I enjoyed Dr. Kellers presentation on Homestake. It is great to see what is going on out there to inform both my parents and my students. Another good presentation today from the Chicos site from Thersa. I still need to work through the universe adventure.
The best part of the blog for me was quick access to the links. I did not think it was easy to find everybody's else blogs to comment back to, which made it hard to read others comments. I liked being exposed to it and may try it in one of my classes for students who are not comfortable asking questions in class.
The couple of activities I will use for sure are the bubble chamber and the 1/2 life activities. I am going to try for a mini-grant to get some radioactive materials for those experiments. I still have a lot of questions on all of the particles but now I have some excellent resources to answer those questions as well as present some of this material to my students.
I really enjoyed the whole week, not only the topics discussed, but the interaction with all involved. All of the free materials were a great added bonus. I hope we can have a reunion of some sort next summer.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Thursday
Really enjoyed working throught the particle website. I will need to work throught this site several times in order to get the big picture. I think I will also need to make some sort of flow chart on the particles like some of the other people were doing.
The chemistry demonstrations were kind of review as I had a similiar presentation from Dr. Koppang in a previous class. However, it was a good refresher especially the parts about the isotopes and how they relate back to the normal ratios. Still confused some on the last demonstration on the mass spect and liquid chromatograph. I understand the liquid chromatography part but am a little confused on the detector part.
Two more good classroom demonstrations by Phillip and David today. Finding out a puzzle and relating it to particle physics and also the homemade electroscope. Rest of the afternoon was soldering which we are all getting good at!
The chemistry demonstrations were kind of review as I had a similiar presentation from Dr. Koppang in a previous class. However, it was a good refresher especially the parts about the isotopes and how they relate back to the normal ratios. Still confused some on the last demonstration on the mass spect and liquid chromatograph. I understand the liquid chromatography part but am a little confused on the detector part.
Two more good classroom demonstrations by Phillip and David today. Finding out a puzzle and relating it to particle physics and also the homemade electroscope. Rest of the afternoon was soldering which we are all getting good at!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wednesday afternoon
I enjoyed the activity outside on particle direction. Was a very quick demonstration and I think this along with the points we talked about to extend the activity was great. The half life activity was nice although Peggy's lab was much better than the directions for the Vernier lab unless further verification was left. I am still confused on the particle part of all of this and need another refresher on cosmic ray production, etc. The solding was a new experience for me so that is something new I learned today and will need to try and find some circuits that I can build.
Wednesday Morning
Good lectures on cosmic radiation as well as what is going on at Homestake mine in Lead. Really enjoyed learning about all of the experiments which are being proposed at the 300 foot level. These are not well known to the public. The effects on low doses of radiation on cells, etc was especially interested. I think this project has the potential to be a huge success for the State of SD.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tuesday final blog
Enjoy the main points from this morning:
1.) Presentation of nuclear chemistry and its applications.
2.) Detection of radiation
3.) Observing the detection of gamma rays in the physics room
4.) Observing the "tracks" in the bubble chamber.
I still have a lot of questions about particles such as muons, etc and how it is all related. I also need more information about the strong and weak force and their interaction inside the nucleus.
I am curious to see how this particle detector will work when we are finished.
1.) Presentation of nuclear chemistry and its applications.
2.) Detection of radiation
3.) Observing the detection of gamma rays in the physics room
4.) Observing the "tracks" in the bubble chamber.
I still have a lot of questions about particles such as muons, etc and how it is all related. I also need more information about the strong and weak force and their interaction inside the nucleus.
I am curious to see how this particle detector will work when we are finished.
Tuesday morning
I really enjoyed the presentations in the morning. This gave a chance to ask some questions that otherwise we would not be able to get answered. Seeing the applications of radioactive isotopes in chemistry was fascinating. Also seeing how this is very interdisplinary between physics and chemistry was also informative. If gave me lots of good ideas and also many topics for me to do further research on the internet.
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