I am a bit confused on how I go about using this website. How exactly do I ask questions? I can't even find a reply button on the forum. It also says we adopted 0 physicists, but on the forums there are people such as Anna Sippel. If anyone could help, that would be great. ~Thomas Black
Thomas make sure you are on Mainland period three. when you type in the pin it will bring you to our physicists and you click on their forums from that page
Yeah, you're supposed to post your question on here first, so Mr. Crane will be able to take a look at it, then you can post it. Once your question is answered, you can post another question on the blog and ask it on the forum.
If you were assigned a certain physicist then I would not ask another one the same question until you talk to Mr. Crane. Someone might hav that physicist to ask questions to and migh ask them the same question. So I would say that probably wouldn't be the best idea with out letting Mr. Crab know first
Go to adoptaphysicist.org. go to period 3 and the pin# in 9814. Your row's physicist was Dr. Ray. Go to his forum and post a question. That's basically it.
Ms. Jenna Smith replied to me. She said that she sometimes regrets going to graduate school because of all the missed opportunities. But she also said that she really likes her job. Miss Smith said that she has bad days but then she has good ones. From what she said, I'm assuming that although she sometimes regrets going to graduate school, she really loves her job as a physicist.
I find physics the most interesting, but I also find psychology and sociology facscinating and occasionally marvel at the complexity of biological life.
There aren't many days that I want to quit forever, but there are days that I want to go home early or not go in. I experimented with eliminating physics from my life for two periods during undergraduate, but by the end of each period, I was yearning for some physics. On the other hand, I also spent a few semesters without any kind of singing outlet and hated it. For me it's all about balance.
Hi Ashley!
My parents might tell the story differently, but I can’t remember a conscious decision to make science my career – it has kind of happened step-by-step. I wanted to take challenging courses in high school and physics was the most challenging I could find. I liked that, so I took some physics classes in college. I had a few undergraduate research experiences and thoroughly enjoyed them so I decided to apply to graduate school. I plan on graduating in a year and half and I still can’t tell you what I’ll be doing then!
The hardest thing about becoming a physicist has been dealing with some of the “old school” attitudes in the field. There is a widespread belief that you should suffer for your science, that you should devote your life to your research, and that time spent on anything else is wasted. This belief is commonly combined with a personal superiority against those who do something less. I detest this attitude and I believe it is short-sighted. I think that teaching, communication, and engagement with other scientists and the general public is incredibly important. I plan to make that a significant part of my career and I’m sure I will deal with people who assume I “couldn’t cut it” at a higher level because of that.
Physics was definitely a class I enjoyed. My high school physics teacher, Dr. Blachly, was phenomenal. For why physics is interesting to me, I'll refer you back to the post: "Answers to Katie C."
Ashley, I think you question about quiting was very good. I thought it was interesting that she said that she would not be able to live without physics or theater. It shows in life you do really need to learn to balance your time.
what has been the most rewarding thing about your job? What is the best thing you have studied before? While doing labs do you mostly work by yourself or with a group of people? Do you have a that of friends that also enjoy physics? How many different types of physics are there and why did you choose the one you are studying?
I'm confused as to where the link is, and how to post the questions. I know we have to be under period 3. Were we given a paper/take notes on the code or anything? Help please!
The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) is a nationally-funded laboratory for nuclear science. We're funded by the NSF and the DOE. You can take an online tour here: http://www.nscl.msu.edu/features/take-tour-online . Our name comes from our two superconducting cyclotrons. A cyclotron is a machine that accelerates nuclei around and around until they reach very high speeds. The "cyclo" part comes from the traveling in circles and the "tron" part just sounds cool. We have the first superconducting cyclotron at our lab. When normal electronics are used, the current running through the wires causes heat. This is why your cell phone heats up when you use it for awhile, or why my laptop is keeping my lap warm right now. The wires in our cyclotron don't emit heat in that way, as long as they are cooled down to hundreds of degrees below zero. Because the wires don't emit that heat, our superconducting cyclotrons use less electricity than normal ones.
