revenge uses any wit within his disposal to ensure that he is granted the permission to finalize his revenge of killing Antonio. He has nobody on his side but he shows no sign of giving up until he satisfies his yearning for revenge; he argues to the judge that Christians refuses to set free their assess, dogs and mules simply because they bought them thus they own them and they are their slaves then why should he be denied the pound of flesh which he bought in accordance to the law and that why he beliefs that he is acting as per the law hence granting him the right to have the pound of flesh from Antonio as per the agreement they signed. This portrays that Shylock is stopping at not hing to ensuring that he succeeds in vending his hatred for Christians until he kills Antonio. Such courage enamates from his dearly anticipated revenge which he attributes to the cruelty he has gone through in the hands of the Christians hence its the way Christians treated him earlier that becomes the driving forms that makes Shylock a master of his own destiny. This shows that Christians therefore contributed o the construction of his Character in the play merchant of Venice. Christian merchant Antonio resulted to his own destruction when things fail to work according to his will. Shylock suffers a spiritual ruin when the clever Portia helps Antonio in solving the case in the court. Portia disguised as Bellario and Nerissa as a law clerk articulately influence the outcome of the court especially when Shylock adamantly refuses to show mercy for Antonio. Portia then allows him to get the pound of flesh as stipulated by the signed agreement and that was to be done without spilling of even a dot of blood. Shylock gives up and thus losing the case resulting to being fined for conspiring to murder Antonio and this forces him to lose have of his property and in addition is forced to convert to Christianity (Barton, 252).After Portia striping Shylock off his property he becomes broke and loses his Jewish religion and this is as result of the combined forces from the Christian community both outside and in the court. This twist of events therefore changed Shylocks religious identity for the rest of his life. During the time of Shakespeare Jews were treated harshly by the Venice Christians and nobody really cared whether they lived or died. As a way of showing their uncaring behaviour Christians became anti-Semitic and the government of the day taxed them heavily and striped off their money during times that the governments money became low or just for government financial boost. If Jews failed to pay the money taxed on them individually or collectively, then their property especially land was confiscated and defaulters imprisoned. Therefore the Jews population was treated harshly and with a lot of disrespect by Christians who lived in Venice during the renaissance period. This prompted Shakespeare to develop the character of Shylock in Merchant of Venice as to portray the bitterness that Jews felt as a reaction to the harsh treatment they were accorded to by the Christian community. During the time of renaissance Jews had to be portrayed and villain ands people never expected anyone of them to show any drop of compassion for his enemy because the Christians were the ones expected to show compassion towards others especially the Jews who were stereotypically viewed as the murderers of Jesus Christ thus forcing Shylock who is a Jew to behave like the devil. This construction of Shylocks character give Christians like Portia the chance to show their mercy when he corners him using the law which was his only weapon and strips him his property only to give half of it back after he loses his religion to become Christian. The behavior of Shylock charging usury gives Antonio the Christian another chance to show him mercy by refusing to collect part of his goods as a compensation for his conspiration to eliminate him. The outcome of the court forces Shylock to kneel and beg for mercy from the Christians judges which served the interests of the renaissance Christian popul ation in Venice (Shakespeare et al, 145). In conclusion, the discussions and argument made in the essay goes beyond any reasonable doubt that the character of the Shylock who is one of the main characters in the play Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare is heavily constructed by the presence, interactions ad behaviors of the Christian community who happened to be the neighbors of the character. Shylock undergoes a lot of transformations in his character throughout the play and almost everything he does claims that he was thought by his Christians neighbors and in fact he shows no remorse or mercy or even take responsibility for the outcome of his actions since her doesnt even see anything wrong with his weird character. Shylock becomes greedy, alienated, villain, infidel, unreasonable, rigid and even a murderer which all are linked to his dear intentions in trying to avenge for himself and the rest of the Jews for what he terms as inhuman, intolerable and ill treatment by the Christians in Venice and the neighborhood. He belief s that by taking a revenge by killing Antonio he will have succeeded in making the Christians pay for the past unacceptable behaviors against Jews.

