Friday Flyer/News
Submitted by kcecire
on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 12:53
Friday Flyer - May 8, 2015
Spotlight on Teaching and Learning Fellows: Been to Data Camp or one of its progenitors? If so, you've worked with the Teaching and Learning fellows, who manage and facilitate this central QuarkNet professional development workshop. Done a QuarkNet activity? It was vetted for educational best practices by, among others, those same Teaching and Learning fellows. This group includes Jodi Hansen (Minnesota center), Gerry Gagnon (Boston center), Adam LaMee (Florida State center), and Jeremy Smith (Johns Hopkins center) and was headed up by Tom Jordan until his tragic passing. Jeremy has agreed to fill in by taking the lead for Data Camp 2015 and for vetting new activities. Jeremy and the fellows are looking forward to Data Camp. He says, "The T&L fellows are very excited about Data Camp this summer, are working hard to make sure it's an enjoyable experience, and are looking forward to working with this year's group of teachers!" We are all looking forward to more great work from our Teaching and Learning fellows.
News from QuarkNet Central: Well, really from a few levels above—the U.S. and CERN have recently upgraded their relationship. The effect for the particle physics community, including those of us on the "education frontier," can only be a good one.
Physics Experiment Roundup: LHC is back in the saddle with low-energy collisions. Here is an article about a rather different Fermilab experiment, of which Fermilab QuarkNet mentor Chris Stoughton is a member.
Resources: Short, engaging LHC Season 2 videos
Just for Fun: Do you know all about antimatter? Here are 10 things you may not know.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - May 1, 2015
Spotlight on the LIGO e--Lab: Are you looking for a cool way for beginning physics students to use v = d/t? Perhaps you have an earth science class that might benefit from authentic seismic data? Then the LIGO e-Lab is a place you might want to look. LIGO is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory; they have not claimed observation of gravitational waves yet but they have recorded plenty of background, which for this experiment is seismic activity. And yes, we have an e-Lab for that, with the same general structure and philosophy as the Cosmic Ray and CMS e-Labs that you know well. To get advice and support on using this great resource, contact Dale Ingram.
News from QuarkNet Central: The QuarkNet calendar shows 15 different summer workshops—but we bet there are more. If you have not yet sent in the dates for your workshop, please e-mail them to Bob and Ken. This information is important for coverage; we'd like a QuarkNet staff member or fellow to visit as many of the workshops as possible. It is one of the important ways we all stay connected.
Physics Experiment Roundup: The single-electron cyclotron at Project 8 is used to study neutrino mass from beta decay. Meanwhile, the search for dark matter WIMPs goes DEAP at Sudbury.
Resources: Just where on the web is that famous and useful "CMS slice" web page? The CMS outreach folks at CERN point to the CMS animation on our own i2u2 server as the easiest to reach and use. Let's also not forget the equally cool ATLAS animation.
Just for Fun: You don't have to speak Polish to enjoy this mostly LEGO LHC video.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - April 24, 2015
Spotlight on the Top Quark: It has been 20 years now since the top quark was discovered at Fermilab. You can recreate some of the excitement of 1995 with a QuarkNet activity that enables your students to use the physics you teach anyway, like conservation laws and vector addition, along with E = mc2 to calculate the mass of the top quark from DZero events. You can find Calculate the Top Quark Mass in the QuarkNet Data Portfolio. It should take a class period or so and, at this time of year, can provide excellent review along with some still-cutting-edge physics.
News from QuarkNet Central: Still thinking about what to do in your summer workshop? QuarkNet offers ready-to-roll workshops and facilitators for them: the Cosmic Ray e-Lab and Detector Workshop, the CMS e-Lab Workshop, and Data Workshops in several flavors. Please contact Bob Peterson for the cosmic workshop and Ken Cecire about the latter two.
In way cool news, take a look at what Notre Dame lead teacher (and former staff member) Pat Mooney and Notre Dame physicist Adam Martin were doing in Chile earlier this year with masterclasses and more.
Physics Experiment Roundup: The construction of the Mu2e Experiment, which will look for theorized rare direct conversions of muons to electrons (no neutrinos! beyond the Standard Model!), broke ground at Fermilab last weekend. See the groundbreaking video here. On the other side of the world, it turns out the LHC is not the only major accelerator that is restarting: so is J-PARC, the 50-GeV electron accelerator in Japan. Here is an article all about it.
