Physics News from the AIP No 2, Term 1 2005



VicPhysics News: Term 1, No 5, 2016

Dear ,

This edition of the newsletter is about Competitions and Events for students. This year the Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament (VYPT) is linked to the Unit 2 Practical Investigation, while in the next few weeks there are six events that will be of value to Year 11 students.

Table of Contents

1. Events for students:

a) Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament

b) Physics Photo Contest

c) Physics Video Contest

2. Physics Simulations from Interactives.

3. Exploring Light: Hands-on Activities and Strategies for Teachers: A free online course

4. Gravitational waves: the Australian connection

5. Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public

a) Into the heart of darkness: supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, 6:30pm Thursday, 10th March, Monash University

b) Lunar Mission One at Melbourne Friday, 11 March 2016, 5:30–7pm, University of Melbourne

c) Cosmic Engine: Video Conference for Year 11 students, 2pm AEDT, 15th March

d) VCE Physics Lecture: Thermodynamics: The hot and cold of it, 6pm, Thursday, 17th March, University of Melbourne

e) Planets: From our Solar System to new Exoworlds, 6:30pm, Friday, 18th March, Swinburne University

f) Capturing the Cosmos launch and Q&A session, 1pm, 21st March, a Webinar

6. Forthcoming events for Teachers

a) An Evening with Dr Brian Greene, string theorist, 6pm, Saturday, 19th March, Melbourne Park Function Centre

b) Practical Activities Workshops and Equipment Fair, Thursday 7th April, Camberwell Grammar School

c) Beginning Physics Teachers' In-Service, Friday, 8th April, Kew High School

d) Astronomy from the Ground Up! , 29 April - 1 May, CSIRO Parkes Observatory

7. Physics News from the Web

a) Ultra-thin graphene lens breaks diffraction limit: A Victorian initiative.

b) Self healing asphalt: A TED talk

c) Ultrathin lens is free of chromatic aberrations: An American initiative

The next meeting of the Vicphysics Teachers' Network will be at 5pm on Tuesday, 8th March at the University of Melbourne. All teachers are welcome to attend this or any other meeting. If you would like to attend, please contact Vicphysics at vicphys@

Regards,

Frances Sidari, Jane Coyle, Barbara McKinnon and Dan O'Keeffe.

The executive of the VicPhysics Teachers' Network

1. Events for students:

a) Victorian Young Physicists' Tournament

A competition for Victorian Years 10 and 11 students with an emphasis on team based experimental investigations and oral reporting in competition. Students, in teams of three, investigate three topics. Then at the end of the year, they present their findings in scientific discussions, defend them and in turn, challenge the findings of other teams.

There are two sets of topics this year. Teams will need to select either Set A or Set B.

The topics relate to Unit 2 content and are ideal topics for the Unit 2 Area of Study 'Practical Investigation'.

For 2016 the two sets of topics are:

Set A

1. Acceleration due to Gravity Determine the acceleration due to gravity, g, to as many significant figures as your school equipment allows. Note: This is not an exercise on accuracy, that is, how close you get to the accepted value of 9.8 m s-2, but rather, about choosing or comparing the various methods of determining 'g' and being precise in your measurements of the various quantities needed to calculate 'g'.

2. Wet cleaning A wet rag is hard to drag when it is spread out and pulled across the floor. What does the resistive force depend on?

3. Paper Bridge It is more difficult to bend a paper sheet, if it is folded “accordion style” or rolled into a tube. Using a single A4 sheet and a small amount of glue, if required, construct a bridge spanning a gap of 280 mm. What factors affect the strength of your bridge? How would you measure the strength of the bridge?

Set B

1. Refractive Index of Glass Determine the refractive index of glass, ng, to as many significant figures as your school equipment allows. Note: This is not an exercise on accuracy, that is, how close you get to the accepted value, but rather, about choosing or comparing the various methods of determining ng and being precise in your measurements of the various quantities needed to calculate ng.

2. Tipcat Place a small wooden stick over the edge of a desk. Hit the end of the stick overhanging the table so that it flies away. How is the flight distance related to the relevant parameters? What is the condition for a max horiz distance?

3. Rubber band powered car A twisted or stretched rubber band stores energy and can be used to power a model car for example. Design such a car and consider questions such as How efficient is your car? How does the efficiency depend on properties of the rubber band? and how could your design be improved?

Competition Dates: Year 10 teams: Tuesday, 29th November, Year 11 teams: Wednesday, 30th November

Venue: University High School, Parkville.

Prizes: There are school and student prizes.

To Register: Schools don't need to register until early November.

