Friday Flyer/News
Submitted by kcecire
on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 12:53
Friday Flyer - January 15, 2016
Spotlight on International Masterclasses 2016: They are amazing—the chance for your students to become "particle physicists for a day"—and they are coming. International Masterclass videoconferences will run February 11 to March 23 at CERN and February 25 to March 19 at Fermilab. You can find schedule information at the Masterclass Library Videoconferences page. Masterclass Orientations and Orientation Updates start this coming Monday.
This year, we are adding a twist to International Masterclasses. Students can be active before, during, and after their masterclasses on Twitter: @physicsIMC and #LHCIMC16.
QuarkNet centers and other institutions can join up for all of the above. Contact Ken Cecire to learn how or to ask any questions.
News from QuarkNet Central: Congratulations to QuarkNet friend Spencer Pasero, former leader of the QuarkNet leadershio fellows, on becoming the manager of the Fermilab Office of Education and Public Outreach. Marge Bardeen steps aside to devote her time to her work as QuarkNet spokesperson.
The CERN High School Teachers program applications are upon us! QuarkNet teachers, check your e-mail! (Here is the application, all the same; it is due by January 31.)
Physics Experiment Roundup: Symmetry reports that astrophysicists searching for dark matter have found some big science in little galaxies. At CERN, the LHC takes a healthful winter break. And in the "inverse-of-this-department" department, one might say a theory without experimental evidence is sort of like "all hat and no cattle"—or is it? A physicist-turned-philosopher seeks to understand.
Resources: How about something easy? Perhaps a little quantum field theory? Don Lincoln keeps it simple and interesting.
Just for Fun: Some biochemistry that physics teachers can use: coffee and your brain!
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: MarkRAdams74@gmail.com
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - January 8, 2016
Spotlight on the University of Minnesota Center: The University of Minnesota center has held summer workshops since 2003. Currently, there are 12 active teachers who work with Dan Cronin-Hennessy, lead teacher Jon Anderson and QN staff teacher Shane Wood. In Spring 2015, the center held a successful masterclass with approximately 20 local students participating. During the summer workshop, teachers worked through some Data Portfolio activities, set up and performed cosmic ray studies using three detectors, and discussed classroom implementation strategies.
News from QuarkNet Central: Happy New Year from all of us at QuarkNet! The arrival of 2016 means that this spring's masterclass season is approaching. Centers new to masterclass will need to have an orientation, and experienced centers need only an orientation update. Masterclass leaders: Please check the orientation schedule; then contact Ken to schedule an orientation or update.
Heading to the AAPT Winter Meeting in New Orleans this upcoming week? If you are, please join Ken, Shane, and other QuarkNet friends for lunch on Monday. We will meet in the lobby of the Hyatt at 12 noon and go from there. Please e-mail Shane if you would like to join us so we can look for you. QuarkNet-related talks at the conference include Preparing Producers and Consumers of Science by Chris Stoughton, and High School Students Discovering the World of Particle Physics by Shane. Both of these talks are part of a 4:00-5:10 p.m. Sunday session moderated by Ken called Discovery Physics in the Classroom. Please stop by if you get a chance!
Physics Experiment Roundup: Learn more about the booming science of dwarf galaxies, mysterious LHC photons, the discoveries that led to the completion of the 7th period of the periodic table, and how Argonne National Lab simulated the evolution of the universe.
Resources: Wonder what makes a solid a solid? Don Lincoln explores the nature of matter in this short video. How do you keep a particle inside an accelerator? Fermilab's Cindy Joe explains how in this Symmetry video. Students and teachers love when the folks from Mythbusters put myths and urban legends to the test. Wired.com compiled a collection of the best Mythbusters physics demos; demos not easily done in the classroom!
Interested in learning more about how to perform physics experiments using your smartphone? Then check out Smartphone Pocket Lab: Experimental Classical Mechanics; note that registration ends on January 25.
