We started to look at vectors this week. Here is a video I made to help you with the processes involved in drawing a scale diagram.
Vector Scale Diagrams from mr mackenzie on Vimeo.
Higher
huge magnet
What would you do with a great big electromagnet? These people made a film.
F5 2011 RE:PLAY Film Festival. Inductance from Physalia Studio on Vimeo.
What do you make of the film?
very large telescope
I found a brilliant timelapse video on the Popular Science site. It shows the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at work in Chile.
Here are some VLT links to explore
- wikipedia entry
- the VLT website
- series of images from the BBC
- the VLT’s laser guide
- ESO’s top 10 discoveries
You can get a pdf summary of the VLT from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the organisation that runs the VLT, by clicking on the download link below.
good luck from Albert and me
I’m sure you’ll do your best tomorrow. Remember to check the exam advice for Higher and Standard Grade on BBC Bitesize.
Higher classes – remember my advice to attempt Section B first. 70 of the 90 marks are there and each mark requires less effort than Section A. Aim to leave 35 minutes for the multiple choice questions.
100 years of Rutherford’s model of the atom
I read yesterday that Rutherford’s model of the atom is 100 years old this year. He presented his findings at a meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society – this link is worth a read.
I dug a little deeper and found that Google Scholar has indexed a copy of Rutherford’s article published in May 1911 (100 years ago this month!) where he explains the scattering of alpha and beta particles by matter. Some of the diagrams are missing and the maths is a little scary but the commentary at the end is interesting. You can download the article using the link at the end of this post.
Professor Martyn Poliakoff made a video about Rutherford and his work.
Rutherford was a Physicist but he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908, just before he discovered the structure of the atom. It may have been in revenge for his famous quotation
All science is either physics or stamp collecting
There is a video of Rutherford talking to the IEE about his work and I found this modern video showing a recreation of the original experiment on alpha particle scattering.
Endeavour takes antimatter hunter to the space station
image by NASA
A few weeks ago we were all ready to look up for an evening sighting of the space shuttle Endeavour as it separated from its external fuel tank while passing over the UK. That launch was delayed but NASA is set to try again today.
Endeavour is the newest vehicle in the shuttle fleet. It was built as a replacement for Challenger. This will be Endeavour’s last mission and its task is to carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) up to the International Space Station.
Launch is scheduled for 1.56pm UK time and you can watch it live on NASA TV. Alternatively, you can watch the launch as a webcast from CERN, starting at 1.45pm.
AMS is designed to search for antimatter, a substance first proposed by British Physicist Paul Dirac.
Physicists believe that there should be a balance between matter and antimatter . The problem is that we live in a universe that seems to be made from matter, not matter and antimatter, so the question is…
Particle physicists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have an experiment that is looking for an answer to this question. The particle physics research teams at CERN were given the job of building the AMS, which was transferred to the Kennedy Space Centre earlier this year.
The videos below are from CERN’s multimedia library for the AMS project and will give you an idea of the role of AMS. The first film is less than one minute long and designed to act as a trailer for the project. The second is longer (15 minutes) and has several interviews with key project staff.
putting equivalent dose in perspective
You’ve discovered new units, Grays (Gy), Sieverts (Sv) and their smaller versions; uGy, mGy, uSv, mSv. Here is a poster from the excellent xkcd site that explores examples of the different levels of equivalent dose.
Click on the picture for a larger version.
Notice that the scale changes as you move through the poster from blue to green to red.
The dosimetry topic is very short and comprehensively covered at BBC Bitesize.
My thanks to Mr Hood and Mr Burrett for posting the xkcd picture.
prelim dates for S4/5/6
With all of the Physics courses coming to an end, there will be prelims to sit before you go on study leave. Please check the updated list of prelim arrangements on the calendar so you know when your exam will be.
vulcan laser
How cool a name is that?
Vulcan is the highest intensity (do you think they mean highest irradiance?) laser in the world and it’s in a British research laboratory. Watch the video to learn more about it.
I wonder if Peter has read the comments under this video on the youtube site?
bang goes the theory – a homemade laser
We’ve just studied stimulated emission and how it can be used to make a laser. I noticed the BBC1 schedule for this week says that Jem is going to make his own laser in this week’s programme. BBC1 Scotland will show the programme on Friday 15th April at 20.30.
You should be able to watch it online before then – look for episode 5 of series 4 on iPlayer. Here is the trailer.