Bartleby the Scrivener: Lawyer Double Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bart

Bartleby the Scrivener, by Herman Melville is a novella about a nameless lawyer who has in his employ a scrivener named Bartleby. Bartleby, throughout the novella, has different periods of work. In the beginning, he does his scrivening without reprimand or without hesitation, but as the novella progresses his attitude toward work changes drastically. Mordecai Marcus’ critical essay on the novella makes some good points, such that Bartleby is a psychological double for the lawyer, he represents a subliminal death drive within himself, and the conflict between absolutism and free will. All three of these points are attributed to Bartleby because he represents each respectively. In Mordecai Marcus’ critical essay on Bartleby the Scrivener, he takes the stand that Bartleby is a psychological double for the nameless lawyer. While progressing through the novella, Bartleby begins to slow down and eventually stops working altogether. The Lawyer doesn’t know what to do mainly because, â€Å"Bartleby’s power over the lawyer quickly grows as the story progresses.† (Marcus 1) When the lawyer first hired Bartleby, he was a tenacious young worker, â€Å"There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sunlight and by candlelight.† (Melville 16) This is in the beginning of the novella right after the lawyer had hired him. Bartleby, to the lawyer, doesn’t seem to have any other ambitions rather than scrivening for him. But all of that begins to change when Bartleby begins to not want to do some of the tasks the lawyer asks him to do. The first instance of this is when he is asked to proofread one of the copies he just completed, â€Å"†¦rapidly stating what it was I wanted him to do – namely, to examine a small paper with me†¦Bartleb... ...ast. But again obeying that wondrous ascendancy which the inscrutable scrivener had over me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Melville 44) Again, the lawyer is amazed at the amount of â€Å"power† Bartleby has over him. Bartleby, without actually doing anything, has taken away most of the lawyers’ free will and in turn feed his own absolutism. The novella is set in New York City in a Wall Street law office; both Bartleby and the lawyer represent characters of New York. Bartleby represents a type of person who is excited to come to a new city but then gets ground down into the daily routine of the city and begins to loose the will to work. The lawyer, on the other hand, represents the quintessential New Yorker, owning his own business and trying to succeed in a city that is famous for crushing spirits. Both Bartleby and the lawyer represent true characters within the fabric of the city of New York.

Compare the State and National government Essay

In many ways, the structure of state governments and the national government mirror each other. In this forum section, each student is to research one state government and compare it to the national government. Next, explain to the class if you think that the state you researched has a good form of democratic government. Hint: an encyclopedia at home, at a library or an internet search would help. Lastly, please remember to cite your research source. Each state has its own constitution based on its distinctive history and needs. A state’s constitution is similar to that of the national Constitution; nevertheless, the laws made in individual states cannot conflict with the national Constitution or national laws. Ive decided to research the New Jersey State government and compare it to the national government. The government of the State of New Jersey, like that of the United States, is divided into three branches. Those three branches are the legislative, the executive, and judicial. The chief function of the Legislature is to enact laws. The Legislature consists of two Houses. Those 2 houses are a 40-member Senate and an 80-member General Assembly. The Senate and Assembly chambers are located in the State House in Trenton. The Executive Branch carries out programs established by law. The chief of the executive branch is the governor. The governor’s office is located in the State House in Trenton. The governor signs bills into law or vetoes them. He can also recommend laws and call the legislature into special session. The governor has the power to grant pardons and is the only person with the authority to call in the National Guard. The Judiciary Branch punishes violators, settles controversies and disputes, and is the final authority on the meaning and constitutionality of laws. The Judicial Branch decides how state laws should be applied. The governor appoints judges to the Supreme and Superior courts with the Senate’s approval. I believe that NJ has a good democratic government. I can appreciate the way each branch of government keeps and eye on the other branch through checks and balances. I think its great that we have the power to elect people into office and that there are several types of offices where the people all work together. Works cited Usinfo.state.govNj.gov

