Bookings Are Now Open for the Physics Days at Luna Park
The Vicphysics Executive Team
Frances Sidari (Pres), Jane Coyle (Vice-Pres), Barbara McKinnon (Sec) and Dan O'Keeffe (Treas)
Table of Contents
- Physics Days at LunaPark: Dates for 2018
- Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public
- Prof Brian Cox Live, 7:30pm - 10pm, 2nd November, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, SouthWharf
- When freezing cold is not cold enough: New forms of matter near absolute zero temperature, 7pm - 8pm, 30th November, SwinburneUniversity
- Seeing double. Looking at the Universe with gravity's eyes, 6:30pm, Tuesday, 14th November, Swinburne University
- Lunch with a Laureate, Friday, 12pm - 2pm, 1st December, MonashUniversity
- Forthcoming events for Teachers
- Australian Synchrotron PD, 9am - 3pm, Thursday, 16th November, Clayton
- Professional Development Workshop for Physics Teachers, 24th November, DeakinUniversity, Geelong
a) Mechanical fluctuations track how bacteria respond to antibiotics
b) 'Look happy dear, you’ve just made a discovery’ - Jocelyn Bell Burnell
c) Amazon's CAPTCHA Patent Proposal Tests Your Physics Understanding
d) X-ray laser takes 3D images of lopsided viruses
The next meeting of the Vicphysics Teachers' Network will be at 5pm on Thursday, 23rd November at Melbourne Girls' College. The next meeting will review the physics exam. All teachers are welcome to attend this or any other meeting.If you would like to attend, please contact Vicphysics
Regards,
Frances Sidari (Pres), Jane Coyle (Vice-Pres), Barbara McKinnon (Sec) and Dan O'Keeffe (Treas)
1. Physics Days at LunaPark: Dates fot 2018
Next year Physics Days at LunaPark will be on Tuesday, 6th March to Friday, 9th March. Bookings are now open here. The cost is $25.50 per student. Teachers enter for free. Worksheets are available here.
You can change the date and numbers can be changed early next year, once the timetable has been finalised and student numbers are known. Please note: Early means late January, not early March.
Confirmation of an aerobatic display by a member of the RAAF Roulettes is often not until February.
2.Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public
a) Prof Brian Cox Live, 7:30pm - 10pm, 2nd November, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, SouthWharf
Prof Brian Cox said: “The massive screens of this show do justice to the astonishing images of the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope and spacecraft like the Cassini orbit around Saturn. The success of the tour in the UK and Europe also means that hundreds of thousands of people were interested enough in physics to come and watch a live show about it, and that’s an encouraging thought for the future!”
Joining Brian on stage will be British comedian, actor and writer Robin Ince, Brian's co-host on the BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage.
Prices range from $91 to $218 plus delivery and handling fees. To Book and more information.
b) When freezing cold is not cold enough: New forms of matter near absolute zero temperature, 7pm - 8pm, 30th November, SwinburneUniversity
Why do physicists freeze matter to extremely low temperatures?
Why is it worthwhile to cool to temperatures which are a billion times lower than that of interstellar space?
The ARC Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) is honoured to present a public lecture given by Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics. Prof. Ketterle will discuss new forms of matter, which only exist at extremely low temperatures. Low temperatures open a new door to the quantum world where particles behave as waves and "march in lockstep".
In 1925, Einstein predicted such a new form of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate, but it was realised only in 1995 in laboratories at Boulder and at MIT. More recently, cold atoms have become a tool to study phenomena of condensed matter physics at huge spatial magnification at densities which are a billion times lower than ordinary materials.
Venue: AMDC (Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre) Building, Room 301 , Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122
For more details and to book click here or go to eventbrite and search for Ketterle.
c) Seeing double. Looking at the Universe with gravity's eyes, 6:30pm, Tuesday, 14th November, SwinburneUniversity
Venue: Swinburne University, Hawthorn campus, AMDC building, AMDC301 (Enter from Burwood Rd)
Presenter Dr Thomas E. Collett, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, Portsmouth, UK
Map:
Abstract: Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that light rays are bent when they travel past a massive object. In this talk, we will explore tests of this prediction and view some of the spectacular consequences of light bending: gravitational lenses. These gravitational lenses let us directly measure where the mass is in the Universe, and the results imply that the Universe is mostly made of an exotic substance called dark matter.
Registration: For further information and registration, please click on this link. Closes when maximum capacity reached.
d) Lunch with a Laureate, Friday, 12pm - 2pm, 1st December, MonashUniversity
Students in Years 9, 10 and 11 are invited to a lunch with Prof. Ketterle from MIT, who won the Nobel Prize in 2001 with Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, for discovering the fascinating physics of Bose-Einstein condensates, the so-called “5th state of matter”. In such states, atoms are cooled to temperatures a billion times colder than outer space, and matter behaves as a wave, “marching in quantum lockstep”.
This is a free event, however schools are limited to six students who are interested, or enrolled, in physics. Teacher can book up to seven tickets (six students plus themselves). Following booking of tickets, teachers will be emailed a link to complete the details of students attending and any dietary requirements.