I also found out Jenna Smith only has 1 lab a year and that runs 200 hours straight. This sounds very fun and important because they only do one lab a year.
Ms Smith answered my question with this response: Hi Ashley,
The most rewarding part of my job is that moment of understanding when something suddenly becomes clear, or when I can help someone else have that moment of understanding.
One of the coolest things I have studied was ferrofluid - a magnetic liquid. You can find lots of ferrofluid videos on YouTube, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL8R8SfuXp8.
I can classify my work into two distinct time periods: analyzing an experiment and running an experiment. When we run experiments, I work in a group of 6-30 people, though we aren't all there at the same time. When I'm analyzing an experiment, I mostly work with myself, but there are 6-10 people who are available to help me out, just like I'm available to help them come up with new ideas or critique their existing ideas.
I have a lot of friends who work at the lab. We go out to dinner, go bowling, play sports, and even sing together.
The answer to the last question depends on how finely you want to divide "physics" up. I could use the following terms to describe my research, each phrase becoming more and more specific:
Physics Nuclear physics Nuclear structure Neutron-rich nuclear structure Neutron dripline studies Low A neutron dripline research Low A neutron spectroscopy 2n decay of Li-11 excited states I find this very interesting. The video was very cool and fun to watch.
I asked Mr. David Miller what High Energy Particle Physics was and from his answer I learned that High Energy Particle Physics uses all ones physics knowledge and skills but it is directed toward understanding the origin of our Universe in the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe and what our Universe is made of.
Its in the top. It is in red. If you are clikced on a thread it wont work, but if you are at the home forum page, then it should be there. If this is confusing, someone else asked this on another blog post.
When I asked Jenna Smith what type of experiments they do she said...
We do lots of different experiments. They are different in many ways. We can use different detectors. As an example, the experiment that's going on right now is only a two-day experiment that will measure gamma-rays (high energy photons) coming out of the nuclei instead of neutrons. For that you need a different detector. We can measure different nuclei (my friend measured silicon nuclei, I measured lithium nucleii). We can also measure different quantities. Some people measure mass, some measured shape, and some measure size (among other things).
Do you use other types of sciences in your labs like chemistry or biology. Did you excel in these types of sciences or was physics the class you did really well? When did you know you wanted to study nuclear physics and why did it interest you so much?
There is a small link at the top left of the page. It is not very flashy, you click on the text and then it takes you to a page where you can compose your post. You must include a title or it may not be able to submit your post.
My physicist is evidently not as active as some of the other physicists, who are answering questions left and right. Would it be all right if I asked a different physicist a different question?
Grace there is no student code you have to put in the parent code from that paper Me. Crane gave us in class. Then you have to do something after that and thb you will be registered to go.
It differs a lot from one day to the next, and changes drastically as I start new projects, but recently, my daily routine is often like this:
7-8 am: Get to the lab, check the status of the equipment (temperatures, pressures, etc.) make sure everything is running
Start the day's experimental setup/gather everything I am going to need
Run tests/expieriment steps
11-12: Take a break, check my schedule for the rest of the day, read research papers, answer emails and eat lunch
~12 pm: Either go back to performing the task from the morning OR start a new task
~12 pm: If there is any broken/damaged equipment, I usually work on that at this point in my day
Answer emails, send my research team members an update, eat dinner
I usually have meetings or something in the afternoon somewhere
Work on anything else I need to do/make measurements/read papers
~6/7 pm: Get tired and go home :)
These things can change a lot depending on what else is going on. For example, if the magnetic measurement system goes down, I may spend an entire day just working on that until I get it fixed. Also, they vary a lot from one scientist to another because I decide how to spend most of my day.
I asked Jenna Smith about her grades in high school because i know that many famous scientists have become successful not having straight A's. She replied:
My grades in high school were as stellar as they could be. My graduating class had four valedictorians, of which I was one.
I thought that was cool, and it shows just how smart she is
I think that's a great question because I know that not all scientists graduate in the top percent. So I find that interesting that she was so smart and is doing what she is doing now.