Resources: Video on Complex Dark Matter from Don Lincoln
Just for Fun: If you don't trust physicists . . . a cute YouTube video from NPR
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - April 17, 2015
Spotlight on Dan Karmgard:
You may know Dan - or you may not. Dan Karmgard is a QuarkNet PI who is not always seen in the national QuarkNet collaboration but fills some important roles. After service in the Air Force, Dan got a B.S. in Physics from UCLA and an Ph.D. from Florida State. As a graduate student, Dan worked with Randy Ruchti, one of the original QuarkNet PIs, on the DZero experiment at Fermilab. Upon graduation, he continued work on DZero and, later, CMS as a Notre Dame physicist. When Randy went for his first stint at NSF, Dan stepped in as QuarkNet PI. Dan is a vital mentor for the Notre Dame QuarkNet center, leading its extensive student and teacher research program each summer as well as the weekly teacher meetings during the school year. He is also a mentor for the Virtual Center, helping to guide their efforts and, of course, keep them updated on CMS. All the while Dan gives the staff advice on understanding particle physics and invents interesting software and apparatus for QuarkNet.
Physics Experiment Roundup: LHC Restart
Resources: Our Flat Universe from Symmetry
Just for Fun: The Four Forces from xkcd
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - April 10, 2015
Spotlight on what to do now that masterclasses are over: International Masterclasses 2015 have just about concluded. In QuarkNet, 19 centers held 28 separate masterclasses this March. That's a lot of students who just got excited about particle physics . . . so what's next? How can you keep them on beam with exciting activities? Well, there are opportunities for varying levels and interests from the Rock the LHC video competition to keep data probing with the CMS e-Lab. You can find a whole range of ideas and resources in the Masterclass Library Follow-on page.
(What? Your center did not have a masterclass? E-mail us! Maybe you can start the ball rolling with a Data Workshop this summer.)
Physics Experiment Roundup: NOvA live event display - refreshes every 15 seconds and shows near and far detectors
Resources: The Truth About Black Holes, the Large Hadron Collider, and Finding Parallel Universes, by Don Lincoln in the Huffington Post
Just for Fun: Water balloon physics - neat little video from SciencePorn
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - March 27, 2015
Spotlight on Cloud Chambers: For over 12 years QuarkNet has offered classroom cosmic ray detectors to teachers. These detectors based on scintillator/PMT counters and GPS-timed DAQs have enabled precise time cosmic ray data collection, but “how do I know the detector is measuring something real?” says the skeptical student. Even a twofold coincidence demo does not convince some. “Seeing is believing,” said the Polar Express hobo. And the QuarkNet cloud chamber provides a ready answer to “seeing is believing" actual particle tracks. This large footprint chamber was designed to nest between counters of our detector. It is cheap to build ($40-ish) and with a 10” x 10” viewing area really captivates students as they watch the many tracks suddenly appear like jet contrails. The images are so compelling it will convince the most skeptical student or teacher. “Yes, yes, I want to build one. Where do I find the instructions?” says the eager teacher. Right here!
And How to reveal subatomic particles at home from NOVA
Physics Experiment Roundup: Surprising gamma ray signal in satellite galaxy could come from WIMPs. (from arstechnica)
Resources: A Feather and a Bowling Ball Dropped Together Inside the World's Largest Vacuum Chamber
Just for Fun: About the Cat
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - March 20, 2015
News from QuarkNet Central: QuarkNet is preparing workshops that introduce the methodologies of "teaching with data" to local centers. We call these Data Workshops. We have created several classroom-ready activities that expose students to data analysis and help them to develop the skills necessary to draw conclusions based on evidence. Many of the activities use data from the LHC. Teachers explore these activities in the workshop and have ample opportunity to discuss how they might use the activities in their classrooms. We provide a workshop facilitator prepared to lead your local teachers. Please let Ken and Tom know if you are interested. (Draft, sample agenda)
Physics Experiment Roundup: Two references to muons as probes to find uranium debris in Fukushima reactors: Muons probe Fukushima's ruins from Science, March 6, 2015 and Particle physics to aid nuclear cleanup from Symmetry, August 2014
Resources: Not just for smart dead guys - A high-school physics teacher and his students recreate Henry Cavendish's famous gravity experiment. From Phyiscs Today
Just for Fun: Cute animation about Einstein's most famous equation from Symmetry. Sorry we missed his birthday on the 14th.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - March 13, 2015
Spotlight on Tom McCauley:
You are at your QuarkNet center for a CMS masterclass. As the students busily pour through electrons and muons, W's, Z's, and more, perhaps you wonder who prepared such a rich dataset for them to use. The answer is Tom McCauley, our QuarkNet colleague at CERN. Tom, a particle physicist with his Ph.D. from Northeastern University, went from being a researcher and software developer at Fermilab to working at CERN for both CMS and QuarkNet. A big focus for Tom has been event displays; he is currently working on a new, more powerful version of the iSpy-online event display that we use for masterclasses and the CMS e-Lab. Two other of Tom's important projects are CMS Open Data and improvements to the CMS e-Lab. Tom lives in Geneva and enjoys cycling, hiking, software (of course!), and reading. Contact Tom for questions about CMS, ideas about software to engage people in LHC data and computing, and, of course, to report bugs.
