IB Physics 2,3 -- HL/SL
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Assignments -- 4th Quarter
Mar 12th to Jun 7th, 2016
Tue, Mar 15
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Wed, Mar 16
Due:
- HW Option B-1A, #1-7 - HW Option B-1B, #8-15 Agenda: - Review HW Option B-1A, #1-7 - Review HW Option B-1B, #8-15 Assignment: - Reading Activity Option B-2A - Reading Activity Option B-2B 6-Word Memoir: adventure through the landscape of life |
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SPRING BREAK, MAR 19-27, YEAH!!!!!
INDEPENDENT EXAM STUDY
Words of Wisdom: "Did you sleep well?" "No, I made a couple of mistakes."
Mon, Mar 28
Due:
- Reading Activity Option B-2A - Reading Activity Option B-2B Agenda: - Option B-2A Lecture - Option B-2B Lecture Assignment: - HW Option B-2A, #18-28 - HW Option B-2B, #29-37 6-Word Memoir: Agnostics are atheists without testicular fortitude |
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Thu, Mar 31
Due:
- HW Option B-2A, #18-28 - HW Option B-2B, #29-37 Agenda: - Review HW Option B-2A, #18-28 - Review HW Option B-2B, #29-37 Assignment: - Reading Activity Option B-3 - Reading Activity Option B-4 6-Word Memoir: An awfully long and twisted roller-coaster |
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Words of Wisdom: Officer, I know I was going faster than 55MPH, but I wasn't going to be on the road an hour.
Physics Today - Hollow Atoms
The world’s first hard x-ray free electron laser started operations with a bang. A single ~100 femtosecond x-ray pulse stripped all ten electrons from neon. Scientists were able to control the stripping mechanism and found that they could ionize (charge the particles) from the inside out, producing exotic hollow atoms.
Physicists have removed the inner electrons from neon with a high energy X-ray laser, leaving behind a hollow atom shell. Image courtesy of Greg Stewart/SLAC (2011)
From: http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/pictures/hollowatoms.cfm
Physicists have removed the inner electrons from neon with a high energy X-ray laser, leaving behind a hollow atom shell. Image courtesy of Greg Stewart/SLAC (2011)
From: http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/pictures/hollowatoms.cfm
Mon, Apr 4
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Tue, Apr 5
Due:
- HW Option B-3, #38-57
- Reading Activity Option B-4
Agenda:
- Review HW Option B-3, #38-57
- Lecture Option B-4
Assignment:
- HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Option B Test Review - Exam-Style
Questions #1-4
6-Word Memoir:
Anything is more fun than homework
- HW Option B-3, #38-57
- Reading Activity Option B-4
Agenda:
- Review HW Option B-3, #38-57
- Lecture Option B-4
Assignment:
- HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Option B Test Review - Exam-Style
Questions #1-4
6-Word Memoir:
Anything is more fun than homework
Option B-4 Lecture | |
File Size: | 16744 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Option B-4 Lecture | |
File Size: | 1170 kb |
File Type: |
Fri, Apr 8
Due:
- HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Option B Test Review
Agenda:
- Review HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Review Option B Test Review -
Exam-Style Questions #1-4
Assignment:
- Option B Test Review - Exam-Style
Questions #5-12
6-Word Memoir:
Average life of a non-average girl
- HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Option B Test Review
Agenda:
- Review HW Option B-4, #58-64
- Review Option B Test Review -
Exam-Style Questions #1-4
Assignment:
- Option B Test Review - Exam-Style
Questions #5-12
6-Word Memoir:
Average life of a non-average girl
Option B Test Review - Exam-Style Questions | |
File Size: | 575 kb |
File Type: |
Exam Style Question Answers, Option B | |
File Size: | 1014 kb |
File Type: |
Words of Wisdom: I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.
