Poynor Presents Salt Water Research at Campus Lecture
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1876 The 2018 Campus Meadville, Pennsylvania Volume 143, Issue 11 – FRIDAY, November 16, 2018 – www.alleghenycampus.com Poynor presents salt water research at campus lecture By STEVEN HEINE water meets a hydrophobic “So this is something that’s not is created as the hydrogen atoms in News Editor surface” in the Henderson just an everyday experience, it’s in the water molecule are attracted to [email protected] Campus Center at 7 p.m. on every aspect of life,” Poynor said. the oxygen atoms, creating a hy- Wednesday, Nov. 7. Poynor explained the technical drogen bonding network. As such Amidst the talk of civic Opening her talk with definition of a hydrophobic surface connections cannot form with the duty that filled Allegheny examples of common hy- depends on the contact angle of the hydrophobic surface, the network I like to say, you know, you College’s campus during drophobic surfaces, Poyner water droplet. This angle is measured remains confined to the sphere. wax your car, it rains, and the the midterm elections, the described various surfaces. from the bottom of the water drop- Poynor’s work looks at what hap- POYNOR water balls up. You wax your college expanded its scien- One of the most recognizable let to its outside edge. If the angle is pens when the hydrophobic surface car and throw it into Lake tific knowledge in another surfaces is a waxy coating on greater than 90 degrees, the surface is forced into contact with water. installment of Allegheny’s Faculty grass that contributes to dew formation. is defined as hydrophobic. “I like to say, you know, you wax Erie — Lake Erie is not going Lecture series. Water does not stick to the coating, but “So anything where the water re- your car, it rains, and the water balls to ball up.” Allegheny’s community was in- instead forms a spherical droplet on the ally wants to ball up, is a hydropho- up,” Poynor said. “You wax your car vited to Assistant Professor of Phys- grass. Stain resistant clothing and car bic surface,” Poynor said. and throw it into Lake Erie — Lake —ADELE POYNOR, ics Adele Poyner’s lecture “How salty wax both work on this principle. At the molecular level, the sphere Erie is not going to ball up.” Assistant professor of physics Gearan talks journalism, politics, propaganda under Trump presidency By MARLEY PARISH feel like a “pitch battle,” Editor-in-Chief Gearan admitted her job [email protected] occasionally feels like she is at war. Plopping down next to Gearan’s approach to rapper Kanye West, re- covering politics is simple: tired football player Jim to explain competing poli- Brown and President cy and ideas to give readers Donald Trump in the GEARAN something to understand Oval Office, Anne Gear- their political choices by. an, ’85, was not at war; she was at “That hasn’t changed under work. Donald Trump, although many A White House correspondent other things have,” Gearan said. for The Washington Post, Gearan One of the most prominent was welcomed home to her alma changes Gearan thinks has shaped mater after being gone for “too her profession is the advent of the many years” to share stories about term she “absolutely loathes:” fake her work as a foreign affairs report- news. er — a job that at times, Gearan “This is a term I think is not said, can feel like war. only dangerous and insidious … Gearan shared her take on jour- but it’s also internally inconsistent, ENHANCING nalism, politics and propaganda — a and my inner copy editor is trig- word she does not use lightly — in a gered every time I hear it,” Gearan 7 p.m. lecture in the Tillotson Room said. “There is no such thing as fake of the Patricia Bush Tippie Alumni news. There is certainly inaccurate Center on Thursday, Nov. 8. reporting, and there is also opinion In his opening remarks, Al- or analytical journalism with which legheny College President James one might disagree, but those are Mullen recognized Gearan’s work, MOVEMENT not fake. There is propaganda and the nobility of journalism and the falsehood which are fake, but those importance of journalists’ role in are not news.” society, democracy and history. “Fake” and “news” cannot exist Mullen opened the evening with together, Gearan said, explaining a quote by Henry Luce: “I became a that leaders, like Trump, use the journalist to come as close as possi- term “fake news” to help explain ble to the heart of the world.” stories they find biased. While they “I think now more than ever are entitled to their opinion, Gear- we need to remember what that an