Just for Fun: Perhaps you were one of the lucky ones who received the perfect stocking stuffer for a physicist over the holidays? If not . . . there's always next year! Holiday turkey didn't turn out quite right? According to The New Yorker, particle physicists can sometimes relate. Also from The New Yorker . . . a little Heisenberg humor.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: MarkRAdams74@gmail.com
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 18, 2015
Spotlight on Bob Peterson: Who can explain cosmic ray performance studies with a nautical metaphor, come up with a quote about Stan Musial, and calm a nervous e-Lab user, all while tying a knot youi've never heard of and putting on an mp3 of maritime folk songs? Well, that's our colleague and pal Bob Peterson, of course, who will retire on January 4, 2016. Bob was trained in engineering at Michigan after serving on all manner of sailing vessels and has picked up skills from setting a compass to making a baseball glove (really!) to teaching physics and working with physics teachers. And he plays guitar and gets Linux jokes, too. Asked what he likes best about his job, Bob reports that it's "the gumption of our QN teachers. What they do in the classroom with students goes beyond measure." Ditto for what Bob has done with our cosmic ray program. Bob has not only been a "guide-on-the-side" to staff and QuarkNet teachers alike, but a real friend. Sail well in the coming years, Bob, and proceed as the way opens.
News from QuarkNet Central: A new International Masterclasses circular is online. That is convenient because it is just about time to sign up for masterclass orientations and updates.
Physics Experiment Roundup: New particle? Ghost? Systematic error? ATLAS and CMS see a possible small bump at high energy. How about a familiar particle with a new level of structure? CMS is checking.
Resources: Love neutrinos! Here's why! The blog Little Things, Big Ideas is going and growing. Read! Write!
Just for Fun: Fifty years ago this week, the world first got Christmas music from space. Speaking of space . . .
The latest installment of movie franchise beloved of nerds everywhere is opening this weekend. Here's what we know. On April 1, 2015, CERN announced the discovery of the Force. Then there is the physics of lightsabers. And we've found out who is the real bad guy and that the Empire is the good guys.
Finally, for 2015: The next Friday Flyer will be on January 8, 2016 as we all take a bit of time off; happy holidays to all in the QuarkNet family and to our kind friends and relations everywhere.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 11, 2015
Spotlight on the Florida State University Center: The FSU center dates back to QuarkNet's beginnings in 1999. Horst Wahl is the mentor, and there are about 20 active members, primarily from the Tallahassee area. The 2015 summer workshop was held July 6-10 and included a three-day cosmic ray workshop led by Robert Franckowiak. During the remaining two days, teachers worked through several potential classroom activities and heard talks from FSU physics faculty on topics ranging from quantum theory to astrophysics. Zondra Clayton and Karen Brown attended Data Camp at Fermilab in July.
News from QuarkNet Central: News this week consists of three reminders:
1) Registration for Masterclass 2016 is underway; check out the videoconference schedule and contact Ken Cecire to register and schedule a videoconference time.
2) The application process for CERN's Beamline for Schools Competition is open for 2016.
3) Centers who have not yet submitted your 2015 annual report, please do so ASAP. (Thanks!)
Physics Experiment Roundup: Who says shape doesn't matter? Physicists at Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) discover surprising results when comparing differently shaped ion collision events.
Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility achieves a major LBNF/DUNE milestone.
Resources: The 2015 Nobel Lectures in Physics were recorded on December 8, given by 2015 Nobel Prize winners Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald.
Physicist Don Lincoln's latest video enlists the help of a teenager to show just how cool particle physics is.
This symmetry article explores the less destructive proton-photon collisions in the LHC.
Just for Fun: Ever wondered how giraffes drink water? Check out this article from the latest issue of The Physics Teacher.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 4, 2015
Spotlight on the Virtual QuarkNet Center: The Virtual Center is a home for teachers who live far from a geographic QuarkNet center. They meet monthly by videoconference and gather for a few days each summer. They went to New Mexico in August 2015 to visit physicists at Los Alamos and take advantage of the location, visiting the VLA radio observatory and doing their own observations under the clear New Mexico night sky. "It was a great scientific program," says mentor Dan Karmgard. Wabash College physics professor Danielle McDermott, who does research at LANL, arranged much of the activity and joined the team of Virtual Center mentors. Far from a QuarkNet center? Interested? Contact: Dave Trapp or Mike Wadness.
News from QuarkNet Central: International Masterclasses has a new informational circular posted. If your QuarkNet center has not yet registered, please do so this month (preferably) or next; consult the videoconference schedule and contact Ken Cecire. Also, masterclass orientations are coming up in January. We will contact registered centers about scheduling these.
Physics Experiment Roundup: DUNE, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, is a true international collaboration. Read about it in CERN Courier.
Resources: A life in physics is full of questions. What is dark matter? Symmetry has an answer. What good is particle physics, anyway? Ask Don Lincoln. How can I instrument a frisbee? Find out how.
Just for Fun: You're at the Oscars. A hush descends upon the glitterati; it's the Academy Award for Best Short Physics Film. The envelope opens and the winner is, yet again, The Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge! OK, that never happened . . . but here is all you want to know about that famous oscillation. (And please send us a note if you still have a film loop projector.)
