Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1Inst i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
Series 5, Number 8 March 2004
The newsletter of the Institute of Physics in Ireland
This year marks the 40thanniversary of the Esat-BTYoung Scientist and TechnologyExhibition. The Institute ofPhysics in Ireland supported theoccasion with a large stand
demonstrating hands-on physicsexperiments in the IndustriesHall at the RDS in Dublin.
The stand was formed byexhibits from University CollegeDublin (UCD), Dublin Institute of
Technology (DIT) and Dublin CityUniversity (DCU). Dr Tim Roe,who is a retired lecturer fromGalway-Mayo Institute ofTechnology, brought the Coriolisexhibit (Physics on Stage 3
article, p4). School studentsfrom St Dominic’s High School inSanta Sabina, Dublin; SandfordPark School in Ranelagh, Dublin;and St Joseph of ClunySecondary School in Killiney,
Dublin stages 40th anniversaryof Young Scientist Exhibition
The stand of the Institute of Physics in Ireland at the Young Scientistand Technology Exhibition clearly attracted a great deal of attention.
School students from St Dominic’s High School in Santa Sabina, Dublin,demonstrating simple, reproducible ideas from Physics on Stage 3.
PHYSICSIN IRELAND
Left: Prof. Martin Henry presents the Institute of Physics in Ireland Special Prize to Roisin McCloskey and Breandan McChnoic from Lumen ChristiCollege in Derry at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. They won the prize for their project entitled “Self organised criticality in thedynamics of sandpiles”. Right: Prof. Eugene Kennedy of Dublin City University demonstrates the effects of liquid nitrogen on a variety of subjects.
Dublin, demonstrated simple,reproducible ideas from Physicson Stage 3. The public tried outphysics with exhibits such asUCD’s light box and DCU’sdemonstration of the effects ofcooling objects with liquidnitrogen, including enjoying ataste of ice-cream that was
made with liquid nitrogen.Hundreds entered the physics
questions competition to try towin the plasma ball. Theeventual winner drawn wasBrian Duffy from Tallaght, Dublin.
The winners of the IOP inIreland Special Prize were RoisinMcCloskey and Breandan
McChnoic from Lumen ChristiCollege, Derry City, for theirproject, “Self-organisedcriticality in the dynamics ofsandpiles”. Roisin and Breandanused sesame seeds for the“sand” in their project andprobably skewed the market forsesame seeds by buying all that
they could find in Coleraine!What was the most difficult partof their project? Breandan said:“Finding enough time tocomplete our research as thework increased at every stage asthe project progressed.”
In 1987 Per Bak and hiscolleagues, while working at the
The Institute’s chief executive, Dr Julia King, her husband and Dr TonyScott at the dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary of the exhibition.
A light box (under the white curtain), set up by University College Dublinto show the effect of different colour lights on our perception of colour.
Dr Eilish McLoughlin of Dublin CityUniversity demonstrates the effectof liquid nitrogen on a balloon.
Winners of the IOP in Ireland’sSpecial Prize, Roisin McCloskeyand Breandan McChnoic of LumenChristi College in Derry City.
A demonstration from Dublin Institute of Technologyshowing total internal reflection within a jet of water.
Dr Tim Roe from the Galway-MayoInstitute of Technology putting on ademonstration of the Coriolis effect.
Aisling Walsh, a third-year physics student at DublinInstitute of Technology, demonstrates the endoscope.
Dr Tony Scott and Rev Dr Tom Burke receiving awards for initiating theYoung Scientist and Technology Exhibition 40 years ago. The awardswere presented at the gala dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary.
2Inst i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
3Ins t i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
Brookhaven National Laboratoryin the US, suggested that manysystems, from earthquakes tostock markets, tend to self-organize into a state that hasthe characteristics of a criticalpoint – the absence ofcharacteristic time, energy orlength scales. This they calledself-organized criticality. Thestereotypical model for thisbehaviour is a sand pile, onwhich grains of sand aresprinkled one at a time. As thepile grows, its sides becomesteeper, eventually reaching acritical state when just one moregrain triggers an avalanche.
