Posts for 'Physics' Category

HSC Physics can be one of the most rewarding HSC subjects that is widely and commonly available across schools in NSW. HSC Physics tends to appeal to students with an interest for quantitative subjects like mathematics. In fact, if one is to try to define physics, it would be applied 2 unit maths. The mathematics in physics is certainly not difficult, but the problems in Physics are structured in terms of real-world applications. Therefore students who have a keen interest in the physical world and the theory behind its behavior are advised to take physics.

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Solar flares are like the Sun’s equivalents of Earth’s natural hazards, though of course they occur on a much larger scale. It would be nice to say such phenomena have minimal impact on the environment or life on Earth, but solar flares do strongly influence our local space weather, and produce streams of highly energetic particles in solar wind that can pose radiation risks to astronauts.

Who knows what a biggie could do? While we wait for the answer, trying not to put the words “mass” and extinction” together, don your protective glasses and prepare for some dazzling images of solar eruptions – like the limb flare above.

Solar flares are giant explosions in the Sun’s atmosphere that release incredible amounts of energy. Putting our puny attempts at generating power firmly in their place, solar flares heat plasma to tens of millions of degrees Kelvin and accelerate particles to almost the speed of light, while emitting radiation across all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum – from radio waves to gamma rays.

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Medical and scientific achievements in 2008 seldom were as dramatic as this month's announcement that doctors at the Cleveland Clinic had done the first transplant operation in this country to replace most of a patient's severely malformed face.

NASA/JET PROPULSION LABORATORY An artist depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, which touched down on the Red Planet on May 26. The landing was one of NASA's favorite advances of the year.The operation took 23 hours, with a rotating crew from several medical specialties performing a complicated set of procedures intended to transform the unnamed woman's life as well as her physiognomy.

Until now, she could only breathe through a tube in her throat. The first partial transplant of this kind was performed three years ago in France.Drama is relative because different branches of science have differing views on what constitutes a notable advance and how their discoveries will affect society's well-being.Often, what science gives, science takes away - especially in medical matters, where many so-called pharmaceutical breakthroughs this year seemed to generate more controversy than usual.

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A team of German scientists say they have come across compelling, new proof that a black hole of unimaginable dimensions is at the center of our galaxy.

For decades, astronomers have speculated about the possibility of a black hole at the Milky Way's galactic center.

But because of the billions of stars which lie between Earth and the hub of the galaxy.

It has been impossible to view what was actually there.Now, German researchers say they have established the existence of an enormous black hole at the galaxy's center "beyond any reasonable doubt," DPA news agency reported on Monday, Dec. 15.

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Fire reacting to sound, electronic transference, static electricity and liquid nitrogen were just a few of the things that wowed audience members at Friday's 14th annual Physics Phun Nite.The evening, organized by the physics department to inspire young students to get more interested in the subject, had several displays that demonstrated "events you might see in a classroom if you were to take a physics class here," said Larry Hoffman, physics laboratory coordinator.

"But they're done in a way that they're more entertaining than they would be in a classroom," he added. About sixteen demonstrations were featured in front of a standing-room-only crowd, ranging from lighting a fire with electricity, electric charges shooting a ring to the ceiling, and the lighting of a fluorescent bulb without touching it to a power source.

"(We) try to make it interesting for the public," Hoffman added.While the majority of the audience was made up of pre-college students, nearly everyone was awed by at least one demonstration."What the idea is, is that all the professors who teach here, they demonstrate with all sorts of things.

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 Allyson Gibson, a doctoral student in physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a prestigious P.E.O. Scholar Award for the 2008-09 academic year. She was one of 85 recipients selected from more than 640 applicants from the United States and Canada.

The $15,000 merit-based award is given to women who are either pursuing a doctoral-level degree or engaged in postgraduate study or research who show potential to make significant contributions to their fields of study.

Since receiving her master's degree in physics from WUSTL in May 2005, Gibson has been working toward her doctorate in physics in the department's Laboratory for Ultrasonics under James G. Miller, Ph.D., the Albert Gordon Hill Professor of Physics, and Mark R. Holland, Ph.D., research associate professor of physics.

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Two Japanese scientists and a Tokyo-born American shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for physics for helping to explain the behavior of subatomic particles, work that has helped shape modern physics theory, the prize committee said on Tuesday.

The Nobel committee lauded Yoichiro Nambu, now of the University of Chicago, and Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan for work that helped show why the universe is made up mostly of matter and not anti-matter via changes known as broken symmetries.Nambu's analogy likens the changes to when one dinner guest uses the wrong bread plate, forcing all the other guests at a round table to change as well.

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By analyzing light from small, faint galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, UC Irvine scientists believe they have discovered the minimum mass for galaxies in the universe - 10 million times the mass of the sun.
This mass could be the smallest known "building block" of the mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter. Stars that form within these building blocks clump together and turn into galaxies.

Scientists know very little about the microscopic properties of dark matter, even though it accounts for approximately five-sixths of all matter in the universe.

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Perhaps the funniest physics instructor on the planet, Rhys Thomas, demonstrated the fascinating science behind the ancient art of juggling, during his “Science of Juggling” show at OMSI on the weekend of May 17th.

“It’s part of my ‘Science Circus’ show,” Thomas said, as he set up his props for an afternoon show — er, class. We asked Thomas  considered by many to be the best variety arts entertainer on the west coast, and a former Smithsonian artist-in-residence  how he came up with the concept of blending entertainment and education.

“When I was first started out as a juggler, back in 1987, I was doing great as a street performer,” Thomas recalled.

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Granite countertops found in the home of many people across the U.S. have been found to actually pose a health risk. It has been found that these granite countertops let out radioactive gas which can cause cancer.

The report comes from the New York Times, and focuses on granite countertops, which have become a popular staple in the home of many people in the U.S. and abroad.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has come out and stated that the gas emitted by the granite countertops is a radioactive noble gas, radon. It has no taste, no odor, etc.This gas affects indoor air quality, and is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.

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