Midterm Cheat Sheet

How are your midterms going?

I'm sure that you are not very excited that as we approach the middle of the semester, midterm is a word we, as college students, learn to despise.

Thus, I would like to offer a bit of a reprieve for you during this time of stress.

Here is a "cheat sheet" to hopefully make you successful.

1. Breath.

2. Sleep.

3. Ask questions.

4. GO in and see your professors to make sure that not only do you have a good grasp on the material, but that they KNOW who you are.

5. Schedule study groups.

6. Eat.

7. Stay sane and don't take out your frustrations on unexpecting/undeserving suspects.

Do you have any advice that helps you to be less stressed during midterms?

Particles Moving Faster Than Light – Pillars of Physics Soon to Fall?

With the recent discovery that one subatomic particle moves faster than light, our century-old understanding about the pillars of physics will soon be falling. The latest discovery done by a team of experimental physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, negates Albert Einstein's theory of relativity that clearly certifies light as the fastest mover in the universe. If proved correct, this exotic particle called neutrino that is 60 nanoseconds quicker than light will establish the fact that humans can travel back in time. The calculation was done by Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA), a 1,300-metric-ton particle detector.

The OPERA Project
For past three years, scientists are working on OPERA. The project was jointly run by particle research center near Geneva and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in central Italy.
Their research clearly shows that when a total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos were fired, the tiny particles traveled the 730-kilometer, 2.43-millisecond trip roughly 60 nanoseconds faster than light, claimed the OPERA researchers.    

 

"It's a straightforward time-of-flight measurement," said Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern and spokesperson for the 160-member OPERA collaboration. "We measure the distance and we measure the time, and we take the ratio to get the velocity, just as you learned to do in high school."

Result that Baffled Scientists Around the World
The finding gathered both positive and negative reaction from scientists worldwide. Eminent cosmologist and astrophysicist Martin Rees said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this is an extraordinary claim."

However, Australia-based physicist Dr John Costella described the claim as an "embarrassing gaffe." Prof Stephen Hawking appeared unconvinced when he said, "It is premature to comment on this. Further experiments and clarifications are needed."

Knowing the discovery would be hard to believe, Antonio Ereditato said, "The finding is so startling that, for the moment, everybody should be very prudent."

"We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing," Ereditato added. "We now want colleagues to check them independently."

IBTimes , Staff Reporter. "Particles Moving Faster Than Light – Pillars of Physics Soon to Fall? ." International Business Times. IB Times, 25 09 2011. Web. 25 Sep 2011. <http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/219419/20110925/particles-moving-faster-than-light-albert-einstein-subatomic-particle-opera-physics-faster-than-ligh.htm>.

Newton's Laws!!!

Newton has three Laws of Physics.


1. An object in motion stays in motion.


2. F=ma


3. For each action, there is an equal reaction.



In your own words can you describe them?
(For the first and third laws, what are the other components of those laws)

Interview: The Moon

So I was thinking, that since our course is titled "A Trip to the Moon", that we should get to know a little bit about the moon.

How big is the moon?

The moon is approximately 2,000 miles across.

How old is the moon?

The moon is the same age as the Earth, 4.5 billion years old.

How hot and cold does the moon get?

The moon gets between -280 and 260 degrees Fahrenheit.

How far is the moon from the Earth?

The moon is about 250,000 miles away from the Earth.

What is the surface on the moon like?

The surface of the moon is covered with about two inches of dust.

So now its your turn! What is a question about the moon that you have that you have always wondered?

You know what I'm saying

Here is a simple question with the answer so close you won't believe it.

What is the unit of power?

Good Luck.

Guest Speaker

Physics Talk on Microwave Photonics

Given by Dr. Richard DeSalvo

Friday Sept. 16 2011, at 12:00PM till 1:00PM

In Nelms 2

 

Free pizza and soda

 

If you are able to join the talk, please write a small summary/critique in one of the comments.

 

Hope to see you there!!!