Vitamins and Minerals essays

Vitamins and Minerals essays We see every cereal commercial that says how certain cereals are "packed with essential vitamins and minerals", but do we ever stop and think about what vitamins and minerals do for our bodies. Probably not! However, human bodies are unable to function without proteins, carbohydrates, and fats-or the nutrients that we call vitamins and minerals. They help protect our health. Vitamins are organic substances that must be provided in small quantities by the environment (usually the diet) and are classified in two categories. Vitamins are classified into water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. These organic molecules are required in order for a human to have a normal metabolism. Minerals are essential parts of all cells. They form the major parts of the hard tissues of the body, and are necessary to muscle contraction, thinking, and nervous conduction. They are integral parts of the organismal and cellular respiration systems, are essential to enzyme function and are also necessary to the maintenance of water and acid base balance in the body. Vitamins and minerals must be taken daily because they are lost in sweat, tears, urine, and feces. Young children, and pregnant women require higher amounts of vitamins and minerals, however every person should take vitamins everyday. When you drink milk, or eat a carrot, you probably do not realize the good you are doing for your body because they taste good. However, there are essential foods everyone should eat in order to obtain the right amount of vitamins per day. Fortified milk, and tuna fish have Vitamin D, which helps give your body strong, healthy bones. Carrots have Vitamin A, which helps your eyesight and skin. Vitamin A can also be found in various fruits and vegetables such as, apricots, nectarines, spinach, pumpkin, and cantaloupe. Green vegetables provide Vitamin B, which makes energy and protein within your body. Minerals come from differe ...

Physics investigation Essay Example

Physics investigation Essay Example Physics investigation Essay Physics investigation Essay For this investigation I will be testing various materials to determine how much force is required for them to snap. Figure 1 below shows the forces that will be acting upon the test material. The set-up above will increase the force applied to the test material until a crack, started in the surface in tension, propagates to cause the material to break. To experimentally determine the level of stress that is required to break an object, I need to be-able to exert a force onto an object and be able to quantitatively measure and record that force. This, I found, is not as simple as it sounds due not only to the limited equipment available to me, but also to what I could use practically and safely. I came up with many methods of measuring the force exerted as well as many ways of creating that force. A summary of the major methods and their associated problems is included below. Method 1: Creating force using my own strength. This has several obvious advantages including ease of use. My own strength requires no preparation to use, is easy to store when Im not using it and can create a very broad range of force i.e. up to 800N. Unfortunately for all the benefits, there are several disadvantages that make this method untenable. The greatest concern is safety, namely my own safety. To apply the force needed to break the objects, I would have to lean heavily on the object. This placed me in danger of being impaled on the device I was using to concentrated force onto the object. As well as this, there was the problem of splinters from the object damaging my hand or eyes. Method 2: Measuring the force using bathroom scales. The main advantage of this method is that a large range of forces can be measured i.e. over 1,000N. Also, they are easy to set up and use, difficult to break and can be stored easily ready for repeating experiments. The disadvantages are fewer but still prevail over the advantages. The greatest downfall is the fact that the max force reached and therefore the point at which the material broke is difficult to determine accurately. This means that my results could be out by an unacceptably large margin of error. Method 3: Creating the force using a vice. On the surface, this method seemed pretty ideal. A large, steady force could be created safely. With the help of a metal tip attached to the vice, the force exerted could be carefully increased by turned the handle on the vice until the material broke. The force generated could be very powerful due to the lever effect of the handle on the vice. This makes it many times more powerful than any force I could create on my own. This time, the problem with the method lies not with the method itself but with the accompanying method of measuring the force created. Bathroom scales cannot be used because they are made inaccurate by concentrating force onto a small area of them. Smaller scales cannot be used because the ones available to me couldnt be used to measure a large enough force i.e. 20N maximum. This method would have been used were it not for the failings of measure methods. Method 4: Measuring the force using piezo electric crystals. This was a bit of a non-starter really. Although they seemed like a good solution due to the quantitative data that could be produced and recorded; I didnt realise that the crystals couldnt be used to measure the magnitude of force that I required. They would have been crushed instantly. Method 5: Creating the force using pneumatics. The advantages of this system are similar to that of the vice. A large, steady and easily controlled force can be produced with safety. The disadvantage of the vice is also overcome; there is no need to measure the force directly as it can be inferred from the amount of power used by the pneumatic rams them selves. Unfortunately there was one insurmountable stumbling block. The equipment available to me was not strong enough or powerful enough. This method seemed ideal and is the one used in professional laboratory tests, unfortunately the facilities and equipment were not available to me to utilise it effectively. Method 6: Creating the force using weights. This method of producing force has the added benefit of measuring the force as it is produced. The force produced is quantitative, steady and the maximum level reached is easily found. There are disadvantages however; the maximum force that can be produced is dependant on the maximum strength of the string that attaches the masses to the test medium. The larger the area of contact, the less pressure is produced. This means that for the test to be fair, the string used has to be the same in each instance. This method is the one that I finally decided to use. My choice of method means that a small alteration is required to my original force diagram; see figure 2. Fair Test In order to perform this experiment fairly I will need a means of supporting the material and ensuring the struts stay in the correct place because the force I exert will be laterally transferred to them. I considered several ways of supporting the material and how to prevent the supports shifting during testing. Figure 3 shows the forces involved. Vertical force applied to material, causing it to flex and become compressed and under tension. The flex of the material means that the edges of the material are closer the centre of the material and that the material is therefore shorter horizontally despite being slightly longer in length. Because the material is trying to shorten its horizontal length, the supports are pulled inwards. The only thing stopping this from happening is the frictional force between the base and the tabletop. I have outlined below some of the methods I used to prevent movement of the stand; they all work on the principle of increasing the friction force by means of altering the parameters of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ or F from the equation: R = à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ F (see figure 4) Where: R = resultant force i.e. the level of friction. à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ = the co-efficient of friction i.e. the stickiness of the surface. F = the vertical force produced by the mass of the clamp stand. The material under stress will increase in flex and slightly in length until the elastic limit or yield point of the material is reached. At this limit, the material will start to crack on the side under tension. These cracks will propagate until the material finally snaps. The amount of force required for this to happen is known as the breaking stress. The higher the breaking stress the more tensile strength the material possesses. This is what I shall be measuring in my experiment. Problems Using Clamp Stands This was the first method that I thought of using because of their ease of storage and being the most ubiquitous support available to me. The disadvantages became very clear as soon as I tested them. The main problem I discovered was that of movement of the supports. I tried many ways of securing them to a surface so as to limit movement but most were unsuccessful or unsatisfactory. Firstly I tried placing masses on the footplates of the stands but could not place enough mass on them to prevent movement. This method works by increasing the parameter F in the above equation. I also tried using sticky paper to increase the co-efficient of friction of the surface the stand was placed on but couldnt increase it enough to change the outcome by any great amount. After that I placed stoppers on the base to stop it moving. This did stop it moving but instead caused the stand to topple over instead; obviously not ideal. The last method and by far the most successful I tried should have been more obvious. I attached a large G-clamp on the footplate of each stand and tightened them as far as I could. Due to the size and power of the clamps I used, movement was completely eliminated. This method works in the same manner as placing masses on the bases; it increases the F parameter. With the clamp I used I was able to generate huge vertical forces onto the footplate that created a resultant frictional force more than enough for my requirements. The second problem I only discovered after solving the first. The bosses I used to attach the clamp arms to the stand were not strong enough to hold themselves up and not rotate towards each other as the material flexed. Figure 5 below shows the set-up and how it changed when masses were added. To solve this problem I had to find a way of holding apart the arms. I tried tying them together with string but found it flexed too much when used in the length required. To solve the problem I needed a material that produced a low strain and could be applied in the way required. After a quick search of the materials that were on offer I decided on carpet tape. I chose it because it is reinforced with many fibres that give it extra strength and it is sticky so it can hold together the clamp arms. Safety Through out the planning process I have been looking at my experiment and constantly analysing it for sources of potential danger I might encounter whilst performing it. I met with the following issues and adjusted the experiment thus. The first thing that I thought would be a safety concern in the experiment was the force involved in breaking the materials. Creating large forces would mean large amounts of mass being used and this is a hazard. To minimise any risk involved; I selected materials that would not require huge forces to break and I used only small samples of them so as to further reduce the force required e.g. the wood samples I used were cut to a thickness of 2mm. Another concern was that of what the material would do when the stress point was reached. Some of the materials I used could shatter or splinter e.g. plastic and wood. To cut the risk of personal injury to myself and those around I erected Perspex safety screens, wore protective goggles and performed the experiment in a closed classroom. I also used shatterproof plastic in tests instead to normal plastic as I considered this too dangerous. Due to the method used in generating the force i.e. using suspended masses, I had to consider where the masses were going to land once the material gave way. I placed a carpet tile where the masses were going to fall so as to prevent damage to the floor and furthermore I suspended the masses as close to the floor as possible so as to reduce the velocity at which the impacted the floor. With the preparation of the experiment sorted and a few preliminary test runs completed, I decided to start collating results from the various materials I had collected.