Dark matter 'slingshot' could send lethal asteroids crashing into Earth
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/29/dark-matter-slingshot-could-send-lethal-asteroids-crashing-into-earth/
Dark matter could sling lethal meteors at Earth, potentially causing mass extinctions like the cataclysm that ended the Age of Dinosaurs, Harvard scientists say. Physicists think the mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter makes up five-sixths of all matter in the universe. It was first detected by the strength of its gravitational pull, which apparently helps keep the Milky Way and other galaxies from spinning apart, given the speeds at which they whirl. Scientists have recently suggested that a thin, dense disk of dark matter about 35 light-years thick lies along the central plane of the Milky Way, cutting through the galaxy's disk of stars. The sun travels in an up-and-down, wavy motion through this plane while orbiting the center of the galaxy. Researchers suggest this disk of clouds and clumps made of dark matter might disturb the orbits of comets in the outer solar system, hurling them inward. This could lead to catastrophic asteroid impacts on Earth, of the kind that likely ended the Age of Dinosaurs, said theoretical physicists Lisa Randall and Matthew Reece at Harvard University. Past research has suggested meteor bombardment of Earth rises and falls in a cycle about 35 million years long. In the past, scientists have proposed a cosmic trigger for this cycle, such as a potential companion star for the sun with the dramatic name "Nemesis." Instead of blaming a "death star" for these catastrophes, Randall and Reese point out that this cycle of doom closely matches the rate at which the sun passes through the central plane of the Milky Way. This hints that the galaxy's "dark disk" may be the actual culprit. The researchers analyzed craters more than 12 miles wide created in the past 250 million years, and compared their pattern against the 35-million-year cycle. They found that it was three times more likely that the craters matched the dark matter cycle than that they occurred randomly. This cycle might have killed off dinosaurs about 67 million years ago. "The cycle is slightly off for that mass extinction, but we have an incomplete data set regarding impact craters, so maybe with more information the cycle might fit what we know better," Randall told Space.com. Although a three-to-one chance sounds impressive, the researchers cautioned that this statistical evidence is not overwhelming. The scientists note that the European Space Agency's Gaia mission could reveal the existence or nonexistence of a dark matter disk. Launched in 2013, this mission will create a precise 3D map of stars throughout the Milky Way, potentially confirming or denying the existence of a dark disk that gravitationally influences stellar motions. "Even if it's a remote possibility that dark matter can affect the local environment in ways that have noticeable consequences over long periods of time, it's still incredibly interesting," Randall said. The scientists detailed their findings online April 20 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/29/dark-matter-slingshot-could-send-lethal-asteroids-crashing-into-earth/
Dark matter could sling lethal meteors at Earth, potentially causing mass extinctions like the cataclysm that ended the Age of Dinosaurs, Harvard scientists say. Physicists think the mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter makes up five-sixths of all matter in the universe. It was first detected by the strength of its gravitational pull, which apparently helps keep the Milky Way and other galaxies from spinning apart, given the speeds at which they whirl. Scientists have recently suggested that a thin, dense disk of dark matter about 35 light-years thick lies along the central plane of the Milky Way, cutting through the galaxy's disk of stars. The sun travels in an up-and-down, wavy motion through this plane while orbiting the center of the galaxy. Researchers suggest this disk of clouds and clumps made of dark matter might disturb the orbits of comets in the outer solar system, hurling them inward. This could lead to catastrophic asteroid impacts on Earth, of the kind that likely ended the Age of Dinosaurs, said theoretical physicists Lisa Randall and Matthew Reece at Harvard University. Past research has suggested meteor bombardment of Earth rises and falls in a cycle about 35 million years long. In the past, scientists have proposed a cosmic trigger for this cycle, such as a potential companion star for the sun with the dramatic name "Nemesis." Instead of blaming a "death star" for these catastrophes, Randall and Reese point out that this cycle of doom closely matches the rate at which the sun passes through the central plane of the Milky Way. This hints that the galaxy's "dark disk" may be the actual culprit. The researchers analyzed craters more than 12 miles wide created in the past 250 million years, and compared their pattern against the 35-million-year cycle. They found that it was three times more likely that the craters matched the dark matter cycle than that they occurred randomly. This cycle might have killed off dinosaurs about 67 million years ago. "The cycle is slightly off for that mass extinction, but we have an incomplete data set regarding impact craters, so maybe with more information the cycle might fit what we know better," Randall told Space.com. Although a three-to-one chance sounds impressive, the researchers cautioned that this statistical evidence is not overwhelming. The scientists note that the European Space Agency's Gaia mission could reveal the existence or nonexistence of a dark matter disk. Launched in 2013, this mission will create a precise 3D map of stars throughout the Milky Way, potentially confirming or denying the existence of a dark disk that gravitationally influences stellar motions. "Even if it's a remote possibility that dark matter can affect the local environment in ways that have noticeable consequences over long periods of time, it's still incredibly interesting," Randall said. The scientists detailed their findings online April 20 in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Wed, Apr 13
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Fri, Apr 15
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Tsokos Guidance on the External Assessment | |
File Size: | 898 kb |
File Type: |
Words of Wisdom: I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums.