Feline Physics

I think will help put an interesting spin on what you mentioned you learned this

week and some of what was covered in class today. Enjoy!

FELINE PHYSICS

Law of Cat Inertia

A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by

some outside force - such as the opening of cat food, or a nearby

scurrying mouse.

Law of Cat Motion

A cat will move in a straight line, unless there is a really good

reason to change direction.

Law of Cat Magnetism

All blue blazers and black sweaters attract cat hair in direct

proportion to the darkness of the fabric.

Law of Cat Thermodynamics

Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler body, except in the case

of a cat, in which case all heat flows to the cat.

Law of Cat Stretching

A cat will stretch to a distance proportional to the length of

the nap just taken.

Law of Cat Sleeping

All cats must sleep with people whenever possible, in a position

as uncomfortable for the people involved, and as comfortable as

possible for the cat.

Law of Cat Elongation

A cat can make her body long enough to reach just about any

counter top that has anything remotely interesting on it.

Law of Cat Obstruction

A cat must lay on the floor in such a position to obstruct the

maximum amount of human foot traffic.

Law of Cat Acceleration

A cat will accelerate at a constant rate, until he gets good and

ready to stop.

Law of Dinner Table Attendance

Cats must attend all meals when anything good is served.

Law of Rug Configuration

No rug may remain in its naturally flat state for very long.

Law of Obedience Resistance

A cat's resistance varies in proportion to a human's desire for

her to do something.

First Law of Energy Conservation

Cats know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and

will, therefore, use as little energy as possible.

Second Law of Energy Conservation

Cats also know that energy can only be stored by a lot of napping.

Law of Refrigerator Observation

If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come

along and take out something good to eat.

Law of Electric Blanket Attraction

Turn on an electric blanket and a cat will jump into bed at the

speed of light.

Law of Random Comfort Seeking

A cat will always seek, and usually take over, the most

comfortable spot in any given room.

Law of Bag/Box Occupancy

All bags and boxes in a given room must contain a cat within

the earliest possible nanosecond.

Law of Cat Embarrassment

A cat's irritation rises in direct proportion to her embarrassment

times the amount of human laughter.

Law of Milk Consumption

A cat will drink his weight in milk, squared, just to show you he

can.

Law of Furniture Replacement

A cat's desire to scratch furniture is directly proportional to

the cost of the furniture.

Law of Cat Landing

A cat will always land in the softest place possible; often the

mid-section of an unsuspecting, reclining human.

Law of Fluid Displacement

A cat immersed in milk will displace her own volume, minus the

amount of milk consumed.

Law of Cat Disinterest

A cat's interest level will vary in inverse proportion to the

amount of effort a human expends in trying to interest him.

Law of Pill Rejection

Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape

velocity.

Law of Cat Composition

A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn't Matter.

http://jcdverha.home.xs4all.nl/scijokes/2_4.html

Significant Figures

As most of us know, the use of significant figures is a scientific mean of basically keeping things organized. There are a few rules that you need to know in order to format your lab reports and homework properly. The goal of this blog is to simplify those rules for you.

1. Leading zeros are NEVER significant digits.

2. Trailing zeros are NEVER significant digits (unless they are measured).

3. Digits other than zero in a measurement are ALWAYS significant digits.

4. In multiplication and division, the number of significant figures is the SMALLEST of the number of significant figures in the inputs.

5. In addition and subtraction, the number of significant digits is the smallest number of decimal places in the input.

I would consider printing this out and taping it in the front cover of your book for easy reference.

So now its' your turn. How many significant digits are there in:

a. 11,000,000.0

b. 1.203190

c. 100.090

d. 0.00980870

Size Matters

With last week question, a student commented about King Hector Died from Drinking Chocolate Milk. So lets develop this concept a little further. I'm going to give the name of the prefix for the SI Units and I would like to see the size and the symbol for the unit. I'll do one as an example:

Name               Symbol               Unit Size
Tera                       T                        10^12
Giga
Mega

kilo
hecto
deca

The unit of measurements meter, grams, ampere

deci
centi
milli

micro
nano
pico

femto                        f                      10^-12

An Annotated Thermometer

In your day to day life to measure temperature you probably use Fahrenheit(F)
or Celsius(C)but kelvin(K)is primarily used in physics. The Kelvin scale is a
thermal scale that uses absolute zero as its starting point. 0K, -273.15C,
and -459.67F all equal are absolute zero. Below I found a funny joke about
these scales.


