Monday, May 10, 2010

Physics - Risk Assessments and Brainiacs

It's the DOUBLE period of physics on MONDAY! Yay! *^o^*

Today we explored the world of insulators on transmission lines. But I won't go into detail on that.

The innovations of technology! Everything was prepared for us on a powerpoint presentation that was put up onto the smart board installed in our lab. If the teacher wanted to make a note all she had to do was lift the "marker" and she could make a mark directly on the presentation. Gyaah!!! So cool! There was also a video hyperlink included in the powerpoint presentation but it failed to work. It doesn't matter. Techno rocks!

On a random note: I'm so happy that I managed to fit all my notes on insulators into one A4 page of paper! It feels so neat.

We also had a demonstration of a simple AC induction motor that consisted of a turntable, rare earth magnets and a suspended aluminum disk. Rare earth magnets are COOL. They are so strong that you can't just pull them apart - you have to push them apart. And watch out for fingers. What happens when I have a rare earth magnet and someone else brings another rare earth magnet close to mine? Right, they SNAP together. Because it was an accidental meeting of magnets that wasn't meant to happen, my index finger was in the way. SNAP. Right on my nail. It stung. It hurt. But rare earth magnets are still fun. Our physics teacher looked at me shaking life into my finger and made the comment that she should have probably made a risk assessment before conducting the experiment. Risks increase exponentially when I'm around. And then again, almost everything that comes into contact with me is either lethal or destroyed. That is why delicate things tend to avoid me, and I am grateful for that.

On the other hand, I learnt about some famous scientists. Max Planck, Albert Einstein and Millikan. Here's how they are all connected: Max Planck came up with a mathematical trick that explained the black body radiation curve, but he had no self-confidence in his idea because it violated the ideas of classical physics. Albert Einstein was his student, and he borrowed Planck's trick to create a hypothesis about the photoelectric effect that Max Planck had observed (but Planck didn't think anything about it). Millikan was the one who proved Albert's Einstein's hypothesis, effectively proving Max Planck's trick because Einstein's hypothesis involved the usage of the trick. What trick is that? It is the Planck's constant, h = 6.626 x 10^(-34) J.s, as well as the equation E = hf. Planck's trick was also the basis of quantum physics as we know it today. WOW that is so cool how one trick could string together a bunch of brainiacs and affect our world just like that. 

Okay, I'm going to stop my rant now and sign off because I'm exhausted and a little sick. When I'm feeling better, I may elaborate on this post and bore everyone to tears over how much I love physics. XD

Cheers!
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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Blue polar bears and definitions

Ah. I've been bad. I have not kept up with my work at all. Neither school  nor recreational work has been up kept.  Because I have been a sleepy pig. The only explanation I have is I must have some mutation in my blood that causes me to have the characteristics of a cold-blooded reptile, because as the cold change rolls in across Australia, my levels of activeness have dropped dramatically. I have been sleeping so much. So lethargic.

The woolen blue polar bears have returned to school. Everyone resembles them by being so wrapped up in layers of uniform blue colour. I'm a blue polar bear too, with blue fingers and lips to match.

This week I have busied  myself catching up on work and scribbling down quotes and definitions that I  found funny and profound:

Sweater - a garment worn by a child when a parent feels chilly.

Baby sitter - a teenager pretending to be an adult when the adults are out pretending to be teenagers.

Tornado - Mother Nature doing the twist.

"Especially since my toddler recently discovered where Mummy disappears to during the day and now takes like a Mexican immigrant and dashes across the border into The Promised Land whenever the authorities aren't watching. Try typing with a toddler on your lap. They have 46 hands, all of them trying to delete your work." - Mia Freedman, Life, The Sun-Herald

"All he knew for certain was that when it came to his emotional state of being, he was f**ked up - to put it in the vernacular." - Chief Christopher Heart, The Switch by Sandra Brown

"I know quite enough about you to love you," she said earnestly. "I know you're kind. You're strong on the inside. You're clean...." - Missy Wright, the Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

"Sam sees the glass as half full. I see it as half empty. Kensi just drinks straight out of the glass. Nate wonders why it's glass. And Eric breaks the glass when he puts his feet up on the table." - Callen, NCIS L.A.

I love the last quote. It describes each character in NCIS LA almost perfectly.

Cheers!
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