In their project Roisin andBreandan investigated self-
organized criticality bothexperimentally, using a pile ofsesame seeds monitored by adigital camera, andmathematically, using computerprograms written in Fortran.
The origin of the YoungScientist Exhibition 40 years agowas the initiative of two physicsresearchers at University CollegeDublin: Rev Dr Tom Burke andDr Tony Scott. In 1963, whileresearching atmospheric physicsat the New Mexico Institute ofMining and Technology, Fr Burkeand Tony Scott watched thedemonstration launch of astudent’s rocket that was beingentered as a project at the StateScience Fair. From this fair the
winners went on to participate inthe US-based InternationalScience and Engineering Fair.The idea took hold, and Dr Scottand Fr Burke resolved toorganize a similar event forschools in Ireland.
From early on the winnersfrom the Irish Young Scientistand Technology Exhibiton havegone on to compete in theEuropean competition, andsome have also competed in theUS International Science andEngineering Fair with notablesuccess. This year, for the firsttime, The EU Young ScientistContest will be held in Ireland,at University College Dublin, inSeptember 2004. Throughout
the 40 years, Tony Scott hasremained closely involved in allaspects of the event, includingjudging every year, and he hasbeen instrumental in bringingthe EU contest to Ireland.
Tony Scott and Fr Burke werehonoured with special awards atthe Gala dinner, which was heldto celebrate the 40thanniversary of the exhibition inIreland. The Institute was wellrepresented – the Institute’schief executive, Dr Julia King,and her husband were presentat the dinner and also visitedthe exhibition. Alison Hackettand Peter van der Burgtattended the dinner on behalf ofthe IOP in Ireland.
Dear members,Shaping the future of theInstitute of Physics in Ireland –have your say!Planning for the future of theIOP in Ireland has been going onfor some time, with thecommittee members combiningtheir considerable talents for thepurpose. A draft three-yearstrategic plan has beenprepared and we are nowbreaking cover to ask allmembers for their input.
The plan deals with the mainissues for the Institute: physicseducation and research;membership and services;relationships with otherscientific bodies (includinggovernment and industry); andthe structure and organization ofthe branch. This consultationdocument is available fordownload at http://ireland.iop.org/strategy.html. Please sendyour comments to Peter van derBurgt (Department ofExperimental Physics, NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth,Maynooth, Co. Kildare; [email protected]).
The prioritization of the mainelements of the final plan will bebased on the importance thatyou attach to the variousrecommendations in the draft.
Changes at the Royal IrishAcademyA new committee structure hasbeen established at the RoyalIrish Academy, and the former
separate National Committeesfor Chemistry and Physics arenow a single, newly constitutedNational Committee for thePhysical Sciences.
This change is very recent andthe situation is still evolving, butone immediate consequence isthat the work of the NationalCommission for the Teaching ofPhysics could be at risk. Thishard-working group, whichcovers the whole island,organizes highly valued in-service courses for physicsteachers (the Frontiers ofPhysics series), provides inputto state examinations, preparesbook reviews and so on.
The committee has engagedwith this group to help tomaintain its much valuedcontributions to physics, and intime to see how its work andthat of the Education group ofthe IOP in Ireland might becomemore fully aligned. Instituteheadquarters are aware of thisnew facet to the work of thebranch in Ireland and strongsupport has been voiced forcontinuing the work of theNational Commission.
News from London – bursariesfor students taking physicsThe Institute made the news in abig way recently in Britain withthe announcement thatbursaries would be provided forstudents taking physics degrees.The plan being developed is toprovide approximately £1000
per annum per student, butthere are conditions to be met.For example, only students whoqualify for maintenance supportwill be eligible, and the degreeprogramme must have Instituteof Physics accreditation.
