STUDY OF APPLICATION OF LAWS

AND PRINCIPLE OF PHYSICS IN ANY

A project report

Submitted to the Department of Physics, St. Xavier’s College,

Maitighar in the partial fulfillment for the requirement of NEB +2

Science in physics

By
Milan Pokhrel
Class: XII
Roll.No: 387
Section: “H”
Date: 2079/05/23
 RECOMMENDATION

It is to certify that Mr.Milan Pokhrel has successfully carried out the project entitled “STUDY
OF APPLICATION OF LAWS AND PRINCIPLE OF PHYSICS IN ANY INDIGENEOUS
TECHNOLOGY” under my guidance and supervision.

I recommend this project for the +2 degree of NEB.

.………………………….
Supervisor
Mr. Ajay Kumar Karn
Department of physics
St. Xavier’s College
Maitighar, Kathmandu, Nepal

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my profound gratitude to Mr.Hari Kishor Shah, Head of Department of
Physics and +2 Coordinator Mr.Gehendra Bahadur Chand for his contributions to the completion
of my project titled “STUDY OF APPLICATION OF LAWS AND PRINCIPLE OF PHYSICS
IN ANY INDIGENEOUS TECHNOLOGY”.

I would like to express my special thanks to our mentor Mr.Ajay Kumar Karn for his time and
efforts he provided throughout the time.Your useful advice and suggestions were really helpful
to me during the project’s completion. In this aspect, I am eternally grateful to you.

I would like to acknowledge that this project was completed entirely by me and not by someone
else.

………………….

Milan Pokhrel
Class: XII-“H”
Roll.No: 387

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
RECOMMENDATION………………………………………………………………………….1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………………………2

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..3

OBJECTIVES…………………………………………………………………………………….4

METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………………………….5

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………6

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..8

FUTURE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT………………………………………………………….9

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………. 10
 INTRODUCTION

The need for economic and physical survival has been identified as great motivating forces for
technological advancement. The term indigenous refers to being grown or produced in a locality.
Indigenous technology refers to the production of materials or goods by the people within a
community. It is the custom or homemade tools available in a society at a particular time whose
usage causes satisfaction to the inhabitants.

The indigenous technology in the state has brought forth the production of wine locally, making
paper, wood craving, water mill and mat making etc. No effective indigenous technology
programme can exist without a good knowledge of sciences in general and physics in particular.
The application of physics and its principles in the development of our indigenous technologies
will help in the productions of more valuable goods that conform to modern standards.

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 OBJECTIVES

 To determine the effect of physics in the development of indigenous technologies.

 To study the effect of physics in the production of water mill (Paani Ghatta).

 To understand that physics is a foundation on which technology is built.

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 METHODOLOGY

A qualitative approach was used in this study. The subjects of research were adults of a village in
Syangja who still retain the cultural values of their ancestors. They live with their simplicity,
uniqueness, honesty, and other positive behaviors. In this study, we report on individual
interviews conducted to identify their indigenous knowledge that related to the thermal physics
concepts an incorporated into school curriculum. At the beginning interview, respondents were
asked to explain about their experience from their childhood up to the present. Respondents were
asked questions about the indigenous knowledge and link to the physics concepts to obtain
further insight into how they understood and applied it.Listening to their opinion and information
that could be associated with the physics concept, particularly thermal physics.The interview
transcripts were analyzed to identify those ideas that could be related to the thermal physics
concepts.

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

These turning machines are popularly known as Pani Ghatta also known as water mills. The
water mills are very popular across the Himalayas, as it is the only reliable machine to grind
grain for people living in the regions. The water mills are not limited to Nepal but you can see
across the stretch of hills of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet, and Bhutan. Traditionally limited to
grinding, now many are modified to generate electricity for local use.

