Download Physics News from the AIP No 2, Term 1 2005

Physics News from the AIP Term 1, No 2, 2011
Table of Contents
1. 2011 Physics Teachers Conference:
a) Wireless computing available to conference delegates
b) Parking and other administrative details
2. VCE Physics Days at Luna Park, March 1st - 3rd. The Wednesday is fully booked. Datalogger News
3. VCE Physics Lecture Series in 2011 - FREE! University of Melbourne
4. Web Resources for Astronomy & Particle Physics and Quantum Physics
5. Forthcoming events for: Students and the General Public *
a) A Scientific Revolution: the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, Wednesday, 23 Feb,
6:30 – 7:30pm, Swinburne University
b) VCE Physics Days at Luna Park, March 1st - 3rd See item 2
c) Globe at Night: A global observational exercise in late Feb and in late March
e) Gemini Schools Astronomy Contest: Entries due 13th May
6. Forthcoming events for Teachers *
a) 2011 AIP / STAV Physics Teachers Conference: Friday, Saturday 18th, 19th February, Monash
University See item 1
b) Online professional development on project-based learning and integration of ICT, starting March 11,
Quantum Victoria.
c) Workshop for VCE Astrophysics and Astronomy: Thursday 28th April at VSSEC & Scienceworks
d) Astronomy from the Ground Up!, 20- 22 May, Parkes Observatory, NSW
7. Physics News from the Web
a) North Atlantic strait at its warmest for 2000 years
b) 'Kepler' spots six planets orbiting a star
c) X-ray laser images single virus particles
* Events listed for the first time are in bold with details below. The details of the other events can be found
on our website at www.vicphysics.org/forthcomingevents.html or in previous newsletters at
www.vicphysics.org/AIPnews.html
This newsletter is compiled by the Australian Institute of Physics (Victorian Branch) Education Committee.
This year the AIP Education Committee will be meeting at Kew High School, normally on the second
Tuesday of the month from 5pm – 7pm, the next meeting is on Tuesday, 8th March. All teachers are welcome
to attend this or any other meeting, if you would like to attend, please contact the chair, Sue Grant, at
[email protected] .
1. 2011 Physics Teachers Conference: Information for Participants
 Wireless Network: Monash University now offers a wireless network for conference attendees. There is
a limit of 50 people being on-line at any one time. If you wish to have wireless internet access during
the conference, then you can get the username and password at Registration. The conditions of use will
be place on our website at http://www.vicphysics.org/conf2011.html over the weekend.
The application form indicated the laptop lockers can be booked.
Some presenters are keen to make use of the opportunity for their sessions. At this stage they are:
A4
C2
SPARKScience: a 21st Century Learning Environment, Doug Bail, Cider House ICT
The Virtual Lab - Using Learning Objects in VCE Physics Justin Vincent, Warrnambool College
Other presenters may also so advise us in the next few days. The next newsletter to be sent out next
week with have an updated list.
 Parking: Parking is free in all blue zones. They are in order of closeness to Registration in South One:
SW2, SE4, SE1, W1 and N1. A map of the campus showing parking and the location of venues will also
be on the website this weekend.
 Bottled Water: Monash University has installed drinking fountains around the campus to discourage the
purchase of bottled water. You are welcome to bring you own 'empty'.
 Physics Labs new name: The name shave changed from PL1, etc to GL1, etc.
The Brochures and Registration Forms are available from the STAV and AIP websites,
http://www.sciencevictoria.com.au/confVCE.html and http://www.vicphysics.org/conf2011.html , resp.
2. VCE Physics Days at Luna Park, March 1st - 3rd: The Wednesday is fully booked.
The dates are: Tuesday 1st March, Wednesday 2nd March and Thursday 3rd March. The cost to students is
$20.95, teachers are free.
There is plenty of room on the Tuesday and Thursday.
To make a reservation contact Luna Park by phone on (03) 9525 5033 or fax to (03) 9534 5764, or mail to
Luna Park at PO Box 1083, St Kilda South, Victoria, 3182. A confirming deposit will be required a week
before the event. .
