Physics News from the AIP No 2, Term 1 2005



VicPhysics News: Term 4, No 7 2016

Dear ,

Table of Contents

1. Resources from the Unit 3 Course Planning Days

2. Unit 2 Survey by Vicphysics: Latest results

3. Forthcoming events for Students and the General Public

a) LIGO, Gravitational Waves and the New Astronomy, 6:30pm, Friday, 16th December, Swinburne University

b) Physics Days at Luna Park: Bookings are open

4. Forthcoming events for Teachers

a) Advancing Science & Engineering through Laboratory Learning,

i) 9am - 3pm, Tuesday 13th December, North Geelong

c) Physics Teachers' Conference, Thursday, 16th February, La Trobe University

5. Physics News from the Web

a) Do solar neutrinos affect nuclear decay on Earth?

b) Loops of ribbon inspire physicists

c) Gravity measured using a Bose–Einstein condensate on a chip

d) New optical device absorbs just one photon

Regards,

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

The executive of the VicPhysics Teachers' Network

1. Resources from the Unit 3 Course Planning Days

The material from the two days is now on the vicphysics website at . This includes:

• Prof Dick Gunstone's presentation on 'Fields, Force, Energy and Potential: alternative conceptions, analogies and learning'.

• A link to Prof Richard Morrow's website which has his presentation on 'The Physics of Lightning' among other interesting articles of electrostatic precipitators and electric shock.

• Numerous files from Theo Hughes on Special Relativity, including his presentation.

The material in the registration folders is also available at the above webpage and includes:

• A list of possible practical activities for Units 3 & 4.

• A sample course for Units 3 and 4. It includes a possible time allocation for Areas of Study and indeed, individual dot points, as well as possible activities.

• Common Misconceptions: A compilation from a range of sources of misconceptions that are relevant for the Unit 3 Areas of Study.

• Titles of Still Current Items from Previous “Vicphysics News” Newsletters relevant to Units 3 & 4.

• Sample assessment tasks with discussion questions.

• Revision question on Coulomb's law and Electric fields from exams in the 1970's compiled by Colin Hopkins.

Additional material on the webpage is:

• construction notes on the paper speaker cone from Paul Cuthbert.

• prac sheets on some experiments for Electric Fields.

• An article on Understanding Electricity and Circuits: What text books don't tell you

There was also a display of posters from the Unit 2 Practical Investigation Competition. These posters will be added to the Vicphysics website before the beginning of the school year..

2. Unit 2 Survey by Vicphysics: Latest results

So far 35 teachers have responded to the survey. This numbers provides a hint of how teachers of how teachers have approached Unit 2 this year, but we would like more responses, so if you have a spare few minutes in the final weeks, please complete the survey, details are below.

How have teachers done the Options?

• Options offered. 63% offered the students a choice of option(s). Of these half offered the full set of 12 options with no minimum number of students required for an option. The other half offered a selection. Also of those who offered a choice of options, for just under a fifth of them, the class did the one option.

• Options done (of the 35 respondents)

• What are stars? (18 offered, 14 did)

• Is there life beyond Earth’s Solar System? (16, 9)

• How do forces act on the human body? (19, 9)

• How can AC electricity charge a DC device? (15, 7)

• How do heavy things fly? (18, 18)

• How do fusion and fission compare as viable nuclear energy power sources? (15, 8)

• How is radiation used to maintain human health? (14, 10)

• How do particle accelerators work? (15, 7)

• How can human vision be enhanced?(19, 11)

• How do instruments make music? (22, 14)

• How can performance in ball sports be improved? (16, 9)

• How does the human body use electricity? (12, 5)

Fifteen (15) teachers did one option, 13 did between 2 and 5 options, 7 teachers did more than six options.

• Assessment tasks

All types of assessment tasks were used except the modelling activity and a proposed solution to .. a problem. The more popular tasks were: a report of a phenomenon (11), Test (7), summary report (6), data analysis (5) and a reflective learning journal/blog (5)

• Useful Resources

Other than textbooks, specific resources were, Astro: PhET, Crash Course Astronomy on Youtube, Flight: FoilSim, Particle accelerators: Synchrotron. The VVLN was also mentioned.

• Next year, any difference?

Mostly no, if anything, a little earlier and with more time.

The next newsletter will look at the Unit 2 Practical Investigation.

Vicphysics has set up a survey to: Vicphysics ...

• find out about teachers' experiences of the Unit 2 Options and the Practical Investigation Area of Study,

• share what worked well and

• identify areas where support is needed. 

The survey is on Survey Monkey and should take 15 minutes to complete. It can be accessed at

Progressive analysis can be seen at

4. Forthcoming events for Students and General Public

a) LIGO, Gravitational Waves and the New Astronomy, 6:30pm, Friday, 16th December, Swinburne University

Presenter: Dr Eric Thrane, Monash University

Abstract: On September 14, 2015, gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes rippled through the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The measurement of these ripples would ultimately lead to the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black hole, and the birth of an entirely new field of astronomy. In this talk, I trace the history of gravitational waves from Einstein to the LIGO detection. I'll describe how LIGO works and how we are using it to learn about black holes and other interesting objects. I'll discuss the future of gravitational-wave astronomy in Australia and around the world.

Venue: ATC101, Hawthorn campus, Swinburne university

Map:



b) Physics Days at Luna Park: Bookings Open

Next year the Physics Days at Luna Park will be on Tuesday, 7th March through to Friday 10th March.