Further Information: Check

b) Physics Photo Contest

Open to students in Victorian schools. The photos should involve everyday situations that may demonstrate a variety of physics concepts or a set up to show a particular physics concept or related set of concepts.

Prize pool: up to $1000

Entry: The photo must be submitted as an email attachment and accompanied by a statement of 250 words or less describing the physics in the photo and must be written by the entrant.

Entrants may submit more than one photo, however each entrant can receive only one prize. More details about the Contest Rules and Entry Agreement can be found at photocontest.html

Closing Date: Photos will be accepted until the first day of Term 4.

c) Physics Video Contest - Theme: Climate Change

Open to students in Victorian schools. Students are encouraged to video a discussion between two or more students regarding Climate Change in which some students ask FAQs and the other students answer the questions explaining the Science involved with or without visual aid. Students could use the videos by Dr Derek Muller, as a guide to how to structure a video. His videos can be found at his website, Veritasium.

Prize pool: up to $1000

Advice and information about the contest rules and entry agreement can be found at Videocontest.html .

Entry: The video may not be longer than three minutes in length. Professional editing is not required. Please note: Unsafe practices will not be accepted.

Closing Date: The first day of term 4.

2. Physics Simulations from Interactives.

Interactives. is set of interactive simulations across a broad range of physics. There are about 100 simulations covering Motion, Light, Sound, Electricity, Thermodynamics, Atomic and Nuclear and Electromagnetism, although most are on Motion.

There is a useful introductory video on the design of the simulations. Each simulation is on a specific topic, for example 'centripetal acceleration'.

Each simulation has a context based question and starts with a well paced animation of the situation with short statements explaining the physics. This leads on to a simulation in which you use a slide control to adjust the simulation and then onto a page of questions some of which have been generated by other users and to which you can add questions. Finally there are extension activities. Each screen has links to some or all of the following: explanations of the concepts involved, a tutorial and a 'challenge me' section. You can also quickly advance from screen to screen.

After viewing the first one, if you want to check out more then you need to sign in either through Google, Twitter, Facebook or Microsoft Live. Similarly your students will need to sign in to use them.

Item supplied by Jane Coyle, Albert Park College

3. Exploring Light: Hands-on Activities and Strategies for Teachers: A free online course

This is an Exploratorium Teacher Institute (US) online professional development course open to any science teacher (particularly middle or high school level) and light enthusiast. Designed as a hands-on workshop, the course explores topics and strategies that teachers can use to help their students become active investigators of light. It is done with Coursera, a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).

There is no cost and the course is offered at regular intervals. The next one starts in a week of so.



As a participant, you will:

• Watch videos that demonstrate natural phenomena and the Exploratorium's approach to teaching and learning

• Conduct personal investigations by engaging in hands-on activities based in those phenomena - Reflect and share your experience doing activities

• Discuss and identify challenges and opportunities for teaching

• Devise a lesson of your own based on one or more of the activities Each week, we'll look at a different light-related topic.

The course will start by examining human visual perception, then take a brief historical tour of our evolving scientific understanding. It also look at optics and optical instruments and finish by looking at modern models of light as a wave and a particle. To get the most out of this experience, you'll have to try out some activities. In return, you'll get lots of valuable teaching resources, an in-depth understanding of the subject matter, and useful tips and techniques for the classroom.

Item supplied by Paul Fielding, Billanook College.

4. Gravitational waves: the Australian connection

Last month researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced they had successfully detected gravitational waves for the first time. 

More than a thousand scientists from 16 countries and over 80 institutions played their part in the discovery, including, fromAustralia:

• Researchers at the Australian National University developed the mirror-tilt systems that allow LIGO’s lasers to be steered so accurately. The ANU’s David McClelland is head of the Australian Partnership in Advanced LIGO.

• David Blair’s Group at the University of Western Australia established the effect of high-powered laser light on mirror instability.

• Andrew Melatos’s team at the University of Melbourne provided theoretical input and computer modelling, using supercomputers and smart algorithms to scour LIGO’s data.

• Peter Veitch and colleagues as the University of Adelaide developed the optical sensors used to correct absorption-induced wavefront distortion of LIGO’s detectors, enabling the high sensitivity needed to detect signals that are only about one-thousandth of the width of a proton across.

• Philip Charlton and researchers at Charles Sturt University worked on calibration of the LIGO detectors and data analysis development.

• Monash University researcher Yuri Levin, with Kip Thorn at CalTech, helped identify the thermal noise that had to be addressed in the LIGO mirrors, while Eric Thrane and Paul Lasky studied LIGO data, characterising noise sources and searching for neutron star signals.

• CSIRO polished and coated some of the Advanced LIGO’s mirrors—among the most uniform and precise such coatings ever made.

