VicPhysics News: Term 4, No 4, 2015
Dear ,
In this issue we feature news about our two conferences, the Physics Teachers' Conference and the Physics in General Science Conference. We are still accepting offers for Karaoke presentations, so if you want to promote your favourite option, here is your chance.
Entries to our Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament are due this Friday.
There is also a public lecture on the recent Nobel Prize in Physics by the Australian Institute of Physics on Thursday, 19th November at RMIT.
The next meeting of the Vicphysics Network will focus on preparing our annual question by question review of the Physics exam, which is submitted to VCAA. All teachers are welcome to attend this or any other meeting. If you would like to attend, please contact Vicphysics at .. The meeting will be held at University High School on Tuesday, 17th November, from 5pm to 7pm.
Regards,
Frances, Sidari, Paul Cuthbert, Barbara McKinnon and Dan O'Keeffe.
The executive of the the VicPhysics Teachers' Network
Table of Contents
1. Physics Teachers' Conference Program released
2. Physics in General Science Conference
3. Karaoke and Unit 2 Options
4. Vic Young Physicists' Tournament entries due this Friday
5. Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public
a) New views of our Solar System, 6:30pm, Friday 13 November, Swinburne University
b) An Evening with BUZZ ALDRIN - Mission to Mars, 8pm, 29th November, Melbourne Town Hall
6. Forthcoming events for Teachers
a) Focus on Physics In-Service Day, 13th November, University of Melbourne
b) Physics Nobel Prize talk, 6:30pm, Thursday, 19th November, RMIT
c) Mini PDs on Thermodynamics and What is matter? 1st December, repeated on 2nd December, University High School
d) 'Cosmic Hydrogen and the First Galaxies in the Universe' 6:30pm, Thursday, 3rd December, University of Melbourne
7. Physics News from the Web
a) Fifty shades of black
b) Portable brain scanner allows PET in motion
c) Balloon bursts approach the speed of sound
This newsletter is compiled by the Vicphysics Teachers' Network Inc.
1. Physics Teachers' Conference Program released
Program includes:
· Day and late afternoon sessions. Participants can attend the day and/or the late afternoon sessions,
· Address on 'Cosmology: From the Big Bang to Formation of Atoms' by Dr Phillip Urquijo, University of Melbourne and CoEPP
· Address on 'Particle Physics: From Alpha particles to Quarks' by Prof Emma Ryan-Weber, Swinburne University
· Report by Andrew Hansen, the Chief Assessor, on the 2015 November Exam,
· Karaoke: Short presentations in three adjacent and linked venues,
· Over 65 workshops across four sessions, some on VCE topics, some on general topics across Years 7 - 12 and others specifically for Years 7 - 10,
· A Saturday program of excursion tasters at Quantum Victoria and VSSEC, and a medical physics in-service at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Copies of the Program and the Registration form are available on the STAV website, http://www.sciencevictoria.com.au/confVCE.html and the Vicphysics website, http://www.vicphysics.org/conf2016.html
2. Physics in General Science Conference
The Physics in General Science Conference is for middle school science teachers who wish to improve their teaching of physics related topics in the Years 7 - 10. It is a half day conference starting after lunch to reduce the conference fee. Please pass on the information The Physics in General Science Program includes
· Four afternoon sessions with an emphasis on the new Victorian Curriculum starting in 2017,
· Address on 'Teaching Light' by Dr Christina Hart
· Karaoke: Short presentations in three adjacent and linked venues,
· Over 15 workshops across two sessions specifically for Years 7 - 10.
Copies of the Program are available on the Vicphysics website, http://www.vicphysics.org/pigs2016.html
3. Karaoke and Unit 2 Options
The Karaoke session at the Physics Teachers' Conference already has a good number of presentations, but there is space for a few more.
There are several workshops in the main conference program on some of the options such as the two Astronomy options, Human Vision, Physics of Music and Bioelectricity, but there are many more that are not addressed.
If you have a favourite option and would like to talk about it and promote it for 15 minutes as part of the Karaoke session, please contact Vicphysics at
4. Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament entries due this Friday
Entries to the Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament are due this Friday, 13th November. Entries need to have the full details of the team and must be signed by the Principal.
There is also a poster competition in which teams can enter a poster on one of the three topics they investigated.
For further details, go to http://www.vicphysics.org/vypt2015.html
5. Forthcoming events for Students and General Public *
a) New views of our Solar System, 6:30pm, Friday 13 November, Swinburne University
Title: New views of our Solar System
Presenter: Prof. Sarah Maddison, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing and Dean of School of Science.
Abstract: Our view of the solar system has changed dramatically in recent years. We all know what planets are right? After all, we live on one! However, many of us we were taught that Pluto was a planet, but today it is a dwarf planet. Our understanding of planets and how they formed, along with all the other smaller bodies in our solar system, is undergoing a revolution. This talk will give an overview of some recent observations from the New Horizons mission, plus some highlights from the Dawn and Rosetta missions, and how these new views are changing our understanding of planet formation.
Date: Friday 13 November
Time: 6.30pm-7.30pm
Venue: Swinburne University, Hawthorn Campus, AMDC building, AMDC301 (enter from Burwood Road)
Map: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/media/swinburneeduau/about-swinburne/docs/pdfs/hawthorn-map.pdf
Please click on this link to register and for details.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KV_f_OhQmW-XWMghJfGxbRTB5h974kzt3bG-pH6eAiY/viewform
Note: All our previously recorded lectures can be heard using the playlist at this link. http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/outreach/?topic=freelectures , (you may need to scroll down the page)
b) An Evening with BUZZ ALDRIN - Mission to Mars, 8pm, 29th November, Melbourne Town Hall
Buzz Aldrin will be interviewed by journalist, Ray Martin on his time as a fighter pilot in Korea, his role space history with Gemini 12 and the Apollo 11 moon landing and prospects for the future.
Tickets are available from Ticketmaster from $83
6. Forthcoming events for Teachers *
a) Focus on Physics In-Service Day, 13th November, University of Melbourne
The Program for the Focus on Physics Day is:
· Undertaking science that matters with the Australian Synchrotron: How the smallest things can have the biggest impact on our lives with Prof Andrew Peele, Australian Synchrotron
· The Bridge between Physics and Engineering: Putting the theory of mechanics into practice with Dr Elisa Lumantarna from the School of Engineering at Melbourne University
· Modern astrophysics and the night sky: The Shared Sky: modern astrophysics and the night sky viewed through the lens of ancient Greece and aboriginal astronomy with Dr Alan Duffy is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Astrophysics and Computing at Swinburne University
· The world of Particle Physics: Collisions can reveal the nature of matter with Professor Raymond Volkas is Head of the School of Physics at Melbourne University, and Director of the Melbourne Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP).
The cost is $110 and includes lunch.
For more details and to register go to http://outreach.physics.unimelb.edu.au/Teaching/Professional-Development
b) Physics Nobel Prize talk, 6:30pm, Thursday, 19th November, RMIT
Title: “Physics deep underground, the mystery of the identity-switching neutrino”
Speaker: Dr Phillip Urquijo of Melbourne University
Abstract: In 1998 Takaaki Kajita and his team at Super-Kamiokande discovered that neutrinos produced in the atmosphere switch between two varieties on their way to Earth. Arthur McDonald subsequently led the Canadian collaboration at SNOLAB and in 2001/2002 demonstrated that neutrinos from the sun do not disappear on their way to Earth, but change identity by their time of arrival to the SNO detector. Those two crucial findings demonstrated that neutrinos must have mass, and subsequently defy the standard model, the framework that predicts the properties of nature’s particles and forces. For their work, Kajita and McDonald were jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Dr Phillip Urquijo
Dr Urquijo will introduce you to the neutrino, one of the most mysterious particles in nature, and will explain how the two teams made their discoveries in enormous, deep-underground facilities. He will discuss what the Belle II collider experiment will have to say on neutrino mass generation, and introduce a new deep underground physics lab being built right here in Victoria.
Date & Time: Thursday 19th November 2015, 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Venue: RMIT, Swanston Academic Building 80, Level 7, Room 1
c) Mini PD on Thermodynamics and What is matter? at VYPT, 1st December, repeated on 2nd December, University High School
The number of teams participating in VYPT have been increasing each year. The greater numbers puts pressure on providing enough judges. As an incentive to encourage teachers to come along to check out the event and to assist with the judging, as part of the day there will be two one hour presentations for such teachers on course planning for the two new Areas of Study in Unit 1: 'Thermodynamics' and 'What is Matter? The presentations will cover: new concepts, practical activities, resources and assessment ideas.
Judging is done by a team of three, with at least one experienced judge. The preparation for judging involves about 45 minutes pre-reading and the task involves assessing students.
The same mini PD will be offered on each day.
Dates: Tuesday, 1st or Wednesday, 2nd December
Cost: Nil, Lunch provided
Venue: Elizabeth Blackburn School of Sciences at University High School
To register for the mini-PD and judging VYPT, please email Vicphysics with subject: Registration: Mini PD giving name, school and on which date you wish to attend.
d) 'Cosmic Hydrogen and the First Galaxies in the Universe' 6:30pm, Thursday, 3rd December, University of Melbourne
Speaker: Prof. Stuart Wyithe, winner of the AIP's Boas Medal. The Boas medal is for physics research carried out in the five years prior to the date of the award, as demonstrated by both published papers and unpublished papers prepared for publication
Abstract: Astrophysics seeks to both understand how the Universe works today, and to uncover how it formed and evolved throughout cosmic history. Fortunately the finite speed of light allows us to view the Universe at large distances as it existed in the past. This cosmic archaeology can be observed in electromagnetic radiation back to times when the Universe was just 380 thousand years old. However there is a large gap in the historical record, encompassing times between 380 thousand and 1 billion years after the Big Bang where observations are sparse. This important epoch includes the formation of the first galaxies and the ionisation of hydrogen throughout the cosmos. In this talk I review some of what we know of this period, the new observations that will fill in pieces of the puzzle, and describe the theoretical challenges for understanding the formation and evolution of the first galaxies.
Venue: Hercus Theatre, The University of Melbourne
Refreshments provided from 6pm, RSVP
7. Physics News from the Web
Items selected from the bulletins of the Institute of Physics (UK) and the American Institute of Physics.
Each item below includes the introductory paragraphs and a web link to the rest of the article.
a) Fifty shades of black
b) Portable brain scanner allows PET in motion
c) Balloon bursts approach the speed of sound
a) Fifty shades of black
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/2015/nov/05/fifty-shades-of-black
Creating dark materials that prevent reflections has become hot competition recently, with Guinness World Records having to keep revising the darkest substance yet created. But depending on who’s asking, the best black may not be the blackest black.
For domestic use, options abound. Pitch black, jack black, lamp black, fine black, velour black, onyx black, blackboard black, black fossil, charcoal, soot, smoke, sinner, black stillness, off black, little black dress, penny black, deep black and – should you want to be left in no doubt – black black.
There are probably 50 shades of black, if not more. But sometimes, and especially where physicists are concerned, even the blackest black isn’t black enough.
b) Portable brain scanner allows PET in motion
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/nov/02/portable-brain-scanner-allows-pet-in-motion
A wearable brain-scanning device that will provide high-resolution images of the whole brain, while the subject is moving about and performing everyday activities, is being developed by researchers in the US. The new approach – called ambulatory microdose positron emission tomography (AMPET) – miniaturizes positron emission tomography (PET) technology, such that it fits onto a helmet that's worn during scanning.
Clinical brain imagers currently require a trade-off between motion and resolution. Large, bolted-to-the-floor devices – for techniques such as PET, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) – provide high-resolution images but require the participant to remain completely still. Meanwhile, approaches such as electroencephalography and near-infrared spectroscopy can be used with a moving subject, but have low spatial resolution and cannot visualize important structures such as the hippocampus and amygdala deep within the brain.
c) Balloon bursts approach the speed of sound
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/nov/03/balloon-bursts-approach-the-speed-of-sound
Bursting balloons is good fun, but there is also some fascinating physics lurking in how the fabric of the balloon is ripped apart. Two physicists in France have studied the bursting process using a high-speed camera, and have discovered that there is a critical point in the inflation of a balloon beyond which it will create beautiful flower-like patterns when it bursts. The research could boost our understanding of how materials fail when subjected to high degrees of stress