The days will run from 10:00am to 2:00pm, unless an aerobatic display by a member of the RAAF Roulette team is confirmed, in which case the the display will be at 10:00am and the Physics Day will run from 10:30am until 2:30pm.

You can book on line at or contact Luna Park by phone on 9525 5033 or by fax on 9534 5764.

The cost will be $25.50 per student with teachers free.

You can book a tentative date now with approximate numbers and update details in January, once your timetable and class size is known.

If you wish to book a data logger for a half day, please contact Vicphysics at vicphys@ with subject: Datalogger booking and indicating on which day you will be coming and whether you want Vernier or Pasco.

5. Forthcoming events for Teachers

a) Advancing Science & Engineering through Laboratory Learning,

i) 9am - 3pm, Tuesday 13th December, North Geelong

This workshop is free, however, participants are requested to commit to sharing their learning from the workshop with colleagues within their school. The program includes hands-on sessions exploring exemplary practical activities targeted at the 7 – 10 science curriculum, as well as sessions investigating ideas for optimising science learning in the laboratory.

Session will include student participants and you may invite a student from your school to attend.

Morning tea and lunch provided together with comprehensive notes.

i) North Geelong Secondary College, 130 Separation St, North Geelong VIC 3215

Date and Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm, Tuesday 13 December 2016

To register please complete the registration form at

c) Physics Teachers' Conference, Thursday, 16th February, La Trobe University

The program includes:

• Day and late afternoon sessions. Participants can attend the day and/or the late afternoon sessions,

• Address on 'The why and how of Practical Investigations' by Brian McKittrick, respected physics teacher and author

• Address on 'Uncertain principles: Is the Heisenberg principle really about uncertainty?' by Dr Russell Anderson, Monash University

• Report by Andrew Hansen, the Chief Assessor, on the 2016 November Exam,

• VCAA Update and Unit 4 Poster presentation and Assessment by Maria James, Science Curriculum Manager, VCAA

• Over 50 workshops across four sessions, some on VCE topics, some on general topics across Years 7 - 12 and others specifically for Years 7 - 10

Copies of the Program and the Registration form are available on the STAV website,

Online registration is not yet available.

6. 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) Do solar neutrinos affect nuclear decay on Earth?

b) Loops of ribbon inspire physicists

c) Gravity measured using a Bose–Einstein condensate on a chip

d) New optical device absorbs just one photon

a) Do solar neutrinos affect nuclear decay on Earth?



Further evidence that solar neutrinos affect radioactive decay rates on Earth has been put forth by a trio of physicists in the US. While previous research looked at annual fluctuations in decay rates, the new study presents evidence of oscillations that occur with frequencies around 11 and 12.5 cycles per year. The latter oscillation appears to match patterns in neutrino-detection data from the Super-Kamiokande observatory, in Japan. Other physicists, however, are not convinced by the claim.

The idea of fluctuating beta-decay rates is very controversial because for more than 80 years, radioactive substances have been thought to follow a fixed exponential decay, under all conditions. The theory of invariable decay constants was set by Ernest Rutherford, James Chadwick and Charles Ellis in Radiations from Radioactive Substances, published in 1930.

In recent years, however, there have been suggestions that decay rates are not constant and are influenced by the Sun. In 2009, physicists from Purdue University in Indiana published a paper discussing unexplained annual fluctuations in long-term measurements of decay rates of silicon-32 and chlorine-36 at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York and radium-226 at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany.

b) Loops of ribbon inspire physicists



A simple study of how loops of ribbon respond when tightened has revealed a variety of different behaviours, according to physicists in Japan. Their results could help to explain biological phenomena such as how proteins interact with DNA or how pea-tendrils climb.

"The ribbon shape is very common," says Hirofumi Wada, a physicist at Ritsumeikan University in Japan. Ribbon-shaped phenomena range from helical bacteria to proteins and nanomaterials. "To study many biological problems, we have to understand more deeply the basic properties of ribbon-like objects," he says.

The experiment performed by Wada and colleagues was straightforward: put a loop in a paper ribbon, clamp it at both ends and pull on the loop to see what happens. "We thought in the beginning that somebody had already done it," Wada says. "Somebody should have already done it."

c) Gravity measured using a Bose–Einstein condensate on a chip



A new sensor that measures the local acceleration due to gravity using a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of ultracold atoms has been made by physicists in Germany, the US and Canada. While the prototype device is not as accurate as commercial gravimeters, its makers say it could be made much smaller and much more accurate than existing devices.

Atoms can be used to measure the acceleration due to gravity by cooling a gas of them to near absolute zero and then dropping them along two different paths in an interferometer. The quantum interference that occurs when the paths converge at a detector provides a very good measure of gravity, with commercial atom interferometers able to measure the acceleration to within one part in 108. Such measurements are invaluable for geological exploration because the presence of certain minerals can be spotted by seeking tiny variations in gravity at the Earth's surface.

d) New optical device absorbs just one photon



Physicists in Germany have created a new optical device that can absorb exactly one photon. They say that this device, which exploits the physical properties of giant micron-sized atoms known as Rydberg atoms, could be used in optical quantum computing networks of the future.

Sebastian Hofferberth of the University of Stuttgart explains that the device first behaves like a dark sunglasses lens, but once it absorbs its first photon it becomes transparent to light. One important application of the device, says Hofferberth, could be to absorb single photons from a quantum network. Another potential application is a precise photon counter, which could be made by putting a number of the devices in series.

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