Physics News from the AIP No 2, Term 1 2005 s7
VicPhysics News: Term 3, No 2 2016
Dear ,
Table of Contents
1. 'Girls in Physics' Events in August - An Update
2. Other speaking engagements by the AIP Women in Physics Lecturer for 2016
5. Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public
6. Forthcoming events for Teachers
7. Physics News from the Web
The next meeting of the Vicphysics Teachers' Network will be at 5pm on Tuesday, 9th August at the University of Melbourne. All teachers are welcome to attend this or any other meeting. If you would like to attend, please contact Vicphysics at
Regards,
Frances Sidari, Jane Coyle, Barbara McKinnon and Dan O'Keeffe.
The executive of the VicPhysics Teachers' Network
1. 'Girls in Physics' Events in August - An Update
a) Girls in Physics Breakfast, Thursday 25th August, Hawthorn Education Centre
There has been a strong interest in this event. The 3D Astro Tour held after the Breakfast is now fully booked, and the remaining spaces for the Breakfast itself are likely to be filled this week.
The event is a Science breakfast for girls in Years 10 to 12 at which they will hear an international speaker, Dr Catalina Curceanu, from Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, which is part of Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics. Dr Curceanu is the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) 2016 Women in Physics Lecturer. This Science breakfast is part of her speaking tour across Australia. Swinburne University's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing and Vicphysics Teachers' Network are sponsoring this event.
Dr Curceanu will speak briefly about the opportunities and challenges of a career in Particle Physics, both as a scientist and as a woman.
Students will be seated in pairs at tables with students from other schools. At each table there will be one or two young women either in the early stages of a science or engineering career or still studying at university. Over breakfast, the students can query them about their life and work. There will also be one or two teachers at each table.
Cost: $15 per student. First teacher is free, extra teachers at $15 each.
Numbers: There is a limit of a maximum of 6 students per school.
To book, go to Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/LRTH and enter the names of all attending aas well as the school
Note: Payment needs to be made at the time of booking, so a school credit card or personal credit card will be required. School Order numbers are not accepted. There is a small Trybooking surcharge.
Seating: When entering student details, please note that students will be paired at tables in the order they are entered, that is 1st and 2nd together, 3rd and 4th together, etc.
Promotional material: A flyer to display in the school and a letter to the Head of Science can be downloaded from http://www.vicphysics.org/girls.html.
Venue: Hawthorn Arts Centre, 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 . There is parking at the rear. The theatre for the 3D Astro Tour is just across the road in the university campus.
More information is available at http://www.vicphysics.org/girls.html.
2. Other speaking engagements by the AIP Women in Physics Lecturer for 2016
a) Where are the “others”? A glimpse into the Fermi paradox, Tuesday, 23rd August, Melbourne Girls' College.
b) From the Big Bang to Black Holes. Quo Vadis the Universe?, 9:030am, Wednesday, 24th August, Camberwell Grammar School.
c) Schrodinger's Cat and Quantum Technologies, 12:30pm, Wednesday, 24th August, MacRobertson Girls' High School;30
d) Where are the “others”? A glimpse into the Fermi paradox, 12:30pm, Thursday, 25th August, Mt Helen Campus, Federation University, Ballarat
e) Riding on a Star, AIP Vic Branch Public Lecture 6pm, Thursday, 25th August, La Trobe University
Her topics are:
Where are the “others”? A glimpse into the Fermi paradox,
a) 1:30pm, Tuesday, 23rd August, Melbourne Girls' College and
d) 12:30pm, Thursday, 25th August, Mt Helen Campus, Federation University, Ballarat
Abstract: Where are the “others”? Are there other beings in the Universe , do extraterrestrial civilisations exist? Enrico Fermi said that if they exist, they ought to be here already. Is it so? The search for life in the Universe is a very active field of study. We shall explore the fascinating Drake equation, which calculates the number of advanced civilizations in our galaxy and will discuss the way in which the search for life in our Solar system and outside it is performed. The discovery of more and more planets, some of them similar to our own, gives to some of us the hope, to others the fear, that the “others” might indeed exist.