I asked Dr Ray about how interesting her field of physics really is. I questioned whether or not she would give up her exciting job for a monotonous but ridiculously high paying tedious job. She has yet to respond.
Ms. Smith responded this to my above posted question.
I did well in chemistry and biology, but I didn't feel as challenged or learn as much as I did in physics. As a consequence, I haven't taken either course since high school and I regret not taking those courses in college. I very rarely use chemistry or biology at work, but the limited background I have has come in helpful when writing my blog.
I made an explicit decision to study nuclear physics in my first year of graduate school. I liked the people in the nuclear program, as well as the day-to-day work I did. I also like that you can think about nuclear physics as a mix of classical and quantum physics. It's also insane to me that we have no good model for the nucleus yet. I like helping move toward that final goal.
I have been staring at the adopt a physicist page for the last 20 minutes. I know how to get to the page where my physicist is, but there is no button that says post. HELP ME!!!
"Working as a physicist, is there anyone that inspires you or anyone that you look up to for ideas? If so, do they also work as a physicist? What accomplishments have they achieved?
Aliena Walrond"
Her response was...
Hi Aliena,
My high school physics teacher inspired me to be a physicist and the members of my current group inspire me every day. My high school physics teacher is a physicist who no longer does research. My current group members do research every day. Recently, our group found evidence of a dineutron decay - two neutrons leaving a nucleus together, and then splitting.
I asked Mr. Miller how a collider worked and I got this as a response: "Hi Chuck,
The Large Hadron Collider is a massive machine full of magnets (2200) and 800000 liters of liquid helium, high voltage and computing in an underground tunnel 18 miles in circumference. So the technology is forefront and impressive but the concept is simple. If you had an object that you could not touch and wanted to find out what it is made of you could throw stones at it like a pinata . So we do the same thing. We take the simplest stable object which is called a proton and everything around us has protons and the hydrogen is made of one electron and one proton. So what we do is take protons and make them go very fast and in a collider there are protons going clockwise and counterclockwise so they collide and we see what happens. The energy (density)of the collision is the same as in the Big Bang. Of course the Big Bang involved the whole Universe but if we make enough collisions we can figure out what are the fundamental particles that were necessary to make our Universe. Unlike the pinata where one can break it and see what is inside because mass is a form of energy (E=mc**2)we can create the fundamental particles just as the Big Bang did and see what our Universe is made of and how it evolved"
Here's a question and answer from Professor Miller;
Why should I be a physicist over a radiologist? Why did you chose to be a physicist?
Hi Hope, Education and a career is like taking a journey. At each part of the journey you have to make choices on which way to go and although each choice may seem not important generally when you look back after being in a career you find that all the small choices have determined your career rather than one big choice. What is best is that you start with some general idea of where you are going and that is usually determined by what you are good at, the teachers you have and the school you are in. So if you are good , and like, science you need to take those classes and if there are different levels choose the ones which challenge you but in which you can still get good grades since that is important for going on to University. Math of course is really important. This is already a first choice on the journey in which you have said I don't want to be a history teacher. Then not to far away (closer than you think) you have to choose a major in University. By then you'll know better about what you are good at. But there is a big choice here as to what kind of University or Technical college you chose. If you decide to be a radiologist or a pharmacist already you will have chosen a career path. If you choose physics then there are a wide variety of career paths including medical imaging but a physics major may be much harder. So the bottom line is that you are already making choices but mainly to determine what you like and what you are good at. Of course in parallel you can do some research on the Internet about specific careers and what is required and gradually your views will converge so that you can make the best choice for after high school.
Mr. Crane did I post right? Sorry if I did not, and my questions finally were sent through today due to technology problems!
ReplyDeleteI am a bit confused on how I go about using this website. How exactly do I ask questions? I can't even find a reply button on the forum. It also says we adopted 0 physicists, but on the forums there are people such as Anna Sippel. If anyone could help, that would be great.
ReplyDelete~Thomas Black
Thomas make sure you are on Mainland period three. when you type in the pin it will bring you to our physicists and you click on their forums from that page
Deletedo we just post the questions to their forum? i dont see any other questions for david miller so im a bit confused. any help?