Star cluster thrown out of galaxy at speed of more than 2 million mph
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/30/runaway-star-cluster-traveling-at-more-than-two-million-miles-per-hour/
Astronomers say they have discovered a star cluster that has been thrown in the direction of Earth at a speed of more than two million miles per hour. The cluster, named HVGC-1, originated in the M87 galaxy and is expected to endlessly drift through space, rocketing through the voids between other galaxies. "Astronomers have found runaway stars before, but this is the first time we've found a runaway star cluster," said Nelson Caldwell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is the lead author on a study which is set to be published in the The Astrophysical Journal. HVGC stands for hypervelocity globular cluster. These clusters are groupings of thousands of stars contained inside a ball a few dozen light-years across. The team found HVGC-1 using the MMT Telescope in Arizona after spending years studying the space around M87. A computer then calculated the speed of the cluster. "We didn't expect to find anything moving that fast," said Jay Strader of Michigan State University, who is a co-author of the study. The Milky Way Galaxy holds around 150 globular clusters, while the M87 galaxy holds thousands, according to a news release from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Astronomers believe HVGC-1 could have reached its current speed after passing through two supermassive black holes at the center of M87, which acted like a slingshot, flinging the cluster away.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/30/runaway-star-cluster-traveling-at-more-than-two-million-miles-per-hour/
Astronomers say they have discovered a star cluster that has been thrown in the direction of Earth at a speed of more than two million miles per hour. The cluster, named HVGC-1, originated in the M87 galaxy and is expected to endlessly drift through space, rocketing through the voids between other galaxies. "Astronomers have found runaway stars before, but this is the first time we've found a runaway star cluster," said Nelson Caldwell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is the lead author on a study which is set to be published in the The Astrophysical Journal. HVGC stands for hypervelocity globular cluster. These clusters are groupings of thousands of stars contained inside a ball a few dozen light-years across. The team found HVGC-1 using the MMT Telescope in Arizona after spending years studying the space around M87. A computer then calculated the speed of the cluster. "We didn't expect to find anything moving that fast," said Jay Strader of Michigan State University, who is a co-author of the study. The Milky Way Galaxy holds around 150 globular clusters, while the M87 galaxy holds thousands, according to a news release from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Astronomers believe HVGC-1 could have reached its current speed after passing through two supermassive black holes at the center of M87, which acted like a slingshot, flinging the cluster away.
Mon, Apr 18
Due:
- None Agenda: - Pass out Practice Paper 3 - Practice Paper 1 Test (SL: 45min, HL: 60min) - Review Practice Paper 1 Test Assignment: - Independent Exam Study 6-Word Memoir: Be unique. Be creative. Be innovative. |
Thu, Apr 21
Due:
- None Agenda: - Start Practice Paper 2 Test (SL: 75min, HL: 135min) Assignment: - Independent Exam Study 6-Word Memoir: Born, lived, journey to be continued |
Words of Wisdom: A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
Physics In Pictures
From: http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/pictures/index.cfm
Haleakala is known for the surreal sunrise bike rides down its mountainside and the striking rainbows that scatter about the sky, but Haleakala is also home to a complex known as "Haleakala Observatory," where scientists come from all over the world to see what lies beyond Earth. Because Haleakala is above one-third of the earth’s atmosphere at 10,000 feet and since Maui is part of the Hawaiian Islands and therefore surrounded by water for many miles, there is very limited light pollution. These reasons among others make Haleakala Observatory a sought after home for ground based telescopes.
To read about the different telescopes at Haleakala Observatory, check out these links: http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/HI3130/ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/haleakalanew/observatories.shtml |
A bouncing ball captured with a stroboscopic flash at 25 images per second. As the ball falls it accelerates – speeds up – due to the force of gravity. In the picture the space between the images of the ball are further apart nearer the ground, where acceleration would be the greatest. As kinetic energy decreases and is converted into potential energy near the peak of the ball’s path, the ball decelerates, slowing down. Because the ball has slowed its upward movement the images of the ball get closer together.
Image by Michael Maggs and Edit by Richard Bartz |
A large flare erupted from the sun on Jan. 27, 2012. This large flare is known as an X-class flare, the most powerful of all solar events. All astronauts onboard the ISS were fine, but what a site to see. This is an image of the flare taken by the X-ray telescope on Hinode. Image Credit: JAXA/Hinode
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Image credit: Navish Wadhwa and Sunghwan Jung; Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. The liquid in these photos is silicone oil (viscosity 10 cSt at 25 °C) with a diameter roughly equal to 500 µm. Even though they are all the same fluid, these jet streams do not coalesce because they are lubricated by a thin film of air. The motion of the jets keeps replenishing the air film, sustaining it indefinitely.
Because of the air film, as drops collide with the center jet, they bend the jet stream when they cannot merge into it. References: http://www.aps.org/about/physics-images/archive/jetdrops.cfm |
Tue, Apr 26
Due:
- None Agenda: - Finish Practice Paper 2 Test - Review Practice Paper 2 Test Assignment: - Independent Exam Study 6-Word Memoir: Busy, Active, Fun, Warm, Incomplete, And Awesome |
Thu, Apr 28
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Time To Shine
Fri, May 6
IB Exams
8:00-9:00: Physics Paper 1 HL 9:30-11:45: Physics Paper 2 HL 6-Word Memoirs: Never give up, no matter what |
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Mon, May 9
IB Exams
9:00-10:15: Physics Paper 3 HL 6-Word Memoirs: One step in front of another |
Words of Wisdom: Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.
May 24-27
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Wed, May 25
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Mon, May 30
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Wed, Jun 1
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Thu, Jun 4
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Words of Wisdom: There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did!
Tue, Jun 7
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Wed, Jun 8
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Thu, Jun 9
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Fri, Jun 10
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Memorial Day, May 30th
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Science Fiction with Good AstronomyA revised and updated resource guide to science fiction stories with good astronomy and physics is now available at the educational website of the non-profit Astronomical Society of the Pacific
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/scifi.html |
Words of Wisdom: Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root-canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
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In Search of the Bacon Boson |
Words of Wisdom: Right now I’m having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I’ve forgotten this before.
Famous Dead Guys In Physics - Charles Augustin de Coulomb
Born: 14 June 1736 in Angoulême, France
Died: 23 Aug 1806 in Paris, France
Coulomb graduated from the École du Génie at Mézières in November 1761. He was now a trained engineer with the rank of lieutenant in the Corps du Génie. Over the next twenty years he was posted to a variety of different places where he was involved in engineering, in structural design, fortifications, soil mechanics, and many other areas. Coulomb was put in charge of the building of the new Fort Bourbon and this task occupied him until June 1772. It was a period during which he showed the practical side of his engineering skills which were needed to organise the construction, but his experiences would play a major role in the later theoretical memoirs he wrote on mechanics.
On his return to France, Coulomb was sent to Bouchain. However, he now began to write important works on applied mechanics and he presented his first work to the Académie des Sciences in Paris in 1773. This work, Sur une application des règles, de maximis et minimis à quelque problèmes de statique, relatifs à l'architecture was written (in Coulomb's words, see for example [1]):- ... to determine, as far as a combination of mathematics and physics will permit, the influence of friction and cohesion in some problems of statics.
From Bouchain, Coulomb was next posted to Cherbourg. While he was there he wrote a famous memoir on the magnetic compass which he submitted for the Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences in 1777. This 1777 paper won Coulomb a share of the prize and it contained his first work on the torsion balance [1]:- his simple, elegant solution to the problem of torsion in cylinders and his use of the torsion balance in physical applications were important to numerous physicists in succeeding years. ... Coulomb developed a theory of torsion in thin silk and hair threads. Here he was the first to show how the torsion suspension could provide physicists with a method of accurately measuring extremely small forces.
During his time at Rochefort, Coulomb carried on his research into mechanics, in particular using the shipyards in Rochefort as laboratories for his experiments. His studies into friction in Rochefort led to Coulomb's major work on friction Théorie des machines simples which won him the Grand Prix from the Académie des Sciences in 1781. In this memoir Coulomb [1]:- investigated both static and dynamic friction of sliding surfaces and friction in bending of cords and in rolling. From examination of many physical parameters, he developed a series of two-term equations, the first term a constant and the second term varying with time, normal force, velocity, or other parameters.
He never again took on any engineering projects, although he did remain as a consultant on engineering matters, and he devoted his life from this point on to physics rather than engineering. He wrote seven important treatises on electricity and magnetism which he submitted to the Académie des Sciences between 1785 and 1791. In these he developed a theory of attraction and repulsion between bodies of the same and opposite electrical charge. He demonstrated an inverse square law for such forces and went on to examine perfect conductors and dielectrics. He suggested that there was no perfect dielectric, proposing that every substance has a limit above which it will conduct electricity. These fundamental papers put forward the case for action at a distance between electrical charges in a similar way as Newton's theory of gravitation was based on action at a distance between masses.