News from QuarkNet Central: Virtual atom smasher is an educational activity that has been developed by Ioannis Charalampidis, Peter Skands, and Francois Grey. The team is now looking for high-school students who have been in masterclasses and would enjoy being alpha testers of the game. Encouraging your students would be appreciated! The project can be introduced to students by using a one-slide summary or a short presentation. Please guide your students to the signup page: They can register there and be contacted by the team as soon as the game is ready for testing.
Resources: LHC Basics from Don Lincoln
Just for Fun: Higgs Cartoon from xkcd webcomic
This Saturday, 3-14-15, 9:26:53 will be Pi Time. Or is it at 9:26:54?
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer March 6, 2015
Spotlight on Wayne State University: Wayne State University has a small but thriving QuarkNet center located in the heart of Detroit. Engagement with the community is an important aspect of their programs. Each summer, mentors Rob Harr and Gil Paz bring 12 students to campus for research with QuarkNet teachers using cosmic ray detectors. During the academic year, the mentors and teachers work with local physics teachers in the Detroit Metro Area Physics Teachers group. In the past year, the focus has been on the CMS e-Lab.
Physics Experiment Roundup: The Majorano Mysteries, from SURF
Resources:
Scientists may have solved mystery of matter's origin, from the Washington Post
LHC Restart: 'We want to break physics', from BBC News - Science and Environment
Just for Fun: Godzilla Hotel opening in Tokyo. Why do we care? 'Cause he has particle beam breath! See The Biology of Godzilla from the movie website.
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov
Friday Flyer - February 27, 2015
Spotlight on International Muon Week: IMW has passed, but the work goes on. Last week, 42 participant schools fired up their cosmic ray detectors to capture a weeklong snapshot of cosmic ray data bathing the planet. The schools were far-flung covering the corners of the globe. Going into the week, teams from places like Singapore, Ecuador, India, South Africa, Tbilisi, Germany, and Japan plus 26 schools from the U.S. prepped their hardware so as not to miss a scrap of data. Want to see the global distribution? Go to the IMW Google Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=z0n3UY-gM9gs.k37Vdyf8R2.
Student teams experienced the trials of real-world, large-scale data collecting, hoping all things work out. Sometimes hardware failures trip up the process, but things are not a total loss. QuarkNet’s goal is student exposure to the real-data experience. Regardless of success or failure, the learning is always worth the effort. After the teams captured their data, the next steps are ongoing. Using their data, students analyze the cosmic ray flux and upload the flux plots to be posted on the Google Map. Click on the map pins to find the plots. Not all are there yet as many are still understanding their data and building the plots. If your school is an IMW participant, please try to complete your upload and share your flux plot. Others anxiously await your results; submit it to: http://rodshome.com/CosmicMap/SubmitPLOT/contactform.php.
But, it doesn’t end there. Jeff Rodriguez and Kevin Martz, who organized this effort, have matched up schools for long-distance conversations about the data and the results. Over the next several weeks, students might ask each other:
So, to the IMW teams, please prepare a one-page pdf report of your results. Include the names of the sites, plot pictures, and any discussion or conclusions from your collaboration. Contact your collaboration partner. If you do not have time for collaboration, please notify your partner and submit a quick report of your findings on your own. If you need a collaboration partner, send e-mail to Kevin Martz, and he’ll try to find one. Submit pdf form: http://rodshome.com/CosmicMap/SubmitPDF/contactform.php.
If you missed this fourth annual IMW, stay tuned. In the fall, IMW shares the effort with a partner at DESY Zeuthen in Germany for a one-day cosmic ray data capture. The two efforts are bookends on the school year and many of the same teams participate.
News from QuarkNet Central: Calling in idle detectors for maintenance. Not planning to use your cosmic ray detector anymore? Contact Dave Hoppert for directions to send it back to Fermilab. We pay the shipping!
News from the Elbe: final edition
Resources: 10 unusual detector materials from Symmetry
QuarkNet Staff Teachers:
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Tom Jordan: jordant@fnal.gov
Bob Peterson: rspete@fnal.gov