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sticks and stones.
-Albert Einstein
(copied from my post at the Boggs Board)
You know what's cool? Grade twelve physics field trips. ^_^ (I'm not in grade twelve, BTW, I'm just taking a grade twelve level course in grade eleven). I had one yesterday, and we all went to the University of Alberta to do physics experiments. The first one, involving mesuring different light waves, involved quite a bit of eye strain on all our parts.
The second one was cooler, though - it involved these really neat machines that were about the size of a full grown man, if he were curled in a fetal position. They were all set up on tables, and were all tilted in a certain direction at a perfect 18 degree angle (to negate the earth's magnetic field). They produced a magnetic field, and you would send electrons through it, which produced a ring of light - the exact same process that creates the aurora borealis/australis (Northern and southern lights, respectively) in the earth's sky. ^_^
So... we essentially had mini circular northern lights in the machines, only they were just a light purple colour, not multicoloured.
...And they didn't move.
...But they were cool!
(Plus, if you tilt the machines so they actually are competing with the Earth's magnetic field, they spiral instead of remaining circular - which makes them look more like the northern lights. VERY cool. :D
In the last one, we made a magnet float in place (which involved a supraconductor, a single small fridge magnet, and some liquid nitrogen).
Afterwards we still had time to spare, so we had fun with the liquid nitrogen (for those who don't know, it's VERY cold, and gives off mist like dry ice, and is also extremely cool). We froze pen cases, exploded an eraser (it contracted too quickly when frozen and because it had air bubbles, it exploded when we took it out), and froze a balloon (which seemed deflated when we took it out, because the air particles inside were too cold to be bouncing about, keeping it inflated), but when it was taken out and got warmed up, it inflated before our eyes. So... awesome.... :D
-Albert Einstein
(copied from my post at the Boggs Board)
You know what's cool? Grade twelve physics field trips. ^_^ (I'm not in grade twelve, BTW, I'm just taking a grade twelve level course in grade eleven). I had one yesterday, and we all went to the University of Alberta to do physics experiments. The first one, involving mesuring different light waves, involved quite a bit of eye strain on all our parts.
The second one was cooler, though - it involved these really neat machines that were about the size of a full grown man, if he were curled in a fetal position. They were all set up on tables, and were all tilted in a certain direction at a perfect 18 degree angle (to negate the earth's magnetic field). They produced a magnetic field, and you would send electrons through it, which produced a ring of light - the exact same process that creates the aurora borealis/australis (Northern and southern lights, respectively) in the earth's sky. ^_^
So... we essentially had mini circular northern lights in the machines, only they were just a light purple colour, not multicoloured.
...And they didn't move.
...But they were cool!
(Plus, if you tilt the machines so they actually are competing with the Earth's magnetic field, they spiral instead of remaining circular - which makes them look more like the northern lights. VERY cool. :D
In the last one, we made a magnet float in place (which involved a supraconductor, a single small fridge magnet, and some liquid nitrogen).
Afterwards we still had time to spare, so we had fun with the liquid nitrogen (for those who don't know, it's VERY cold, and gives off mist like dry ice, and is also extremely cool). We froze pen cases, exploded an eraser (it contracted too quickly when frozen and because it had air bubbles, it exploded when we took it out), and froze a balloon (which seemed deflated when we took it out, because the air particles inside were too cold to be bouncing about, keeping it inflated), but when it was taken out and got warmed up, it inflated before our eyes. So... awesome.... :D