These papers on electricity and magnetism, although the most important of Coulomb's work over this period, were only a small part of the work he undertook. He presented twenty-five memoirs to the Académie des Sciences between 1781 and 1806. When the French Revolution began in 1789 Coulomb had been deeply involved with his scientific work. The Académie des Sciences was replaced by the Institut de France and Coulomb returned to Paris when he was elected to the Institute in December 1795.
Let us end with quoting the tribute paid to him by Biot who wrote:- It is to Borda and to Coulomb that one owes the renaissance of true physics in France, not a verbose and hypothetical physics, but that ingenious and exact physics which observes and compares all with rigour.
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson, July 2000
MacTutor History of Mathematics
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Coulomb.html
Died: 23 Aug 1806 in Paris, France
Coulomb graduated from the École du Génie at Mézières in November 1761. He was now a trained engineer with the rank of lieutenant in the Corps du Génie. Over the next twenty years he was posted to a variety of different places where he was involved in engineering, in structural design, fortifications, soil mechanics, and many other areas. Coulomb was put in charge of the building of the new Fort Bourbon and this task occupied him until June 1772. It was a period during which he showed the practical side of his engineering skills which were needed to organise the construction, but his experiences would play a major role in the later theoretical memoirs he wrote on mechanics.
On his return to France, Coulomb was sent to Bouchain. However, he now began to write important works on applied mechanics and he presented his first work to the Académie des Sciences in Paris in 1773. This work, Sur une application des règles, de maximis et minimis à quelque problèmes de statique, relatifs à l'architecture was written (in Coulomb's words, see for example [1]):- ... to determine, as far as a combination of mathematics and physics will permit, the influence of friction and cohesion in some problems of statics.
From Bouchain, Coulomb was next posted to Cherbourg. While he was there he wrote a famous memoir on the magnetic compass which he submitted for the Grand Prix of the Académie des Sciences in 1777. This 1777 paper won Coulomb a share of the prize and it contained his first work on the torsion balance [1]:- his simple, elegant solution to the problem of torsion in cylinders and his use of the torsion balance in physical applications were important to numerous physicists in succeeding years. ... Coulomb developed a theory of torsion in thin silk and hair threads. Here he was the first to show how the torsion suspension could provide physicists with a method of accurately measuring extremely small forces.
During his time at Rochefort, Coulomb carried on his research into mechanics, in particular using the shipyards in Rochefort as laboratories for his experiments. His studies into friction in Rochefort led to Coulomb's major work on friction Théorie des machines simples which won him the Grand Prix from the Académie des Sciences in 1781. In this memoir Coulomb [1]:- investigated both static and dynamic friction of sliding surfaces and friction in bending of cords and in rolling. From examination of many physical parameters, he developed a series of two-term equations, the first term a constant and the second term varying with time, normal force, velocity, or other parameters.
He never again took on any engineering projects, although he did remain as a consultant on engineering matters, and he devoted his life from this point on to physics rather than engineering. He wrote seven important treatises on electricity and magnetism which he submitted to the Académie des Sciences between 1785 and 1791. In these he developed a theory of attraction and repulsion between bodies of the same and opposite electrical charge. He demonstrated an inverse square law for such forces and went on to examine perfect conductors and dielectrics. He suggested that there was no perfect dielectric, proposing that every substance has a limit above which it will conduct electricity. These fundamental papers put forward the case for action at a distance between electrical charges in a similar way as Newton's theory of gravitation was based on action at a distance between masses.
These papers on electricity and magnetism, although the most important of Coulomb's work over this period, were only a small part of the work he undertook. He presented twenty-five memoirs to the Académie des Sciences between 1781 and 1806. When the French Revolution began in 1789 Coulomb had been deeply involved with his scientific work. The Académie des Sciences was replaced by the Institut de France and Coulomb returned to Paris when he was elected to the Institute in December 1795.
Let us end with quoting the tribute paid to him by Biot who wrote:- It is to Borda and to Coulomb that one owes the renaissance of true physics in France, not a verbose and hypothetical physics, but that ingenious and exact physics which observes and compares all with rigour.
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson, July 2000
MacTutor History of Mathematics
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Coulomb.html
Words of Wisdom: All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.
People In Physics - Janet Conrad
“I'm not your typical physicist,”says Janet Conrad, the 36-year old Columbia University physicist best known for her neutrino physics research at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. “If you were to pick out the kid in the class who would be a physicist, you wouldn't pick me.”
Conrad is a young, female physicist in a field that even today is overwhelmingly male. She says, though, that it is more than just a matter of gender that sets her apart. It is a gift for explaining the esoteric concepts of particle physics in simple, everyday terms for the general public.
“I've always thought I was a little different from those in my classes, and I've learned to use it, to bring something to physics,” Conrad says. “People like the way I explain things. I think it is an unusual ability in the field of physics.”
She also finds physics research fun, something she says derives from a deep love for the work she does. “I am very focused and I've been in love with this stuff from the time I first arrived at Fermilab after my junior year in college,”Conrad says. “I think it is fun and I want the everyone else to think it is fun, too.”
Today Conrad is one of the chief scientists on a project at Fermilab to determine whether or not the neutrino has mass. That is, she wants to know if the neutrino “weighs” anything or if, as has been believed until recently, it has no mass whatsoever. The neutrino is a ubiquitous but incredibly elusive subatomic particle whose existence was first “discovered” in 1930 merely as a way to balance the energy amounts of a physics equation. It was not until 1953 that the first neutrinos were detected in an actual experiment. In the so-called “Standard Model”—the basic conceptual framework that physicists use to describe all the fundamental particles in the universe—the neutrino has zero mass.
However, there are reasons to believe that the neutrino may indeed have a non-zero mass. What's more, Conrad says, no matter how incredibly small that mass may be, because there are so many neutrinos, the way physicists understand the structure of the physical universe would be profoundly altered. The Standard Model itself would need to be substantially revised. “We don't know how to put a neutrino [with mass] in our Standard Model,”she says. “In the Standard Model they are massless, but there is no compelling theoretical reason for that.” Conrad herself has been likened to a photon—the zero mass particle that travels at the maximum possible speed and is the carrier of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. If the energetic Conrad and her colleagues find a positive result—that is, if they show that the neutrino does have mass—then they will be responsible for a fundamental revision in how scientists understand and describe our universe.
Conrad is a young, female physicist in a field that even today is overwhelmingly male. She says, though, that it is more than just a matter of gender that sets her apart. It is a gift for explaining the esoteric concepts of particle physics in simple, everyday terms for the general public.
“I've always thought I was a little different from those in my classes, and I've learned to use it, to bring something to physics,” Conrad says. “People like the way I explain things. I think it is an unusual ability in the field of physics.”
She also finds physics research fun, something she says derives from a deep love for the work she does. “I am very focused and I've been in love with this stuff from the time I first arrived at Fermilab after my junior year in college,”Conrad says. “I think it is fun and I want the everyone else to think it is fun, too.”
Today Conrad is one of the chief scientists on a project at Fermilab to determine whether or not the neutrino has mass. That is, she wants to know if the neutrino “weighs” anything or if, as has been believed until recently, it has no mass whatsoever. The neutrino is a ubiquitous but incredibly elusive subatomic particle whose existence was first “discovered” in 1930 merely as a way to balance the energy amounts of a physics equation. It was not until 1953 that the first neutrinos were detected in an actual experiment. In the so-called “Standard Model”—the basic conceptual framework that physicists use to describe all the fundamental particles in the universe—the neutrino has zero mass.
However, there are reasons to believe that the neutrino may indeed have a non-zero mass. What's more, Conrad says, no matter how incredibly small that mass may be, because there are so many neutrinos, the way physicists understand the structure of the physical universe would be profoundly altered. The Standard Model itself would need to be substantially revised. “We don't know how to put a neutrino [with mass] in our Standard Model,”she says. “In the Standard Model they are massless, but there is no compelling theoretical reason for that.” Conrad herself has been likened to a photon—the zero mass particle that travels at the maximum possible speed and is the carrier of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. If the energetic Conrad and her colleagues find a positive result—that is, if they show that the neutrino does have mass—then they will be responsible for a fundamental revision in how scientists understand and describe our universe.
Words of Wisdom: OK, so what's the speed of dark?
Disregard the information below (unless you want to get laughed at).
It contains information from last year that may be outdated!
Wed, Mar 4
Mon, Mar 2
Tue, May 26
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Wed, Apr 22
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Tues, Apr 28
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Mon, Apr 20
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Disregard Below -- Outdated Stuff!!!
I'm outdated stuff - disregard me!