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - November 20, 2015
Spotlight on the University at Buffalo - SUNY QuarkNet Center: This center held its 9th annual QuarkNet summer workshop for teachers during August 2015, with six teachers in attendance. Professors Ia Iashvili and Avto Kharchilava organized the three-day workshop, beginning with a day of introductions and an overview of particle physics followed by a two-day LHC data workshop. Teachers worked through several Data Portfolio activities, analyzed CMS data, had a virtual tour of the CMS control center at CERN, and discussed classroom implementation. In addition to the summer workshop, the Buffalo center hosted local students last spring for the CMS masterclass.
News from QuarkNet Central: Interested in winning a trip to CERN with students where they would conduct a student-led particle physics experiment? If so, then consider applying for CERN's Beamline for Schools Competition. The application process is now open for the 2016 competition.
Next week, Friday Flyer will be on break for the Thanksgiving holiday; the next Friday Flyer will be on December 4, 2015.
Physics Experiment Roundup: Symmetry explores the idea of shrinking a particle accelerator down to the size of a shoebox within five years, as SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory receives a grant to work on this "accelerator on a chip" innovative technology.
Resources: As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's theory of general relativity this month, Fermilab's Don Lincoln provides a Space.com article, Einstein's Unfinished Dream: Marrying Relativity to the Quantum World. Embedded in this article are two of Dr. Lincoln's videos: one on quantum foam, and one on Grand Unified Theory. On a related note, check out The New Yorker's article on The Space Doctor's Big Idea.
Another greatly appreciated resource: money! Scholarship money, that is. High school seniors thinking about majoring in physics may want to consider Simpson College's Carver Bridge to STEM Success Program.
Just for Fun: As Thanksgiving approaches, it may be a good idea to brush up on your turkey physics. Also relevant this time of year is an article from the archives of symmetry magazine on the Panofsky Turkey Constant. Who says you can't geek out in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day?!
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - November 13, 2015
Spotlight on the University of Wisconsin-Madison QuarkNet Center: The small but very active QuarkNet center in Wisconsin is tightly bound with one really big detector and, potentially, many really small ones. In the first category is IceCube, the giant neutrino telescope that uses the ice mass at the South Pole as a Cerenkov detector. As part of the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC), the group has built and manages an IceCube masterclass that will have 12 institutes in four countries for 2016. On the small side, physicists, teachers, and students worked last year and this summer on turning cell phone cameras into cosmic ray detectors in a project called the Distributed Electronic Cosmic-Ray Observatory (DECO).
News from QuarkNet Central: International Masterclasses have had a Facebook page for several years now, with nearly 9,000 likes. The International Masterclasses Twitter account, @physicsIMC, was born a week ago over open laptops in CERN Restaurant 1. (What better place?) The idea is to build momentum so that students around the world will tweet their masterclass experiences with the hashtag #LHCIMC16. Visit both pages and follow International Masterclasses on Twitter!
Physics Experiment Roundup: How big are those tiny, ghostly neutrinos? Big enough that physicists studying them were awarded not only the Nobel Prize this year, but also the Breakthrough Prize. (Of course, neutrinos themselves don't break through—they just go through everything while practically never interacting.) Don't forget those big, bad protons either; did you see the LHC report on 60 Minutes?
Resources: Is particle physics relevant? Well, duh, it's just the rules of the road for all the matter and energy in the entire universe. But to double down, symmetry brings it home with The particle physics of you. And now that we've established it matters, read up on neutrinos, courtesy of AAPT and Albert Einstein's colossal mistake, courtesy of CNN and Don Lincoln. Back on the LHC front, a resource has just been established by some teachers, students, and physicists: the new blog Little Things, Big Ideas.
Just for Fun: It's photos! It's a (virtual, online) walk! Vote for the best physics photos in the Physics Photowalk.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - November 6, 2015
Spotlight on the Southern Methodist University (SMU) QuarkNet Center: The SMU QuarkNet group of teachers met this year during the week of August 3-7 and were treated to a wide variety of activities organized by Simon Dalley. University of Texas at Arlington Professor Joe Izen gave a talk on the LHC upgrade and SMU Professor Jingbo Ye gave a talk on cosmic rays; several teachers also shared topics relating to summer research and ideas for the classroom. Nate Unterman led the group through a three-day cosmic ray workshop during which teachers analyzed data from four detectors in a variety of configurations. In addition to the workshop, 2 teachers and 17 students performed summer research in SMU labs on a variety of topics.
