Good math fair project?

First off, I would like to state that St.Louis hosts a math fair and I have decided to participate in it. I have this project that I think is going to get me first place. I would like to know if you think this is a good math fair project. O.K, here it is:
D=(4a/b)+w
In other words it is a formula to figure out the distributive weight a dome out of 4 carries when a board is placed on top of it and then the weight added to it. It basicly reads:
Distributive Weight= (area of dome x 4 / area of board)+ weight
Can you belive it? An 8th grader making something this good up.

*cough*school forum*cough*

Anyways...seems to be a fairly decent project. But...a Math Fair? Interesting...

moved, as kokiri kid stated.
pay more attention to where you make your posts in the future.

we had a math fair at our school... we did reflections on a mini golf course, tesselgrams (or whatever), Optical Illusions, The idea of the golden ratio...

Then we had a timeline, and other people dressed as old mathematicians... it was fun...

Unless i'm mistaken, you're pitching this to little kids... so you should pitch ideas for games and such that little kids would enjoy... yea that should work

Well, if I understood your whole formula, I would have to say that it would be pretty cool. But I don't leaving me to the conclusion that I wouldn't know. But from the sounds of it, it looks like a first place project, especially since it looks like something Einstien would write (even though he took all the ideas and stuff from his wife).

Hmm, how did you reach that formula?
Which area are you speaking of, is it the mantle area (4*pi*r square) or what? And which weight would w represent? The dome's own weight or the board's weight?

O.K, Czardas, the domes will be made out of Lego's so they would be squares. The weight is neither of the board or dome. It is an object like a book, computer monitor, radio, etc. so you would have to weigh the object to get the weight.

Are you sure that's accurate?
A simple dimensional analysis would state that the area of the dome multiplied by four divided by the area of the board must be a weight of some sort (measured in kg, pounds or whatever) in order for it to work. This leads to the conclusion that the number four is actually a weight, is this true?
Have you tried it through any experiments?

As a matter of fact, yes I've tried an experement. The domes suprisingly held up my dad. And the weight would be measured in pounds as I live in the U.S. Also, the formula is figuring out the distributive weights of all 4 domes.(I should have put that) If you want to know the weight each dome carries, divide it by 4 and your anwser will be arrived too.

To turn this into an educational moment, can you explain the way a dome works and the mathematics behind it big_al? This will help you with your project also.

Ah! You got me there, Linkisup! That is exactly the same thing my math fair coordinator, Ms.Taggert, is telling me to do; find the mathmatics behind a dome. You could give me a site for it as I am having trouble finding the mathmatics behind the dome. I do know that a dome is strong, because it is basicly a 3-D arch and it is hollow making the weight transfer over the dome equally.

I don't think that you got my earlier question entirely, big_al. No matter which unit you use for weight (such as pound or kg) both terms in the equation must be of the same sort for it to make much sense.
There may be something that I'm missing here, but the real issue is (if the setup is as I imagine) that the board should be thick enough to support the weight. The forces applied to the domes will only proceed into the material below them. In order to determine the maximum stress of the board, one would have to calculate the shearing forces in the material.

The board I'm using is pretty thick enough anyways. I understand completly what you are saying and I think I am missing something to my formula. It should now read like this:
D=(4a/b)+w/4
You have to divide it by 4 if you want to know the weight carried by one dome. Trust me, Czardas, the materials I'm using are pretty strong enough to hold up my dad who weighs somewhere between 250and 300 pounds. And by 'material below them',you must be refering to the floor. Trust me, if the floor can hold up up to an average of 3 to 30 tons, a weight on a board supported by 4 domes will be nothing.

The weight held up by N domes is simply w/N (and w includes the board's weight). Just consider Newton's second law: F=m*a
So where would your first term in the equation appear from?
Your equation would approach infinity if b approaches zero, thus meaning that if the board is small, it will be infinitly heavy. Quite an odd board, I might add.

Well folks, my project is already in and I'll get the results of my project by Friday or Monday, so we will know if this is a good math fail project or not.

Ok, folks! The results of my project are in. I won 5th place, so in conclusion, the project is semi-good.

big_al, no double posting, remember? You should have edited your last post.