If you wish to attend the first talk, please contact Sandor Kazi at the school at to see if there is space available.
If you wish to attend the talk at Ballarat, please contact Stephanie Davison, the School and Community Engagement Coordinator at the campus at or Ph: 5327 9373. There is also a Hartung Youth Lecture on Kitchen Chemistry earlier that day, starting at 10:30am. Both lectures will be in the Geoffrey Blainey Auditorium. There are also campus tours available and opportunities for lunch. Contact Stephanie for full details.
b) From the Big Bang to Black Holes. Quo Vadis the Universe?, 9:00am, Wednesday, 24th August, Camberwell Girls' Grammar School.
Abstract: Einstein thought the Universe is static, has no beginning and no end. To make it static he introduced “by hand” in his famous general relativity equation the cosmological constant. But soon after, Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding! We have now a theory, the Big Bang theory, which tells us the Universe as we know it was born about 13.7 billion years ago and has evolved ever since. We shall explore the main events in the Universe’s history, going from the first instants, when all was just a dense quark-gluon soup, to the formation of the first stars, of our Solar System, and of the mysterious black holes. The Universe is not only expanding, but it does so in an accelerated way – due to the so-called mysterious dark energy, which made us reconsider Einstein’s cosmological constant. How will the Universe evolve? Various scenarios will be discussed, together with the efforts to understand the origin of dark energy.
If you wish to attend this talk, please contact Giselle Lobo at the school at to see if there is space available.
c) Schrodinger's Cat and Quantum Technologies, 12:30pm, Wednesday, 24th August, MacRobertson Girls' High School
Abstract: Quantum Mechanics (QM) is probably the best theory we ever had – with implications and applications everywhere around us: from the explanation of atomic structure to silicon based technologies. We would be tempted to believe that QM has no mysteries for us and that we know everything. It is not like this! In spite of its tantalizing success, QM still spurs a lively debate about its interpretation: what does QM really mean about Nature? The famous Schrodinger cat paradox is one of the puzzles of QM. We shall explore it and present possible ways out: a new alternative theory (collapse models), the existence of many worlds and the Bohmian mechanics. We shall also see what types of experiments are done to test QM. The peculiar features of QM (such as entanglement) offer extremely interesting perspectives for future technologies: the so-called quantum technologies. We shall discuss some of them, from quantum computing and cryptography to teleportation. Today’s dreams might become tomorrow’s realities.
If you wish to attend this talk, please contact Diana Sandulache at the school at to see if there is space available.
e) Riding on a star , AIP Vic Branch Public Lecture, 6pm, Thursday, 25th August, La Trobe University
Abstract: 8 light minutes away there is the Sun, the star we know best! We are travelling through the Universe together with the Sun and at night we can admire many other stars in the sky. But how does a star work? Why is it shining? We shall perform an imaginary journey through the Universe riding on a star: we will explore the nuclear reactions keeping it alive, and will see what happens when a star dies. It can become an impressive supernova and give birth to a neutron star or to a Black Hole. How will our Sun end? As a curiosity, we shall discuss the neutrinos produced in the Sun and how they are being studied in underground laboratories as well as at the South Pole to better understand this chameleon particle.
The lecture theatre is yet to be confirmed. Refreshments will be available prior to the lecture.
5. Forthcoming events for Students and General Public
6. Forthcoming events for Teachers
b) July Lectures in Physics: Celebrating 100 years of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, 1/7 - 29/7, Melbourne University
The lectures are free, but need to be booked, see details at the bottom of the entry.
v) Friday 29 July 6:30–7:30pm Einstein’s Gravity: Black Holes, Dark Matter and Gravitational Lensing
The General Theory of Relativity describes how mass distorts how we observe space and time. Two spectacular examples of this are provided through gravitational lensing and the predictions of black holes.