ReplyDeleteit doesn't really look like you can click it though. It took me a while to find it. But like molly said, it says "new post"
DeleteTo write a question go to their forum and under their name there is a place to write a new post click on it and type your question.
ReplyDeleteCan we just post the questions or do we need to get permission or have out questions approved first?
ReplyDeleteI believe you are surpose to post the questions on here as well.
DeleteYeah, you're supposed to post your question on here first, so Mr. Crane will be able to take a look at it, then you can post it. Once your question is answered, you can post another question on the blog and ask it on the forum.
Deletein our class, i believe mr. crane said to just post on the forum because it would be easier to look at. But correct me if im wrong.
DeleteMimi post to the blog first to get credit for this assignment and then post to the forum.
DeleteAre freshman the only class asking questions?
ReplyDeleteIt is assigned to freshman, but the other classes can ask questions too.
DeleteAre we allowed to ask a different physicist a question if your first question hasn't been answered?
ReplyDeleteIf you were assigned a certain physicist then I would not ask another one the same question until you talk to Mr. Crane. Someone might hav that physicist to ask questions to and migh ask them the same question. So I would say that probably wouldn't be the best idea with out letting Mr. Crab know first
DeleteCan somebody please explain this to me from Period three, because I was absent on Friday.
ReplyDeleteGo to adoptaphysicist.org. go to period 3 and the pin# in 9814. Your row's physicist was Dr. Ray. Go to his forum and post a question. That's basically it.
DeleteI asked Mr. David Miller what careers is physics important in and he replied
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
Take a look at these Web sites
http://www.aip.org/careersvc/pify/indigo.html
http://www.physics.org/careers.asp?contentid=381
http://www.aps.org/careers/physicists/middle-high.cfm
and the image I've attached Prof D
Attached File: Careers.jpg
David H Miller
Ms. Jenna Smith replied to me. She said that she sometimes regrets going to graduate school because of all the missed opportunities. But she also said that she really likes her job. Miss Smith said that she has bad days but then she has good ones. From what she said, I'm assuming that although she sometimes regrets going to graduate school, she really loves her job as a physicist.
ReplyDeleteHere I what Ms. Jenna Smith said to my questions:
ReplyDeleteI find physics the most interesting, but I also find psychology and sociology facscinating and occasionally marvel at the complexity of biological life.
There aren't many days that I want to quit forever, but there are days that I want to go home early or not go in. I experimented with eliminating physics from my life for two periods during undergraduate, but by the end of each period, I was yearning for some physics. On the other hand, I also spent a few semesters without any kind of singing outlet and hated it. For me it's all about balance.
Hi Ashley!
My parents might tell the story differently, but I can’t remember a conscious decision to make science my career – it has kind of happened step-by-step. I wanted to take challenging courses in high school and physics was the most challenging I could find. I liked that, so I took some physics classes in college. I had a few undergraduate research experiences and thoroughly enjoyed them so I decided to apply to graduate school. I plan on graduating in a year and half and I still can’t tell you what I’ll be doing then!
The hardest thing about becoming a physicist has been dealing with some of the “old school” attitudes in the field. There is a widespread belief that you should suffer for your science, that you should devote your life to your research, and that time spent on anything else is wasted. This belief is commonly combined with a personal superiority against those who do something less. I detest this attitude and I believe it is short-sighted. I think that teaching, communication, and engagement with other scientists and the general public is incredibly important. I plan to make that a significant part of my career and I’m sure I will deal with people who assume I “couldn’t cut it” at a higher level because of that.
Physics was definitely a class I enjoyed. My high school physics teacher, Dr. Blachly, was phenomenal. For why physics is interesting to me, I'll refer you back to the post: "Answers to Katie C."
Jenna
Ashley, I think you question about quiting was very good. I thought it was interesting that she said that she would not be able to live without physics or theater. It shows in life you do really need to learn to balance your time.
DeleteThank you Molly. I thought it was important to see if going without something you love for a wgile could affect your behavior.