Immediately following the discovery in September last year, by prior arrangement, the location of the event was shared with over 60 teams of observers around the world, including here in Australia, allowing immediate observation right across the electromagnetic spectrum. Their observations were published this week, with over 1500 authors on the paper.

5. Forthcoming events for Students and General Public

a) Into the heart of darkness: supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, 6:30pm Thursday, 10th March, Monash University

Speaker: Prof. Darren Croton is a theoretical and numerical astrophysicist from Swinburne University's Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing. His research explores the formation and evolution of galaxies in the local and distant Universe, using both supercomputer simulations and large observational data sets. He founded the Theoretical Astrophysical Observatory (TAO), an online virtual laboratory where astronomers can build and analyse their own virtual universes.

Abstract: Black holes are amongst the most bizarre objects predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Many people may not realise that our own galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its centre that is three million times more massive than our own Sun!

In this talk I will discuss the physics of black holes and their formation, how they can grow to become so massive, active black hole "quasars" in the distant universe, and the unexpected impact that a supermassive black hole can have on the evolution of an entire galaxy. We will finish by side stepping into the exotic world of wormholes, the black hole's tormented cousin.

Venue: Lecture theatre S4, 16 Rainforest Walk (Building 25), Monash University, Clayton Campus.

Check for a poster and travel information.

There are lectures coming up in April and May. There are also articles available at on i) Light years and units for stars, ii) A solar magnetic reversal and iii) Science of Dr Who.

b) Lunar Mission One at Melbourne Friday, 11 March 2016, 5:30–7pm, University of Melbourne

Lunar Mission One is an internationally crowd-funded effort to send an autonomous robotic lander to the Moon’s South Pole in 2024, to perform scientific experiments and leave a time capsule containing a permanent record of humanity. The lander will drill deep into the lunar surface, accessing rock samples up to 4.5 billion years old to reveal secrets about the early days of the solar system, and evaluate local conditions for a permanent manned base.

This public lecture by David Iron introduces Lunar Mission One and its motivations, the scientific and social importance of the mission and the future of international space exploration.

David Iron is a former Royal Navy Engineering Officer and advisor to national investment institutions. With sixteen years of experience in the space sector, David's work towards commercialising and financing international space exploration led him to originate the concept for Lunar Mission One in 2008.

5.30 - 6.00pm: Refreshments

6.00 - 7.30: Public lecture - Lunar Mission One founder David Iron (+ Q&A)

Venue: Copland Theatre, 198 Berkeley St, Carlton

Cost: Free

RSVP required by 11/3/2016 to

c) Cosmic Engine: Video Conference for Year 11 students, 2pm AEDT, 15th March

This is an initiative of CAASTRO in the Classroom. The video conferencing session runs for 40 minutes, which includes a 25-30 minutes presentation, followed by 10 minutes for questions.

Content: What happened in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, and how did the first stars and galaxies form? What role does nuclear fusion play in the formation and evolution of stars?

Spots are limited so you need to book. Bookings close on 8th March.

To book you need to register first at and obtain further details.

Classroom resources for each session include work to prepare students for the session and follow-up activities.

This page lists all their video conferences for the rest of the year, , they all relate to the solar system and cosmology in general.

d) VCE Physics Lecture: Thermodynamics: The hot and cold of it, 6pm, Thursday, 17th March, University of Melbourne

Presenter: A/Prof Andy Martin of University of Melbourne. The lecture will be in the Hercus Theatre at 6pm.

A promotional poster can be downloaded from here,

For further details and a map of the venue, go to

e) Planets: From our Solar System to new Exoworlds, 6:30pm, Friday, 18th March, Swinburne University

Presenters: Elodie Thiliez and Matthew Agnew, 3rd and 1st year PhD students at Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University

Abstract: The Solar system is a remarkable place filled with wonderfully varied worlds. Travelling outwards from the sun we first encounter the hellish, rocky bodies of Mercury and Venus, continue to the cooler, water bearing world of Earth and our close neighbour Mars. Beyond the asteroid belt we hit the majestic gas giants of Jupiter and Saturn and continuing on our voyage we finally reach the cold ice giants of Uranus and Neptune. The Solar system is our home and our starting point for understanding planetary systems and their architectures. Until the late 20th century these were the only planets known to us, however, in the last two decades, there has been enormous and rapid progress in the discovery and understanding of planets beyond our Solar system, dubbed Exoplanets. As we discover more and more of these exoplanets, and the planetary systems to which they belong, our understanding of planet formation and planetary architectures has changed and raised several questions. Where did these Jupiter-sized, gas giants orbiting their stars in as little as 3 days come from? What is a 'super Earth'? Will we find another habitable world? In this lecture we will answer some of these questions as we explore our very own Solar system, look at how we observe and discover Exoplanets, and examine how these other planetary systems differ to our own.

