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Particle Physics

Shirley Ho - The First Three Minutes

Dr. Ho presented a brief description of the four fundamental forces: Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong, and Weak; and described how these forces united at earlier times in the nascent universe.

Lecture pdf

Video

Minds On

Sean Fottrell - RedShift and the Hubble Constant

Students analyzed data on a spreadsheet and were able to measure the rate at which the universe is expanding. This expansion was first discovered by Edwin Hubble in 1929, and it led to the Big Bang theory of the universe. The data students used was originally published by the Supernova Cosmology Project at LBNL. The two important components of the data were: (1) the brightness of supernovae in distant galaxies, which students used to determine the distance to those galaxies, and (2) the redshift of the light from the supernovae which students used as a measure of how much the universe had expanded. Students were able to show that the universe is not currently slowing its expansion due to gravity, but is actually accelerating its expansion. This revolutionary discovery was first published by the Supernova Cosmology Project in 1998, and has led to the idea that a heretofore unknown "Dark Energy" is currently the dominant constituent of our universe.

• Expanding Universe exercise

• Expanding Universe data

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Mr. Fottrell used The History and Fate of the Universe chart to illustrate events from The Big Bang to the present.

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• Math Activity

Dr. Otto brought in a uranium glazed Fiesta Ware bowl that is radioactive. 
Activity: Check it out with a Geiger Counter.  Look up the U-238 decay chain.  (Alpha to Thorium and Beta’s to Uranium followed by more alphas and betas to Lead) Assume there is 500 grams of uranium-238 in the Bowl.  Calculate (estimate) the radioactive decay rate and number of atoms of U-234 in the bowl.

The red color in Fiesta Ware was achieved by adding uranium oxide in the glaze - measurements have indicated that by weight, up to 14 % of the glaze might be uranium. How much glaze was employed per plate is unclear but it has been estimated that a single plate contains 4.5 grams of uranium (Buckley et al). Piesch et al estimated the glaze thickness at 0.2 mm.

Since this uranium could be used in the production of an atomic bomb, Fiesta red became a victim of World War II when the US government confiscated the company’s stocks of uranium. Fiesta red disappeared until 1959 when production resumed, this time using depleted uranium (DU) rather than the original natural uranium. The Fiesta red plate in the above photo was made from depleted uranium. From Fiesta Ware (ca. 1930s)

Wrap up: Cyber Reflections

Students and Teachers summarize learning using Facebook and Inspiration software

21st Century Cosmology

Astronomy

Nuclear Science

Mt. Diablo Field Trip

Dark Energy

Dark Matter

The Large Hadron Collider and the Higgs Particle

Cal Teach Stations

Final Day: Student presentations

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