DeleteI also asked these questions:
ReplyDeletewhat has been the most rewarding thing about your job? What is the best thing you have studied before? While doing labs do you mostly work by yourself or with a group of people? Do you have a that of friends that also enjoy physics? How many different types of physics are there and why did you choose the one you are studying?
I'm confused as to where the link is, and how to post the questions. I know we have to be under period 3. Were we given a paper/take notes on the code or anything? Help please!
ReplyDeleteAliena
Once you are on AdoptAPhysicist.org, and have found period 3, the pin number is 9814. Then you will be able to talk to a Physicist.
DeleteAliena, did you put in the pin number? It is 9814.
Delete-Skylar Young
Thank you!
DeleteAliena
I am confused about asking the question. I tried to submit my answer but it took me to an error site. Am i doing anything wrong?
ReplyDelete-Skylar Young
Did you put in a Post Title, becuase mine did the same thing, and then i put in a Post Tile and it worked.
DeleteNo i didn't. What should it be?
Delete-Skylar Young
I just put mine as "Question," so that should be fine.
Delete-Aliena
We are all posting under the same username so it is wise to include your name somewhere in the post
DeleteSkylar you can either put "Question" or can just put dear... and then the physicist's name.
ReplyDeleteAlright, Thanks. And shoudl i sign the question at the bottom with my name?
ReplyDelete-Skylar Young
If you are not signed in with your Email, you should sign the bottem with your name, but if you signed in with an Email then it will say on the left.
DeleteOkay thanks
Delete-Skylar Young
I learned what Jenna Smith's lab was.
ReplyDeleteThe National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) is a nationally-funded laboratory for nuclear science. We're funded by the NSF and the DOE. You can take an online tour here: http://www.nscl.msu.edu/features/take-tour-online . Our name comes from our two superconducting cyclotrons. A cyclotron is a machine that accelerates nuclei around and around until they reach very high speeds. The "cyclo" part comes from the traveling in circles and the "tron" part just sounds cool. We have the first superconducting cyclotron at our lab. When normal electronics are used, the current running through the wires causes heat. This is why your cell phone heats up when you use it for awhile, or why my laptop is keeping my lap warm right now. The wires in our cyclotron don't emit heat in that way, as long as they are cooled down to hundreds of degrees below zero. Because the wires don't emit that heat, our superconducting cyclotrons use less electricity than normal ones.
I also found out Jenna Smith only has 1 lab a year and that runs 200 hours straight. This sounds very fun and important because they only do one lab a year.
ReplyDeleteMs Smith answered my question with this response:
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley,
The most rewarding part of my job is that moment of understanding when something suddenly becomes clear, or when I can help someone else have that moment of understanding.
One of the coolest things I have studied was ferrofluid - a magnetic liquid. You can find lots of ferrofluid videos on YouTube, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL8R8SfuXp8.
I can classify my work into two distinct time periods: analyzing an experiment and running an experiment. When we run experiments, I work in a group of 6-30 people, though we aren't all there at the same time. When I'm analyzing an experiment, I mostly work with myself, but there are 6-10 people who are available to help me out, just like I'm available to help them come up with new ideas or critique their existing ideas.
I have a lot of friends who work at the lab. We go out to dinner, go bowling, play sports, and even sing together.
The answer to the last question depends on how finely you want to divide "physics" up. I could use the following terms to describe my research, each phrase becoming more and more specific:
Physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear structure
Neutron-rich nuclear structure
Neutron dripline studies
Low A neutron dripline research
Low A neutron spectroscopy
2n decay of Li-11 excited states
I find this very interesting. The video was very cool and fun to watch.
We won't get credit for any questions we posted on this thread? Only what we did on the adopt-a-physicist website?
ReplyDeleteI asked Mr. David Miller what High Energy Particle Physics was and from his answer I learned that High Energy Particle Physics uses all ones physics knowledge and skills but it is directed toward understanding the origin of our Universe in the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe and what our Universe is made of.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe recently learned the equation:
ReplyDeleteV final squared = V nought + 2aΔP
Do you ever use this equation at work?