Our website, www.vicphysics.org/lunapark.html has details of the worksheets and arrangements for each
of the days. The worksheets have been updated to include the inclusion in the study design of circular
motion in the vertical plane.
Pasco dataloggers can be booked for a full or a half day by email to the AIP at [email protected] with
subject: 'Datalogger booking'. Thee is no charge.
Ciderhouse, the Pasco supplier, has announced that this year they can offer a free download of SPARKVue
for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad as an alternate to the more traditional datalogger and will have a few vests to
safely contain the iPhones/iPods if students don't have a suitable place to safely store the device while on the
ride.
This app records the acceleration data from the built-in accelerometers in the devices. The standard Pasco
dataloggers also measure altitude.
To access the apps just go to the App Store or iTunes and search for "SparkVue" and elect to install. It's small
and free so installs quickly. There's some preset experiment for x, y, z and x/y/z resultant accelerations.
Note: For the safety of other passengers and those on the ground, Luna Park does not allow any hand held
objects on its rides. Any device must be in a sealed pocket.
3. VCE Physics Lecture Series in 2011 - FREE! University of Melbourne
The School of Physics of Melbourne University is once again offering a series of free lectures specifically
designed to assist VCE Physics students. These lectures are given by practising physicists, and have been
very popular. Each is of about 1 hour duration, and will be held fortnightly during semesters 1 and 2, on
Thursdays at 6 pm in the Laby Theatre of the School of Physics. Some light refreshments are available
before the lectures.
The lectures are based on the VCE Physics Study Design, and are specifically selected to assist your students
in their Physics studies. Each lecturer has a proven record in making physics exciting and understandable.
The first lecture will be held on Feb. 17, when Prof. Rachel Webster from the School of Physics,
Melbourne University will talk on the topic of Astrophysics: “Let’s start with a Big Bang ... Astrophysics”.
This lecture addresses Year 11 VCE special studies 3.1 and 3.2 (Astronomy, and Astrophysics), but is of wide
general interest.
** Please note that the first lecture will be in the LATHAM Theatre, Redmond Barrie Building.
The second lecture will be on March 4 when Dr Roger Rassool will talk Aristotle and Newton "The Greeks
and the English". This lecture will be in the Laby Theatre.
Details of the series, registration details, location map and other information are at
http://www.facebook.com/VCEPhysics
4. Web Resources for Astronomy & Particle Physics and Quantum Physics
The Science and Technologies Facilities Council in the UK maintains a website on many aspects of particle
physics, including a section for teachers. The section that is useful to us is the resources section,
http://www.particlephysics.ac.uk/teach/useful-links.html, which has a large set of leaflets, booklets and
posters that can be download. The topics covered include planetary science, space hardware, syncrotron,
LHC and particle physics.
Other resources include:
 A set of particle physics summary sheets: A3 and A4 sheets which provide a concise summary of
important points about quarks and leptons, forces, particle accelerators, particle detectors, and particle
physics and the big bang.
 A set of posters on the standard model of particle physics
Schrodinger's Quantum Kittens: A BBC Radio 4 program
A 30 min radio program: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wr9qb
Robin Ince examines Schrodinger's Cat, the paradox at the heart of quantum physics, and discovers its
influence on science and popular culture. Fifty years after the death of Nobel laureate Erwin Schrodinger, the
quantum mysteries of his cat-in-a-box paradox still continue to drive physicists in research today. Can a living
thing be both alive and dead at the same time?
Schrodinger's experiment was an almost playful creation, but one that stabbed at the heart of the 1930s
physics establishment. By the 1950s, US physicist Hugh Everett concluded that, indeed, both a dead cat and
an alive cat can exist, but in separate universes. His 'Many Worlds' theory inspired authors, from Philip K
Dick to Philip Pullman.
Robin follows in the Austrian physicist's footsteps to Oxford University, where Schrodinger was once a
fellow, and unearths some original archive at Magdalen College. Physicist Sir Roger Penrose speaks about its
impact on quantum theory to this day. Why has Schrodinger's Cat gained such currency not just in science
but popular culture? Writer Alan Moore tells how it created a new wave of 1960s sci-fi literature.
So why has Schrodinger's Cat caught the imagination of non-scientists? How is it misinterpreted and used to
explain mankind's many unknowns? What is its place at the cutting edge of quantum physics? Robin meets
today's physicists and thinkers who still tangle with the idea. And we find, no doubt, that Schrodinger's Cat
(in all probability) is very much alive today.
Also available from Radio 4, is a series of 45 minute programs by Melvyn Bragg titled 'In Our Time'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jz5t3
The titles include: i) The Vacuum of Space, ii) The Measurement Problem in Physics, iii) The Physics of
Reality and iv) Time.
5.
Forthcoming events for Students and General Public
a) A Scientific Revolution: the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, Wednesday, 23 Feb, 6:30 –
7:30pm, Swinburne University
Lecturer: Jonathan Gardner, NASA
The Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing holds regular free public lectures on the Hawthorn campus
(usually in room EN313) at 6.30pm.
VENUE: Room BA201, Business and Arts (BA) building, Swinburne University, Hawthorn campus
Free, but booking required
Contact: Elizabeth Thackray on [email protected] or (03) 9214 5569, or book online at
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/outreach/?topic=freelectures .
6.
Forthcoming Events for Teachers
See previous newsletter
7.
Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletins of the Institute of Physics (UK) and the American Institute of Physics.
a)
North Atlantic strait at its warmest for 2000 years
b)
'Kepler' spots six planets orbiting a star
c)
X-ray laser images single virus particles
a)
North Atlantic strait at its warmest for 2000 years
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/45005
A stretch of water east of Greenland, considered to be the Arctic's main source of heat from the North Atlantic,
is warmer now than it has been in at least 2000 years. That is the claim of researchers in Europe and the US
who suggest further warming will amplify the effects of climate change in the Arctic region.
The new study considers water temperatures in the Fram Strait, a passage of seawater between Greenland and
the Svalbard archipelago. Climate scientists have identified that conditions in this stretch of water will play a
key role in determining whether the Arctic ice cap will survive future summers.
"Cold seawater is critical for the formation of sea ice, which helps to cool the planet by reflecting sunlight
back to space," says Thomas Marchitto, one of the researchers, based at the University of Colorado in the US.
"Warmer waters could lead to major sea ice loss and drastic changes for the Arctic."
b)
'Kepler' spots six planets orbiting a star
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/45011
A Sun-like star with six orbiting planets has been discovered by the Kepler spacecraft in what NASA
researchers are proclaiming as the biggest discovery in their field since the first exoplanet was discovered in
1995.
The six new planets have been located over 2000 light years from Earth orbiting a star roughly the same size
as our Sun, which has been named Kepler-11. The planets were discovered by the transit method, which can
detect a slight dimming in the light of a star as a planet sweeps across our line of vision from Earth. Prior to
this finding, only one star was known to have more than one orbiting planet – Kepler-9, discovered last year,
which has two confirmed planets and possibly a third.
c)
X-ray laser images single virus particles
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/45018
A new X-ray technique with the potential to image biological samples of any size has been unveiled by an
international team of scientists. The breakthrough involves flashing a sample with intense X-rays before any
radiation damage sets in and should allow researchers to analyse the structures of proteins and other samples
that have never been imaged before.
X-rays are one of the most important tools to study the structures of biological samples. Typically a sample
must be crystallized so that the molecules line up into a regular arrangement. When the X-rays pass through
the crystal they diffract, producing a distinctive pattern from which scientists can deduce the sample's
structure.
But crystallizing biological samples isn't easy and it is often hard to end up with crystals more than a hundred
or so microns in diameter. If the crystals are too small, researchers have to expose them with more X-rays to
get a good diffraction pattern – and this risks destroying the samples altogether.