Gravitational lenses provide our strongest evidence for Dark Matter in the Universe. The gravity waves announced in 2016 came from a violent merger between two black holes around one billion years ago. The signal provides compelling evidence for the existence of black holes with masses of 10s to 100s of times the mass of the sun. Even larger, Super-Massive Black-Holes, with masses as high as 10 billion times the Sun seem to be ubiquitous in the centres of galaxies and to have played a key role in shaping our Universe.
Professor Stuart Wyithe from the School of Physics presents some of the puzzling relationships between gravity, black holes, galaxy formation and the spectacular warping of images from distant objects.
Location: Basement Theatre B117, Melbourne School of Design, Parkville campus.
Please note that this year's lectures will be held in the Melbourne School of Design Basement Theatre B117, with the exception of the July 22nd lecture, which will be held in the Lyle Theatre in the Redmond Barry building.
To book and more details: http://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/s/1182/match/index.aspx?sid=1182&pgid=8972&gid=1&cid=12990&ecid=12990&post_id=0
ASELL Schools (Advancing Science and Engineering through Laboratory Learning)
invites you to a
Workshop on Laboratory Learning
at
Maribyrnong College
River St, Maribyrnong VIC 3032
Thursday, 1 September, 2016
9:00 am– 3:00 pm
This workshop is FREE
however, participants are requested to commit to sharing their
learning from the workshop with colleagues within their school.
The program includes hands-on sessions exploring exemplary practical activities targeted at the 7 – 10 science curriculum, as well as sessions investigating ideas for
optimising science learning in the laboratory.
Sessions will include student participants and you may
invite a student from your school to attend.
Morning tea and lunch provided together with comprehensive notes.
To register please complete the registration form by clicking HERE.
If the link fails cut and paste this URL into your browser
http://goo.gl/forms/OQozlSyqbP4uOAeS2
ASELL Schools practical activities include integration of the Science Inquiry Skills,
Science as a Human Endeavor and Science Understanding strands of the
Australian Curriculum, and link to contemporary science.
ASELL Schools (Advancing Science and Engineering through Laboratory Learning) is a
three-year STEM project funded by the Federal Government.
For further information contact Ian Bentley
7. Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletins of the Institute of Physics (UK) and the American Institute of Physics.
Each item below includes the introductory paragraphs and a web link to the rest of the article.
Chiral molecules spotted in interstellar cloud
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2016/jun/14/chiral-molecules-spotted-in-interstellar-cloud
Scientists could be one step closer to understanding how life emerged on Earth, now that chiral molecules have been detected for the first time outside of the solar system. Chiral molecules, which play crucial roles in the chemistry of life, exist in two different structures that are mirror images of each other. Although the type of molecule detected (propylene oxide) is not a biological one, its discovery suggests that biologically relevant molecules could exist outside of the solar system. As well as suggesting that the precursors for life could exist elsewhere in the universe, the discovery could also help us to understand how chiral molecules – and life itself – emerged on Earth.
Just like human hands – which are mirror images of each other, but not identical – chiral molecules are referred to in terms of their right- and left-handedness. Chirality is an important property of life and most biological processes are "homochiral" – they are highly selective in terms of the handedness of the molecules involved. For example, most amino acids found in living organisms are left-handed, whereas most sugars produced by nature are right-handed.
Lasers transform infrared into broadband white light
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2016/jun/13/lasers-transform-infrared-into-broadband-white-light
A new way to make broadband white light using a cheap, portable infrared diode laser has been developed by researchers in Germany. The technology uses nonlinear effects in a specially designed, easily produced, amorphous material to convert the infrared radiation into broadband visible light. The emitted light is also exceedingly directional, making it useful for high-spatial-resolution devices such as microscopes. It could also have applications in everything from lighting displays to projection systems.
Gravity and Levity: A blog about the big ideas in physics, plus a few other thing
This is a blog, https://gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/ , by Dr Brian Skinner, who is doing a post doc at MIT.
Recent blog discussion titles include:
· How strong would a magnetic field have to be to kill you?
· How big is an electron?