*V nought squared
DeleteJenna,
ReplyDeleteIs there anything you believe to be true in physics but you can not figure out how to prove it?
Ok I know how to get to the forum and can read everyone else's questions, but i can't find "new post" to ask a question myself......Where is it?!
ReplyDeleteIts in the top. It is in red. If you are clikced on a thread it wont work, but if you are at the home forum page, then it should be there. If this is confusing, someone else asked this on another blog post.
DeleteWhen I asked Jenna Smith what type of experiments they do she said...
ReplyDeleteWe do lots of different experiments. They are different in many ways. We can use different detectors. As an example, the experiment that's going on right now is only a two-day experiment that will measure gamma-rays (high energy photons) coming out of the nuclei instead of neutrons. For that you need a different detector. We can measure different nuclei (my friend measured silicon nuclei, I measured lithium nucleii). We can also measure different quantities. Some people measure mass, some measured shape, and some measure size (among other things).
I asked Jenna Smith this:
ReplyDeleteDo you use other types of sciences in your labs like chemistry or biology. Did you excel in these types of sciences or was physics the class you did really well? When did you know you wanted to study nuclear physics and why did it interest you so much?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI know how to get to my physicist, but I can't figure out how to post. Someone please help me.
ReplyDeleteThere is a small link at the top left of the page. It is not very flashy, you click on the text and then it takes you to a page where you can compose your post. You must include a title or it may not be able to submit your post.
DeleteMy physicist is evidently not as active as some of the other physicists, who are answering questions left and right. Would it be all right if I asked a different physicist a different question?
ReplyDeleteCheck with Mr. Crane first because my physicist has not answered my question or a few others as well.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't an adopt a physicist question, but for class dojo, what do you put for the student code?
ReplyDeleteGrace there is no student code you have to put in the parent code from that paper Me. Crane gave us in class. Then you have to do something after that and thb you will be registered to go.
Deleteoh ok thanks
DeleteInsight about Kelly Pisane's Daily Work Routine:
ReplyDeleteIt differs a lot from one day to the next, and changes drastically as I start new projects, but recently, my daily routine is often like this:
7-8 am: Get to the lab, check the status of the equipment (temperatures, pressures, etc.) make sure everything is running
Start the day's experimental setup/gather everything I am going to need
Run tests/expieriment steps
11-12: Take a break, check my schedule for the rest of the day, read research papers, answer emails and eat lunch
~12 pm: Either go back to performing the task from the morning OR start a new task
~12 pm: If there is any broken/damaged equipment, I usually work on that at this point in my day
Answer emails, send my research team members an update, eat dinner
I usually have meetings or something in the afternoon somewhere
Work on anything else I need to do/make measurements/read papers
~6/7 pm: Get tired and go home :)
These things can change a lot depending on what else is going on. For example, if the magnetic measurement system goes down, I may spend an entire day just working on that until I get it fixed. Also, they vary a lot from one scientist to another because I decide how to spend most of my day.
I asked Jenna Smith about her grades in high school because i know that many famous scientists have become successful not having straight A's. She replied:
ReplyDeleteMy grades in high school were as stellar as they could be. My graduating class had four valedictorians, of which I was one.
I thought that was cool, and it shows just how smart she is
I think that's a great question because I know that not all scientists graduate in the top percent. So I find that interesting that she was so smart and is doing what she is doing now.
ReplyDeleteYea, i thought so too
DeleteI asked Dr. BAISHALI RAY
ReplyDelete"Hello Dr. Baishali Ray,
1. What is the most interesting thing you have learned or experimented with since being introduced to phyisics?
2. Did u want to be a physicist ever since you were a kid or did you start to enjoy it more through high school/college?
Thank You, Ron Garofalo"
I asked Dr Ray about how interesting her field of physics really is. I questioned whether or not she would give up her exciting job for a monotonous but ridiculously high paying tedious job. She has yet to respond.
ReplyDeleteNoah, did he respond to yours yet?