Date: Friday 18 March

Time: 6.30pm - 7.30pm (please arrive by 6.25 pm if possible)

Venue: Swinburne University, Hawthorn campus, AMDC building, AMDC301 (enter from Burwood road)

Map:

**This theatre holds 274 so register early. The last lecture attracted 430 people.

Click on this link to register for the next lecture



All previously recorded lectures can be heard and sometimes viewed by scrolling down at this link

f) Capturing the Cosmos launch and Q&A session, 1pm, 21st March, Webinar

'Capturing the Cosmos' is a new planetarium show produced by CAASTRO. It explores the exciting work of Australian astronomers and astrophysicists. To celebrate the release of 'Capturing the Cosmos' Scienceworks is running a free webinar where students will have the unique opportunity to ask questions directly to astronomers and astrophysicists about their work and questions about the Big Bang, dark matter, expansion of the universe and anything else to do with space.

Date: Monday 21 March, 2016

Time: 1.00pm-1.45pm

Where: Online

Year levels: 9-11

Cost: Free

Bookings: Email chocking@museum..au with student numbers and year levels. You’ll be emailed confirmation details about accessing the event in the days before the session.

Special guests include:

Dr Tanya Hill, Manager, Senior Curator Astronomy, Melbourne Planetarium

Dr Tanya Hill develops new astronomy productions for the Melbourne Planetarium and creates opportunities for the general public to find out about astronomical events and learn of new discoveries about our Universe.

Dr Ben McKinley, Research staff, University of Melbourne (member of CAASTRO, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics). Dr McKinley is primarily interested in making new discoveries about the early evolution of the Universe using low-frequency radio telescopes, in particular the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA).

Mr Jack Line PHD student, University of Melbourne (member of CAASTRO, the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics) Jack Line is primarily interested in characterising nearby radio loud galaxies across the entire southern sky. With this knowledge, the MWA team hopes to peer behind them to look at the effects of the very first galaxies that existed over 10 billion years ago, during the 'Epoch of Reionisation'.

 

Students can submit their questions beforehand on Scienceworks' Padlet wall [  ] or during the session. The event will be broadcast on YouTube.

If teachers are interested in seeing a free preview of the NEW Planetarium show called Capturing the Cosmos, please click .

6. Forthcoming events for Teachers

a) An Evening with Dr Brian Greene, string theorist, 6pm, 19th March, Melbourne Park Function Centre

Dr Brian Greene is a renowned string theorist and author of The Elegant Universe (1999), The Fabric of the Cosmos (2005), The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos (2011), and the sci-fi novella Icarus at the Edge of Time (2008). "Greene’s career as a science communicator makes him the gravitational force that brings mind-bending concepts of theoretical physics down to Earth for the nourishment of a scientifically literate – or at the very least, scientifically interested – society".

Ticket prices begin at $86.25 . To purchase tickets and more details go to

.

b) Practical Activities Workshops and Equipment Fair, Thursday 7th April, Camberwell Grammar School

Vicphysics Teachers' Network is expanding on last year's successful event to include the new topics in the Study Design. This year's program will include:

a. Hands on, self paced workshops on practical activities for various VCE Physics topics including Thermodynamics for Unit 1 and Electric Fields for Unit 3. Each workshop will start with a brief run through of the practical activities on offer, after which participants are free to check out as many as they wish. The workshops are nominally for those new to teaching or new to teaching physics, but they will be of value to anyone seeking to renew or refresh their ideas.

b. Presentations of the demonstrations for Electromagnetism for those seeking to enrich their repertoire of demos,

c. Presentations by Adrian Alexander from his 'Sound in Practice' excursion for the Unit 2 Sound option,

d. All day displays of physics equipment from the suppliers, Ciderhouse and Haines, for those considering budgets for next year, and

e. A tour of the school's recently refurbished science facilities. The tour will include the labs, preparation areas, and a 'Journey through Science' corridor of exemplary displays designed to engage students in science.

The program will also be of value to trainee teachers and lab technicians.

Venue Camberwell Grammar School, Mont Albert Rd, Canterbury

Cost: $30 to teachers and lab technicians, free to trainee teachers . Lunch is provided.

Registration will be with Trybooking at

The program consisted of five (5) 45 minute sessions, with several activities on offer in each session. When registering you will need to indicate which activity you want for each of the sessions for which you plan to stay. For some activities, such as the hands on self paced workshops, you may prefer to spend more than one session on the activity.