For more details and to book, click here . The event is being organised by the ARC Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET).
3.Forthcoming events for Teachers
a) Australian Synchrotron PD, 9am - 3pm, Thursday, 16th November, Clayton
Get some fresh ideas for teaching key areas of the Year 9 science curriculum and VCE Physics.
When: Thursday November 16, 2017, 9am-3pm
Where: Australian Synchrotron, 800 Blackburn Rd, Clayton, Victoria
Cost: Free
Program: Hear from prominent Australian scientists, Take a tour of the Australian Synchrotron, Participate in workshops, Receive new educational resources.
To register, click here or search for ANSTO and under Resources, select Discovery Centre and go to Prof Dev.
b) Professional Development Workshop for Physics Teachers, 24th November, DeakinUniversity, Geelong
The Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment at DeakinUniversity invites all physics teachers to participate in a VCE Physics Teachers Professional Development Workshop at their Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus.
"The hands-on workshop gives teachers an opportunity to take their students to a new level. During the 6-hour workshop, teachers will take a guided tour of DeakinUniversity’s Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training (CADET), participate in a number of hands-on physics activities, hear from Maria James, VCAA Science Manager about the VCE Physics Study Design (2017-2021), and be part of an in-depth discussion on physics problem-solving strategies for students."
When: 9:00am - 3:00pm, Friday 24 November 2017
WhereDeakinUniversity, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus
Attire: Fully enclosed footwear
Cost $30, Lunch is provided, please advise any dietary needs.
Booking: Please email by Monday 13 November 2017. For further information please call 03 5227 8377.
4. Physics News from the Web
a) Mechanical fluctuations track how bacteria respond to antibiotics
b) 'Look happy dear, you’ve just made a discovery’ - Jocelyn Bell Burnell
c) Amazon's CAPTCHA Patent Proposal Tests Your Physics Understanding
d) X-ray laser takes 3D images of lopsided viruses
a)Mechanical fluctuations track how bacteria respond to antibiotics
A new piezoelectric sensor can identify the most appropriate antibiotic for an infection in less than an hour, according to physicists in the US. While conventional antimicrobial tests can take days, the device detects changes in bacteria motion upon initial exposure to antibiotics. Faster antibiotic selection could improve treatment outcomes and help tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is used to identify the most appropriate antibiotic for a bacterial infection. Current tests are constrained by bacterial growth rates, as they examine the effect of antibiotics on the growth of bacteria colonies cultivated from patient samples. However, the two to three days this takes to produce results can cause problems.
b)'Look happy dear, you’ve just made a discovery’ - Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Sarah Tesh and Jess Wade describe Jocelyn Bell Burnell’s highs and lows, as revealed in her recent IOP President’s Medal lecture.
When Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars 50 years ago, in 1967, she was not asked about her groundbreaking finding, but how she compared in height to Princess Margaret. Unfortunately, this was not the first time, nor the last, that she would face such sexist attitudes. Bell Burnell persevered, however, and has gone on to become a fellow of the Royal Society, a dame and a multi-award-winning scientist – although most controversially, not a Nobel prize winner.
In July Bell Burnell was presented with the prestigious President’s Medal of the Institute of Physics (IOP) “for her outstanding contributions to physics through pioneering research in astronomy, most notably the discovery of the first pulsars, and through her unparalleled record of leadership within the community”. The award, which is given at the discretion of the IOP president – currently Roy Sambles – was presented at the University of Birmingham in the UK as part of the International Conference on Women in Physics. Rather than giving an Oscars-style acceptance speech, Bell Burnell delivered a fascinating lecture, outlining her career in physics as well as the obstacles she had to overcome along the way. As her story would reveal, she faced much bias and stereotyping, but she refused to yield to society’s expectations.
c) Amazon's CAPTCHA Patent Proposal Tests Your Physics Understanding
The company has filed a patent application for a new CAPTCHA method which would show you a 3D simulation of something about to happen to a person or object. That something would involve Newtonian physics — perhaps an item is about to fall on someone, or a ball is about to roll down a slope. The test would then show you several "after" scenarios and, if you pick the correct option, you've passed the test
d)X-ray laser takes 3D images of lopsided viruses
Extremely bright and short-lived pulses of X-rays from a free-electron laser have been used to generate 3D images of virus particles. Unlike existing methods, the technique can be used to identify asymmetries in the structure of biological molecules and could lead to the development of drugs that target molecules whose properties cannot be studied using conventional crystallography.
The X-ray crystallography of molecules involves exposing a lattice of regularly spaced molecules to a beam of X-rays. Interference of the scattered radiation creates a diffraction pattern that is then used to calculate the structure of the constituent molecules.
Although the technique is used today at synchrotrons to carry out a wide range of research in biology, chemistry and physics, it has a weakness: it requires molecules to be assembled into crystals. That leaves out many molecules that are of interest scientifically and practically, including the "membrane proteins" involved in regulating cellular input and output that would need to be targeted by certain drugs.