DeleteMs. Smith responded this to my above posted question.
ReplyDeleteI did well in chemistry and biology, but I didn't feel as challenged or learn as much as I did in physics. As a consequence, I haven't taken either course since high school and I regret not taking those courses in college. I very rarely use chemistry or biology at work, but the limited background I have has come in helpful when writing my blog.
I made an explicit decision to study nuclear physics in my first year of graduate school. I liked the people in the nuclear program, as well as the day-to-day work I did. I also like that you can think about nuclear physics as a mix of classical and quantum physics. It's also insane to me that we have no good model for the nucleus yet. I like helping move toward that final goal.
Jenna
I have been staring at the adopt a physicist page for the last 20 minutes. I know how to get to the page where my physicist is, but there is no button that says post. HELP ME!!!
ReplyDeleteAt the very top of the forum, they is a highlight word (New Post) click on it and then it will take you to where you have to go to create a post.,
DeleteI have been sending questing to Dr. Ray, however he is not responded back, will this effect my grade, if so what should I do?
ReplyDeleteMake sure your questions have not already been asked/answered. Neither Mr. Crane nor the Physicists like that
DeleteI asked Jenna Smith...
ReplyDelete"Working as a physicist, is there anyone that inspires you or anyone that you look up to for ideas? If so, do they also work as a physicist? What accomplishments have they achieved?
Aliena Walrond"
Her response was...
Hi Aliena,
My high school physics teacher inspired me to be a physicist and the members of my current group inspire me every day. My high school physics teacher is a physicist who no longer does research. My current group members do research every day. Recently, our group found evidence of a dineutron decay - two neutrons leaving a nucleus together, and then splitting.
I asked Mr. Miller how a collider worked and I got this as a response:
ReplyDelete"Hi Chuck,
The Large Hadron Collider is a massive machine full of magnets (2200) and 800000 liters of liquid helium, high voltage and computing in an underground tunnel 18 miles in circumference. So the technology is forefront and impressive but the concept is simple. If you had an object that you could not touch and wanted to find out what it is made of you could throw stones at it like a pinata . So we do the same thing. We take the simplest stable object which is called a proton and everything around us has protons and the hydrogen is made of one electron and one proton. So what we do is take protons and make them go very fast and in a collider there are protons going clockwise and counterclockwise so they collide and we see what happens. The energy (density)of the collision is the same as in the Big Bang. Of course the Big Bang involved the whole Universe but if we make enough collisions we can figure out what are the fundamental particles that were necessary to make our Universe. Unlike the pinata where one can break it and see what is inside because mass is a form of energy (E=mc**2)we can create the fundamental particles just as the Big Bang did and see what our Universe is made of and how it evolved"
Here's a question and answer from Professor Miller;
ReplyDeleteWhy should I be a physicist over a radiologist? Why did you chose to be a physicist?
Hi Hope,
Education and a career is like taking a journey. At each part of the journey you have to make choices on which way to go and although each choice may seem not important generally when you look back after being in a career you find that all the small choices have determined your career rather than one big choice. What is best is that you start with some general idea of where you are going and that is usually determined by what you are good at, the teachers you have and the school you are in. So if you are good , and like, science you need to take those classes and if there are different levels choose the ones which challenge you but in which you can still get good grades since that is important for going on to University. Math of course is really important. This is already a first choice on the journey in which you have said I don't want to be a history teacher. Then not to far away (closer than you think) you have to choose a major in University. By then you'll know better about what you are good at. But there is a big choice here as to what kind of University or Technical college you chose. If you decide to be a radiologist or a pharmacist already you will have chosen a career path. If you choose physics then there are a wide variety of career paths including medical imaging but a physics major may be much harder. So the bottom line is that you are already making choices but mainly to determine what you like and what you are good at. Of course in parallel you can do some research on the Internet about specific careers and what is required and gradually your views will converge so that you can make the best choice for after high school.
good luck life is exciting!! Prof D
Pretty cool.
DeleteHow many questions was Mr. Crane hoping we'd ask? Anything above zero?
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