According to its construction, the water is diverted from the mainstream via open or closed duct
towards the turbine placed on the lower section of mill house. The turbine used to be made of
wood, but the majority of wooden turbines are replaced with metallic as improved water mills
these days. The vertical shaft connected to the turbine on the floor of mill house runs and turns
the upper section of stone. The lower section is stationary, and grains stored in wooden settings
above the stone drops grains through a hole in upper stone to lower stone via feeder mechanism,
and then grains are ground in between the stones.

Some of the principles & laws of physics involves in this technology are as stated below:

 Newton's Laws for Rotation

1. If an object does not experience a net torque on it, it will not have an angular acceleration
and therefore no angular velocity. If there is a net torque on an object it will have an angular
acceleration and angular velocity.
2. The torque on an object is equal to the moment of inertia multiplied by the angular
acceleration.

 The Moment of Inertia

The moment of inertia of an object is also referred to as the rotational inertia and is basically the
rotational mass of an object. In order to determine this we need to look at an objects rotational
Kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is one half the objects mass times its linear velocity squared, but
when an object like a water wheel is traveling in circular motion the rotational Kinetic energy
has to be considered. Now considering the rotational Kinetic energy it is defined by one half the
first derivative of time with respect to angular displacement (angular speed) squared multiplied

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by the radius squared times the mass of the object. In the case of a water wheel we have a thick
hollow cylinder (wheel) and a rod (axle). The inertia is defined as the sum of the points of mass

Fig: Water Mill (Paani Ghatta)

multiplied by the corresponding radius squared. In order to find the Moment of Inertia for an
individual object we need to look at it as a collection of equally sized masses, which means that
they 6 have equal densities and volumes, so if we integrate the perpendicular distance (radius)
squared from the center of mass multiplied by the mass density and integrate it with respect to
the volume of a particular object we can calculate the moment of inertia of an object.

 Torque

Torque or the moment arm is quantified by taking the cross product of the force perpendicular to
the axis of rotation and the position vector, taking the dot product of these gives us the SI units of
Nm. To get the magnitude of torque it is also important to take into consideration the angle theta
between the force vector and the position vector. Use the right hand rule to determine the
direction of torque for the given position vector and force.

 Rotational Work

The Work done by torque is defined as the torque multiplied by the angular displacement. In
order to determine how much work can be done by moving water in a river or stream requires
that the total volume of water available to do work is determined. Once a volume is determined,
it is possible to calculate the amount of work that the water is capable of doing on the water
wheel and in turn the ideal size and type of wheel can be determined.

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 CONCLUSION

Indigenous knowledge is practice of doing some specific works uniquely in any community,
which acquired over generations by communities as perform different acts in their own ways. In
indigenous technology community use their local resources and knowledge. It mainly refers to a
system of initiative technical works. Pani Ghatta is one of the important indigenous technologies
in Nepalese community.it is clean and applicable technology for grinding at local level where
there is no electricity access. Now days these Ghatta are decreasing day by day due to the use of
modern grinding machine. Countries like our where there is shortage of electricity Ghatta can be
useful, if we have upgrade them with improved technology and dual purpose like fishing,
irrigation.

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 FUTURE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

A lot of cultural values and local wisdom begin to be abandoned and are at risk of being lost as a
result of the demands and development of globalization. Indigenous knowledge has been either
neglected or even denied as it may be seen to be at the edges of scientific knowledge. Indigenous
physics knowledge is manifested in various forms of oral and practical knowledge.

Unfortunately, the indigenous community is continually struggling to maintain their rights, their
tradition, and their knowledge. We can only find these indigenous technology in very rural parts
of Nepal due to modernization. From the project, we can help to preserve these indigeneous
technologies. The knowledge, laws & principles of physics can be manipulated more in our daily
life. They are also our identity & they are the best example of utilization of our natural resources
properly. As Water Mill (Paani Ghatta) runs with the help of water which shows the utilization
of running water in the country. They runs with the help of energy which are renewable sources
which are sufficient in the country.

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 REFERENCES

 Internet: https://tribhuvan.academia.edu
 Internet: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/nepal/ghatta
 Ayam Publication Vol 4 _2_, Grade 12 physics text book

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