said, the term is most often used means. We need Anne Gearan and to describe articles that fact-check those like her. We need her integ- the president. rity. We need her pursuit of truth. According to Gearan, Trump We need her conviction that facts used the terms “fake news” and, matter, and quite frankly, we need in one instance, “phony news” 45 her courage and the courage of her times in the two weeks leading up colleagues — as they bring us clos- to the Nov. 6 midterm elections. er to the heart of the world.” The morning after the elections Taking a break from her busy at 2:52 a.m., Trump tweeted, “To schedule after the midterm elec- any of the pundits or talking heads tions, Gearan said she was glad to that do not give us proper credit return to Allegheny College — the for this great Midterm Election, place where she learned how to ask just remember two words - FAKE the right questions, write with clar- NEWS!” ity, color and humor. Gearan recounted the events of Photos by EMILY RICE/THE CAMPUS Most importantly, Gearan said, a Nov. 5 Trump rally in Cape Gi- Top: Tori Valachovic, ’20, choreographed the piece, “Die Trying.” Above: Orchesis Allegheny taught her how to listen. rardeau, Missouri, when Fox News President, Kalena Grimes, ’19, choreographed the contemporary piece “Chaos.” Each “We’re not at war; we’re at work,” Host Sean Hannity joined Trump of these performances were part of the Orchesis Dance Company’s annual perfor- Gearan said, quoting her “quot- on stage and pointed to the report- mance. The 2018 shows took place in Shafer Auditorium Nov. 8, 9 and 10. able” boss Marty Baron, editor of ers in the back of the room and the Post. “I try to remember that called them “fake news.” every day.” See FEATURES page 7 In a profession where days can See GEARAN page 2 IN THIS WEEK’S CAMPUS ASG SWEARS IN PLEASURABLE & STRENGTH & PRIDE FERRANTE PROVOKING Allegheny College swim and dive team Ford, Dukes and Thompson attend Playshop Theatre presents a production demonstrates strength against Division ASG’S weekly general assembly meeting. to examine sexuality, hysteria and pleasure. II competition. Page 3 Page 6 Page 8 H 35° L 31° H 37° L 27° H 36° L 29° FRIDAY Rain: 20% SATURDAY Rain: 40% SUNDAY Rain: 40% Sunset: 4:59 p.m. Sunrise: 7:11 a.m. Sunset: 4:58 p.m. Sunrise: 7:13 a.m. Sunset: 4:58 p.m. 2 November 16, 2018 The Campus [News] AlleghenyCampus.com POYNOR from page 1 Poynor said other studies studying this topic ever since “I was talking to some to pieces,” Poynor said. previously done by scientists she worked on it for her biologists about this, and During a question-and-an- have hypothesized the water graduate school thesis. The they’re like ‘you know, pretty swer session after her formal would flow around surfaces as presentation discussed her much nothing inside the body presentation, Poynor dis- small as the water itself. The use of two methods: surface Right now, we just need to focus on finding some is actually in water’,” Poynor cussed how her work held re- reaction is a bit different when plasmon resonance and x-ray kind of combination of surface and salt water that said. “And I’m like, ‘what, 70 al-world applications, such as the surface is much larger reflectivity. X-ray reflectiv- doesn’t fall all to pieces.” percent of my body is made making it easier for water to than the drop itself, though. ity is far more expensive and —Adele Poynor up of water.’ And they’re like, flow through pipes more ef- “In this case, the whole wa- technical than surface plas- Assistant professor of physics, ‘it’s not just water.’” ficiently. Joanne Hartung, an ter molecule is going to pull mon resonance and can only Allegheny College For instance, the salt in the attendee of the talk found this away,” Poynor said. “But not be done in a few labs in the water would change the way part interesting. an amount that you can actu- world. Poynor did her work surement of the layer of space “It’s really nice because the water sticks to itself. Thus, “Just in general, with ally see, but just a really small at the Argonne National Lab- between the droplet and the you can mix two different Poynor’s results, while accu- movement of fluids either amount.” oratory in Lemont, Illinois. At surface. kinds of organothiols, mix rate for laboratory conditions, through a pipe or through Specifically, the area be- Allegheny her work involves “So we want something them together, and get a dif- would be inconsistent with your body, arteries, et cetera,” tween the water droplet and plasmon resonance. that can be small, that can be ferent range of contact an- real world situations.