News from QuarkNet Central: A reminder that registration for International Masterclasses 2016 is open. The Doodle polls are open through November 18; after that, contact Ken Cecire directly.
Physics Experiment Roundup: This week, the MicroBooNE collaboration announced that the newly built detector has seen its first accelerator-born neutrinos. Physicists at Brookhaven's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider recently announced that they have measured the force that makes antimatter stick together.
Resources: A nature of science article from Real Clear Science discusses how science is neither "settled" nor "skeptical." University of Illinois Professor Peter Abbamonte discusses an inside view of how science works in the video How Laws, Sausages, and Science are Made.
Just for Fun: Notice the new addition to Howard and Bernadette's apartment on TV's The Big Bang Theory?
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - October 30, 2015
Spotlight on the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez QuarkNet Center: The UPRM crew generally meets during the academic year as its mentors are often at Fermilab in the summer. UPRM QuarkNet teachers leave their mark in the summer anyhow, with several having participated in TRAC and Data Camp at Fermilab and at HST at CERN. A few weeks ago, they had one of their weekend workshops, this time focused on cosmic ray detectors. The highlight was an experiment with two detectors to see if the muon rate changed on different floors of the Physics building. Learn more about the workshop in English or Spanish.
News from QuarkNet Central: Reminders abound . . .
Registration for International Masterclasses 2016 is in full swing. The Doodle polls are open until November 18; after that, contact Ken Cecire directly. Masterclass leaders, the circular with useful links is online in PDF form.
Please remember to credit where credit is due to our program and its funders when presenting work relating to QuarkNet by simply placing the appropriate logos on your presentation.
International Cosmic Day (November 5) is upon us. If you have a detector and think you can join in, please sign up now.
Mentors: Have you submitted your QuarkNet center annual report yet? If not, it is sort of overdue. Fortunately, it is easy to do. We even have a "how-to" article about it.
If there's something strange in the e-Lab neighborhood, who you gonna call? If your detector's count don't look good, who you gonna call? The QuarkNet e-Lab Help Desk, of course! It's at the life ring in the top right of any QuarkNet e-Lab, just left of the pencil icon. If you use the Help Desk, send Bob a separate e-mail to let him know how it might be improved.
Physics Experiment Roundup: U.S. particle physics is already going strong on the neutrino front. Now nuclear physics is stepping up to the matter-antimatter frontier. At the LHC, planning is underway to get more collisions per second, giving more data, through a luminosity upgrade.
Resources: Here is a campfire story for physics students: superclusters don't exist. (The article comes with a cool video, of, sort, of nothing, in that it is a numerical simulation.) Another mysterious idea is supersymmetry, which particle physicist Scarlet Norberg explains with the help of board games.
Just for Fun: Thinking about Halloween? Make a physics jack-o'-lantern! Not thinking about Halloween because you only love your collider? Take the Particle Physics Personality Quiz!
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - October 23, 2015
Spotlight on the Syracuse QuarkNet Center: This past summer, Syracuse QuarkNet teachers participated in a four-day workshop organized by Steve Blusk and Mitch Soderberg. The first two days consisted of a CMS data workshop during which teachers did several activities from the data portfolio, analyzed CMS events and discussed classroom implementation. During the final two days of the workshop, teachers explored the use of cosmic ray detectors by performing muon speed, lifetime and shower studies.
News from QuarkNet Central: Registration for International Masterclasses 2016 is now open. Teachers, coordinate with your mentor to determine which dates and times work best for your center. Mentors, register by November 18 via the links Ken e-mailed to you to be included on the preliminary videoconference schedule. After November 18, centers may still sign up but will need to contact Ken or Uta directly.
And now a message about giving credit where credit is due. Please remember to acknowledge QuarkNet, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy when presenting work relating to QuarkNet; this may be done by simply placing the appropriate logos on your presentation. Thank you!
A reminder that International Cosmic Day (November 5) is quickly approaching; join students, teachers and scientists from around the world to make measurements and learn about cosmic rays!
Physics Experiment Roundup: What happens when you kidnap a muon? Two experiments, AlCap and the upcoming Mu2e, aim to find out what happens when muons are shot at aluminum foil, trapping the muon.
Resources: If the universe is everything, how can there be a multiverse (multiple universes)? Fermilab's Don Lincoln discusses some of the possibilities in this video.
Just for Fun: What if? explores what would happen if the earth were made entirely of protons and the moon entirely of electrons.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu