ASK PHYSICS

SIMPLE PROJECTS

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:19:00 -0700

The amazing and fascinating nature of electricity makes it an interesting topic to almost all people. There are numerous science fair projects that you can pursue which focuses on the principle of electricity. Below are a few of science project tips you may like to consider.

Make an illustration on how lightning functions

Lightning is commonly known as an interesting phenomenon and you could present how it functions
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FUN N GAMES

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:40:00 -0800

GAMES

Winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics in the 21st Century

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 02:11:00 -0800

2001
Eric A. Cornell (1961- ) USA
Wolfgang Ketterle (1957- ) USA
Carl E. Wieman (1951- ) USA
for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates

2002
Raymond Davis, Jr. (1914-2006) USA
Masatoshi Koshiba (1926- ) Japan
for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos
and
Riccardo Giacconi (1931- ) USA
for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources

2003
Alexei A. Abrikosov (1928- ) USA and Russia
Vitaly L. Ginzburg (1916- ) Russia
Anthony J. Leggett (1938- ) United Kingdom and USA
for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids

2004
David J. Gross (1941- ) USA
H. David Politzer (1949- ) USA
Frank Wilczek (1951- ) USA
for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction

2005
Roy J. Glauber (1925- ) USA
for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence

and
John L. Hall (1934- ) USA
Theodor W. Haensch (1941- ) Germany
for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique

2006
John C. Mather (1946- ) USA
George F. Smoot (1945- ) USA
for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation

2007
Albert Fert (1938- ) France
Peter Gruenberg (1939- ) Germany
for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance

2008
Yoichiro Nambu (1921- ) USA
for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics

and
Makoto Kobayashi (1944- ) and Toshihide Maskawa (1940- ) Japan
for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature

2009
Charles K. Kao (1933- ) Hong Kong, China
for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication

and
Willard S. Boyle (1924- ) and George E. Smith (1930- ) USA
for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor

2010
Andre Geim (1958- ) Netherlands and Konstantin Novoselov (1974- ) UK and Russia
for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene

Elucidating cell-free protein synthesis

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 02:10:00 -0800

The chemistry of life is complicated. Gene expression, in which information is transcribed from DNA to messenger RNA and then translated to produce a protein, involves more than 100 different molecules. Gaining a quantitative understanding of the process through observation of living cells is a daunting challenge. Now, Vincent Noireaux (University of Minnesota), Roy Bar-Ziv (Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel), and colleagues have used a cell-free system to carry out a complete gene-expression reaction, and they’ve developed a simple model of the reaction dynamics. Cell-free protein synthesis itself is not new; it’s been used for 15–20 years to produce proteins for research and medicine. Typical cell-free systems, which are available commercially, are therefore optimized to produce a lot of protein quickly rather than to reproduce reactions as they occur in vivo. The systems combine molecules from different organisms, and they don’t allow control over biologically important reactions such as mRNA inactivation and protein degradation. Noireaux and his student Jonghyeon Shin developed their own cell-free system, using molecules only fromEscherichia coli bacteria and including enzymes for inactiv

Wavefunction's unconventional statistics manifested

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 02:09:00 -0800

In three dimensions, exchanging identical particles has a simple effect on a wavefunction: no change for bosons, multiplication by −1 for fermions. In two dimensions, things are more complicated. Consider the two ways to switch identical particles “A” and “B” shown in the figure. Because the clockwise and counterclockwise switches can’t be continuously deformed into each other, 2D exchange doesn’t just swap coordinates; it also involves a topological component. When many particles are involved, the topological issues are correspondingly more complex, and exchange operations might not commute. In that case the particles are said to have non-abelian (that is, noncommuting) anyon statistics. Non-abelian anyons are more than a mathematical curiosity: Condensed-matter physicists have plausibly argued that the quasiparticles that participate in the so-called ν = ⁵⁄₂fractional quantum Hall state are objects of that type (see the article by Sankar Das Sarma, Michael Freedman, and Chetan Nayak in Physics Today, July 2006, page 32) . Now, Nayak (Microsoft Station Q and the University of California, Santa Barbara) and colleagues have, in the first calculation of its kind, explicitly demonstrated the compatibility of a specific popular candidate ν =⁵⁄₂ wavefunction with non-abelian anyon statistics. The key step, says MIT’s Frank Wilczek, was to map the wavefunction to a rather different physical system amenable to attack with a well-established battery of mathematical tools. Does the wavefunction studied by the Nayak team actually describe the ν = ⁵⁄₂ state? That ball is in the experimentalists’ court. (P. Bonderson et al.,Phys. Rev. B 83, 075303, 2011.)—Steven K. Blau

Recovery mechanism for Arctic ice

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Mon, 7 Mar 2011 02:07:00 -0800

Global climate change is progressively reducing the Arctic Ocean’s summer ice cover. That retreat harbors an obvious positive-feedback mechanism: Because ice is more reflective than open water, the shrinking cover means more absorption of solar radiation, leading, in turn, to more loss of ice. That raises the prospect of a possible tipping point at which the thus-far relatively gradual retreat of summer ice “runs away,” leaving the Arctic Ocean perennially free of summer ice long before the date—sometime late in this century—generally deduced from climate models. But might not those models be made to reveal such threshold behavior by subjecting them to strong perturbations? Steffen Tietsche and coworkers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, tried that with a widely used climate model. What would happen, they asked, if by a random fluctuation in some year, the Arctic Ocean became completely free of ice on 1 July? The figure, plotting ice cover in September, when it’s typically least, shows the result (in blue) when that initial perturbation is imposed in a particular year. In every case, the September cover reverts to its gradually falling unperturbed level (black curve) within about two years. Tietsche and company attribute such prompt recovery primarily to a negative-feedback mechanism that damps the albedo reinforcement: During the long, dark winter, the lack of insulating ice produces an anomalously warm arctic atmosphere, whose top radiates heat away faster and whose sides receive less wind-driven heat from temperate latitudes. So, they conclude, a tipping point at which the loss of summer sea ice becomes sudden and irreversible is unlikely. (S. Tietsche et al., Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L02707, 2011.)—Bertram Schwarzschild

ASK PHYSICS: Japan to launch 'Hayabusa' bullet train

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 08:15:00 -0800

ASK PHYSICS: Japan to launch 'Hayabusa' bullet train: "EnlargeThe Maglev (magnetic levitation) train speeds during a test run on the experimental track in Tsuru, 100km west of Tokyo in 2010. Jap..."

Japan to launch 'Hayabusa' bullet train

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 05:17:00 -0800

Enlarge

The Maglev (magnetic levitation) train speeds during a test run on the experimental track in Tsuru, 100km west of Tokyo in 2010. Japan's latest bullet train, the thin-nosed "Hayabusa" or Falcon, will make its 300 kilometre per hour (186 mph) debut Saturday, boasting a luxury carriage modelled on airline business class.

Japan's latest bullet train, the thin-nosed "Hayabusa" or Falcon, will make its 300 kilometre per hour (186 mph) debut Saturday, boasting a luxury carriage modelled on airline business class.

Japan has built up a network of cutting-edge Shinkansen train lines since the 1960s that criss-cross the island nation and now hopes to sell the infrastructure technology abroad, including to the United States.

The latest ultra-fast tech-marvel will make three trips a day from Tokyo to the city of Aomori, in a scenic rural backwater on the northern tip of the main Honshu island that has until now been off Japan's bullet train map.

The green-and-silver E5 series Hayabusa will travel at up to 300 kmh to make the 675 kilometre trip in three hours and 10 minutes. From next year, it will push its top speed to 320 kmh to become Japan's fastest train.

Passengers will glide quietly through the straights and tunnels that cut through Japan's mountainous countryside, says operator East Japan Railway Co, which has heavily promoted the launch of the new service.

Those willing to pay 26,360 yen ($320) for a one-way trip can enjoy the comfort of a 'GranClass' car, where a cabin attendant will serve them as they enjoy deeply reclining leather seats and thick woollen carpets.

To promote the service, the train company has also heavily advertised Aomori as a tourist destination, praising its landscape, seafood and winter snow.

Japan's ultra-fast, frequent and punctual bullet trains have made them the preferred choice for many travellers, rather than flying or road travel, ever since the first Shinkansen was launched in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

But as Japan, and its railway companies, struggle with a fast-greying and shrinking population and falling domestic demand, the government and industry are aggressively seeking to promote the bullet trains abroad.

Japan has in the past sold Shinkansen technology to Taiwan and hopes to capture other overseas markets, such as Brazil and Vietnam, but faces stiff competition from train manufacturers in China, France and Germany.

The biggest prize is a future high-speed US rail network that President Barack Obama has promoted, to be backed by 13 billion dollars in public funding.

California's then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was treated to an early test ride on the Hayabusa when he visited Japan in September.

Japan says its trains boast a strong safety record: despite running in an earthquake-prone country, no passenger has ever died due to a Shinkansen derailment or collision -- although people have committed suicide by jumping in front of the trains.

Japan has also been developing a magnetic levitation or maglev train that, its operator says, reached a world record speed of 581 kilometres per hour in 2003 on a test track near Mount Fuji in Tsuru, west of Tokyo.

The plan is to launch maglev services between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya by 2027. By 2045 they are expected to link Tokyo with the main western city of Osaka in just one hour and seven minutes, compared with the current two hours 25.

JAPAN

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 05:09:00 -0800

Japan (日本, Nihon or Nippon?, officially 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan comprises 6,852 islands making it an archipelago. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japan's land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century A.D. Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet.

A major economic power, Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest in purchasing power parity. Japan has a significant military equipped with modern defense systems, such as AEGIS, and boasts a large fleet of destroyers. It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer. It is additionally a member of the G-8 and is the sole Asian power in that organization. It is a developed country with high living standards (8th highest HDI). Japan has the highest life expectancy of any country in the world and the third lowest infant mortality rate (according to both UN and WHO estimates).

BULLET TRAIN

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 05:08:00 -0800

Bullet train may refer to: The Shinkansen high speed trains of Japan, so nicknamed for their appearance and speed

TOKYO

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 05:07:00 -0800

Black holes: a model for superconductors?

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:53:00 -0800

Enlarge

This artist's concept shows a galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its core. The black hole is shooting out jets of radio waves. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Black holes are some of the heaviest objects in the universe. Electrons are some of the lightest. Now physicists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have shown how charged black holes can be used to model the behavior of interacting electrons in unconventional superconductors.

"The context of this problem is high-temperature superconductivity," said Phillips. "One of the great unsolved problems in physics is the origin of superconductivity (a conducting state with zero resistance) in the copper oxide ceramics discovered in 1986." The results of research by Phillips and his colleagues Robert G. Leigh, Mohammad Edalati, and Ka Wai Lo were published online in Physical Review Letters on March 1 and in Physical Review D on February 25.

Unlike the old superconductors, which were all metals, the new superconductors start off their lives as insulators. In the insulating state of the copper-oxide materials, there are plenty of places for the electrons to hop but nonetheless—no current flows. Such a state of matter, known as a Mott insulator after the pioneering work of Sir Neville Mott, arises from the strong repulsions between the electrons. Although this much is agreed upon, much of the physics of Mott insulators remains unsolved, because there is no exact solution to the Mott problem that is directly applicable to the copper-oxide materials.

Enter string theory—an evolving theoretical effort that seeks to describe the known fundamental forces of nature, including gravity, and their interactions with matter in a single, mathematically complete system.

Fourteen years ago, a string theorist, Juan Maldacena, conjectured that some strongly interacting quantum mechanical systems could be modeled by classical gravity in a spacetime having constant negative curvature. The charges in the quantum system are replaced by a charged black hole in the curved spacetime, thereby wedding the geometry of spacetime with quantum mechanics.

Since the Mott problem is an example of strongly interacting particles, Phillips and colleagues asked the question: "Is it possible to devise a theory of gravity that mimics a Mott insulator?" Indeed it is, as they have shown.

The researchers built on Maldacena's mapping and devised a model for electrons moving in a curved spacetime in the presence of a charged black hole that captures two of the striking features of the normal state of high-temperature superconductors: 1) the presence of a barrier for electron motion in the Mott state, and 2) the strange metal regime in which the electrical resistivity scales as a linear function of temperature, as opposed to the quadratic dependence exhibited by standard metals.

The treatment advanced in the paper published in Physical Review Letters shows surprisingly that the boundary of the spacetime consisting of a charged black hole and weakly interacting electrons exhibits a barrier for electrons moving in that region, just as in the Mott state. This work represents the first time the Mott problem has been solved (essentially exactly) in a two-dimensional system, the relevant dimension for the high-temperature superconductors.

"The next big question that we must address," said Phillips, "is how does superconductivity emerge from the gravity theory of a Mott insulator?"

Provided by University of Illinois College of Engineering

Electron

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:47:00 -0800

The electron is a subatomic particle that carries a negative electric charge. It has no known substructure and is believed to be a point particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1836 times less than that of the proton. The intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of the electron is a half integer value of 1/2, which means that it is a fermion. The anti-particle of the electron is called the positron, which is identical to electron except that it carries electrical and other charges of the opposite sign. In collisions electrons and positrons annihilate, producing a pair (or more) of gamma ray photons. Electrons participate in gravitational, electromagnetic and weak interactions.

The concept of an indivisible amount of electric charge was theorized to explain the chemical properties of atoms, beginning in 1838 by British natural philosopher Richard Laming; the name electron was introduced for this charge in 1894 by Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney. The electron was identified as a particle in 1897 by J. J. Thomson and his team of British physicists. Electrons are identical particles that belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family. Electrons have quantum mechanical properties of both a particle and a wave, so they can collide with other particles and be diffracted like light. Each electron occupies a quantum state that describes its random behavior upon measuring a physical parameter, such as its energy or spin orientation. Because an electron is a type of fermion, no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state; this property is known as the Pauli exclusion principle.

In many physical phenomena, such as electricity, magnetism, and thermal conductivity, electrons play an essential role. An electron generates a magnetic field while moving, and it is deflected by external magnetic fields. When an electron is accelerated, it can absorb or radiate energy in the form of photons. Electrons, together with atomic nuclei made of protons and neutrons, make up atoms. However, electrons contribute less than 0.06% to an atom's total mass. The attractive Coulomb force between an electron and a proton causes electrons to be bound into atoms. The exchange or sharing of the electrons between two or more atoms is the main cause of chemical bonding.

Electrons were created by the Big Bang, and they are lost in stellar nucleosynthesis processes. Electrons are produced by cosmic rays entering the atmosphere and are predicted to be created by Hawking radiation at the event horizon of a black hole. Radioactive isotopes can release an electron from an atomic nucleus as a result of negative beta decay. Laboratory instruments are capable of containing and observing individual electrons, while telescopes can detect electron plasma by its energy emission. Electrons have multiple applications, including welding, cathode ray tubes, electron microscopes, radiation therapy, lasers and particle accelerators.

Physical Review Letters

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:46:00 -0800

Physical Review Letters is one of the most prestigious journals in physics. Since 1958, it has been published by the American Physical Society as an outgrowth of Physical Review.

Physical Review Letters specializes in short articles called "letters", at most four pages long. The journal celebrated its 50th birthday in 2008.

metal

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:45:00 -0800

In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallo, Μέταλλο) is an element, compound, or alloy characterized by high electrical conductivity. In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions (cations); those ions are surrounded by delocalized electrons, which are responsible for the conductivity. The thus produced solid is held by electrostatic interactions between the ions and the electron cloud, which are called metallic bonds.

copper oxide

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:45:00 -0800

There are two stable copper oxides, copper(II) oxide (CuO) and copper(I) oxide (Cu₂O).

Copper(I) oxide or cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) is an oxide of copper. It is insoluble in water and organic solvents. Copper(I) oxide dissolves in concentrated ammonia solution to form the colorless complex [Cu(NH3)2]+, which easily oxidizes in air to the blue [Cu(NH₃)4(H₂O)2]2+. It dissolves in hydrochloric acid to form HCuCl₂ (a complex of CuCl), while dilute sulfuric acid and nitric acid produce copper(II) sulfate and copper(II) nitrate, respectively.

Copper(I) oxide is found as the mineral cuprite in some red-colored rocks. When it is exposed to oxygen, copper will naturally oxidize to copper(I) oxide, but this takes extensive time. Artificial formation is usually accomplished at high temperature or at high oxygen pressure. With further heating, copper(I) oxide will form copper(II) oxide.

Formation of copper(I) oxide is the basis of the Fehling's test and Benedict's test for reducing sugars which reduce an alkaline solution of a copper(II) salt and give a precipitate of Cu₂O.

Cuprous oxide forms on silver-plated copper parts exposed to moisture when the silver layer is porous or damaged; this kind of corrosion is known as red plague.

Copper(II) oxide or cupric oxide (CuO) is the higher oxide of copper. As a mineral, it is known as tenorite.

ZERO RESISTANCE

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:44:00 -0800

The Discovery of Superconductivity

H. Kamerlingh Onnes, after having successfully liquified helium in 1908, investigated the low temperature resistivity of mercury in 1911. The mercury could be made very pure by distillation, and this was important because the resistivity at low temperatures tends to be dominated by impurity effects. He found that the resistivity suddenly dropped to zero at 4.2K, a phase transition to a zero resistance state. This phenomenon was calledsuperconductivity, and the temperature at which it occurred is called its critical temperature.

BillGates: Spending cuts don't have to harm learning

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:37:00 -0800

Enlarge

Bill Gates addresses the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in Washington, Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(AP) -- Even in the midst of large spending cuts, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said Monday that schools can improve the performance of students if they put more emphasis on rewarding excellent teaching and less emphasis on paying teachers based on seniority and graduate degrees.

The murmur of a monster

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 04:24:00 -0800

The Andromeda galaxy is the nearest large galaxy to our Milky Way. Like the Milky Way, it has a spiral-arm structure with a massive black hole at its nucleus. Unlike the Milky Way, however, its black hole

Microsoft to release a tablet OS in 2012

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Sun, 6 Mar 2011 02:19:00 -0800

(PhysOrg.com) -- Microsoft has finally decided to join the tablet OS

market. Following in the grand tradition of Kinect (motion controls for

video games,

which came out after the Nintendo Wii sported them)

DESTINATION

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:02:00 -0700

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SEARCH

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:51:00 -0700

CONTACT US

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:50:00 -0800

FAQ

rk63192@gmail.com (rohit) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:48:00 -0800

FAQ FAQ FAQ

ASK PHYSICS

SIMPLE PROJECTS

FUN N GAMES

Winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics in the 21st Century

Elucidating cell-free protein synthesis

Wavefunction's unconventional statistics manifested

Recovery mechanism for Arctic ice

ASK PHYSICS: Japan to launch 'Hayabusa' bullet train

Japan to launch 'Hayabusa' bullet train

JAPAN

BULLET TRAIN

TOKYO

Black holes: a model for superconductors?

Electron

Physical Review Letters

metal

copper oxide

ZERO RESISTANCE

The Discovery of Superconductivity

BillGates: Spending cuts don't have to harm learning

The murmur of a monster

Microsoft to release a tablet OS in 2012

DESTINATION

SEARCH

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CONTACT US

FAQ