For more details of the workshops on offer go to workshop.html

c) Beginning Physics Teachers' In-Service, Friday, 8th April, Kew High School

Vicphysics will be running a full day in-service on Friday, 8th April at Kew High School. The event is free and travel support is available for country participants.

The program will include:

• a presentation by Colin Hopkins, Bialik College, different to his Conference presentation,

• Andrew Hansen, Chief Assessor from Ringwood Secondary College on Exam advice, as well as

• Information on resources, advice of teaching specific topics and suggestions from some of last year's participants after teaching physics for the first time in 2015.

To register please email the Vicphysics at danok@ with subject “Registration: New Physics Teachers” and include in the email, not only your contact details, but your reason for applying as this will guide the design of the program. Information about last year's program is at .

d) Astronomy from the Ground Up! , 29 April - 1 May, CSIRO Parkes Observatory

An opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in astronomy at CSIRO's Parkes Observatory, home of the iconic 64m Parkes radio telescope. Over three days you will hear about the latest research in astronomy, tour The Dish, trial classroom activities, learn new approaches to teaching astronomy and how to run a viewing night while networking with colleagues and professional astronomers. This professional development event also qualifies as a Galileo Teacher Training Program workshop, giving you international accreditation.

Cost: $550 includes GST, resources and most meals.

For more information and Registration go to

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) Ultra-thin graphene lens breaks diffraction limit: A Victorian initiative.

b) Self healing asphalt: A TED talk

c) Ultrathin lens is free of chromatic aberrations: An American initiative

a) Ultra-thin graphene lens breaks diffraction limit



A new lens only 200 nm thick will allow imaging of living creatures as small as a single bacterium. The graphene-oxide lens was developed by Swinburne University of Technology and Monash University researchers, who used laser technology to shape the lens’s three concentric rings in a sprayed film of graphene oxide. 

The strong, flexible and extremely lightweight lens will allow viewing of living, interacting organisms down to around 200 nm, below the Abbe diffraction limit (of half the wavelength of visible light, around 250 nm).

The new lens could replace the relatively bulky lenses now used in smartphones, and phones of the future may be able to produce thermal images that could assist in remote medical diagnosis.

b) Self healing asphalt: A TED talk



Erik Schlangen, civil engineer at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands who develops “self-healing” materials. One of his projects involves mixing porous asphalt with fibres of steel wool. The resulting conglomerate is magnetic, which means that microscopic cracks in it can be repaired using induction heating. The heat melts the bitumen in the asphalt, allowing it to re-fuse, but the surrounding aggregate remains relatively cool – meaning that cars can be driven over asphalt road surfaces almost as soon as the repair is complete.

Another of Schlangen’s projects relates to concrete that has, in effect, been doped with a mixture of bacteria and calcium lactate. When water seeps into a crack in this concrete, the bacteria spring into action: they convert the calcium lactate into calcium carbonate, which blocks up the cracks and makes it harder for the water to penetrate. These busy bacteria can “heal” cracks up to a millimetre in diameter, although Schlangen concedes that it does take them about a month to get the job done.

At the end of the session, hw was asked Schlangen what was preventing such materials from being adopted more widely. “Money,” he said, bluntly. “Contractors don’t like us – they would prefer to build a road and then come back and repair it again in three years.” However, he added, there have been some positive developments recently in his native Netherlands, where contractors have bid to look after particular roads for 30 or more years – thus giving them an excellent, long-term incentive to cut the cost and frequency of repairs.

c) Ultrathin lens is free of chromatic aberrations



A new type of flat, ultrathin lens designed to be free of chromatic aberrations has been developed by researchers in the US. The device has a variety of potential applications, from ultralight imaging systems for drone aircraft to more compact lenses for mobile-phone cameras.

Lenses for cameras, eyeglasses and other applications are traditionally based on refractive optics, which involves using curved lenses to bend light rays. The "optical power" of a conventional lens – how strongly it bends light – is proportional to its thickness, which means that a conventional refractive lens cannot be very thin. Refractive lenses also suffer from chromatic dispersion, wherein blue light bends more than red, and therefore multiple images are produced over a range of focal lengths. Multiple lenses can cancel out this dispersion, but this adds further to the weight, thickness and cost of a lens system.

Diffractive lenses offer a route to ultrathin lenses by redirecting light using the interference between light waves as they pass through a series of slits in a thin opaque material. Such lenses can be effectively flat, and therefore much lighter and thinner than refractive optics. However, diffractive lenses suffer from much larger dispersion. And to further complicate matters, this dispersion is anomalous with red light bending more than blue.

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