AN ANNOTATED THERMOMETER
60F 15C 289K
Californians put on sweaters (if they can find one in their wardrobe)

50F 10C 283K
Miami residents turn on the heat (if they have a heating system)

40F 4C 277K
* You can see your breath
* Californians shiver uncontrollably
* Minnesotans go swimming

35F 2C 275K
Italian cars don't start

32F 0C 273K
Water freezes

30F -1C 272K
* You plan your vacation to Australia
* Minnesotans put on T-shirts
* Politicians begin to worry about the homeless
* British cars don't start
* Your boogers freeze

25F -4C 269K
* Boston water freezes
* Californians weep pitiably
* Minnesotans eat ice cream
* Canadians go swimming

20F -7C 266K
* You can hear your breath
* Politicians begin to talk about the homeless
* New York City water freezes
* Miami residents plan vacation further south

15F -9C 264K
* French cars don't start
* You plan a vacation in Mexico
* Cat insists on sleeping in bed with you

10F -12C 261K
* Too cold to ski
* You need jumper cables to get the car going

5F -15C 258K
* You plan your vacation in Houston
* American cars don't start

0F -18C 255K
* Alaskans put on T-shirts
* Too cold to skate

-10F -23C 250K
* German cars don't start
* Eyes freeze shut when you blink

-15F -26C 247K
* You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo
* Arkansas stick tongue on metal objects
* Miami residents cease to exist

-20F -29C 244K
* Cat insists on sleeping in your pajamas with you
* Politicians actually do something about the homeless
* Minnesotans shovel snow off roof
* Japanese cars don't start

-25F -32C 241K
* Too cold to think
* You need jumper cables to get the driver going

-30F -34C 239K
* You plan a two week hot bath
* The Mighty Mongahela freezes
* Sweedish cars don't start

-40F -40C 233K
* Californians disappear
* Minnesotan button top button
* Canadians put on sweaters
* Your car helps you plan your trip South

-50F -46C 237K
* Congressional hot air freezes
* Alaskans close the bathroom window

-80F -62C 211K
* Hell freezes over
* Polar bears move south


http://jcdverha.home.xs4all.nl/scijokes/2.html#subindex

The Metric System

The International System of Units or SI is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around the seven base units and the convenience of the base ten number system. It forms part of the world's most widely used system of measurement, which is used in both in everyday commerce and in science.


Can you name the seven base units of the metric system:


1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)
5.)
6.)
7.)

Late for Class!

Ever been late to class because your class was two minutes off?

Being a student can be stressful at times, but managing your time is a specific skill that we all will learn throughout our times in college.

If you're looking to get an edge with time management and keeping that extra minute, Britain's National Physical laboratory (NPL) contains the world's most accurate atomic clock, which is guaranteed your on time* to every class.

Based upon ideas in atomic physics, this "caesium fountain clock" is so accurate that it will not stray more than one second in 138 million years; this nearly doubled the accuracy measured in 2010.

How does it work you ask? Well, "the "tick" is provided by the measurement of the energy required to change the caesium atoms' spin. Caesium atoms are placed into a cavity, and exposed to electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths. Once the spin "flips", the waves are at the right frequency to define what a second is."

Recall that frequency is measured in the unit hertz, Hz. In this case, the frequency was measured at 9.2GHz or written out, 9,192,631,770 Hz! "When the spin flips, the clock operators can set the frequency at that point, and work backward to determine the exact length of a second."

So, the next time you go to set your watch, feel free to set it according to the British Atomic Clock: http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/world-clock/ . You will never be late to class again!

*on time is five minutes early

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