The commencement date is acouple of years away, but thescheme will apply throughoutBritain and Ireland. Severaldetails have to be workedthrough. For example, in Ireland,many physics degrees are basedon a general science intakewhereas others are physicsdenominated from first year, soan equitable system has to bedrawn up. This is a significantnew policy initiative and itremains to be seen how it willimpact on students’ choices.
World Year of Physics 20052005 is World Year of Physicsand the Institute of Physics inIreland has started to makeplans for activities in Ireland. Anumber of events organized by
Institute headquarters will bebrought over to Ireland fromBritain, and other activities willbe organized by IOP in Ireland.
The World Year of Physics2005 (see http://www.physics2005.org/) plans to bringthe excitement of physics to thepublic and inspire a newgeneration of scientists, and it istimed to coincide with thecentennial celebration of AlbertEinstein’s “miraculous year”. InIreland, 2005 is also HamiltonYear, to celebrate thebicentenary of Hamilton’s birthin Dublin. The Royal IrishAcademy is organizing a numberof events in this context.
Spring Weekend Meeting 2004in ArmaghI hope to welcome many of youto the IOPI/ASGI joint meetingon Astronomy and Astrophysicsin Ireland in Armagh on 1–4 April2004. The programme wasmailed to you as an insert withthe February issue of PhysicsWorld but it’s also available fordownload from http://ireland.iop.org/weekend.html.
The Spring Weekend Meetingthis year promises to be anotherexcellent occasion for thephysics community in Ireland. Ihope you will be able to supportyour colleagues and theirpostgraduates students inattending, and I look forward tomeeting you all in Armagh.Martin Henry, Chair, Institute ofPhysics in Ireland
Martin Henry, chair of the IOPI.
A message from the IOPI chair
The Irish Physics StudentsAssociation conference of theacademic year 2002/3 was heldat University College Cork (UCC)on Friday 28 February to Sunday2 March 2003.
Students from all of thecolleges around the countrywere welcome. The number ofpeople who attended wasestimated to be 45–50. NUIGalway, University of Limerickand Cork Institute of Technologywere strongly represented. Dueto the lack of a strong physicssociety in some of the Dublin-based colleges, their attendancewas disappointing.
The weekend kicked off with atable quiz hosted in UCC’s on-campus bar on Friday evening.This was an good opportunity tomeet students from othercolleges face to face as a lot ofthe organization of the eventwas done through e-mails. Thelectures started on Saturdaymorning at 10.00 a.m. with thefollowing schedule:A Brief History of Quarks Dr SimonHands, Swansea University,WalesFractals in Nature Dr DavidCorcoran, University of LimerickNMRC-sponsored talk Dr JimGreer, NMRC, UCC
Astrophysics Dr Paul Callanan,UCCInto the Heart of Matter Dr HelenHeath, CERN
Refreshments were availableoutside the lecture hall allmorning, and lunch was servedat 1.00 p.m. Lectures finished at4.00 p.m. but the conferencecontinued at 8.00 p.m. with adinner and entertainment in theImperial Hotel.
The next morning therespective auditors of eachpresent society met at 10.00a.m. to discuss next year’s IPSA.It was decided that NUI Galwaywould organize the event on
20–22 February 2004. Lecturesthen started at 11.00 a.m. andcontinued as follows:Quasars Dr Denise Gabuzda, UCCUltra Sensitive AbsorptionSpectroscopy Michael Stack, UCCStudent Lecture Competition
At 2.00 p.m. the conferenceended, giving enough time foreverybody to get back to thehostels and pack to go home.The feedback from everyonewho attended was great and I’mlooking forward to going toGalway to meet up with a fewfriends that I made.Clare Joy, UCC Physics andAstronomy Society
Irish physics students meet at Cork conference
Nine teams took part in thebranch final of the PaperclipPhysics Competition in theRepublic of Ireland, which washeld in the Department ofExperimental Physics atUniversity College Dublin on3 December 2003.
Finishing in first place by theslenderest of margins was theteam from Jesus Mary SecondarySchool of Enniscrone, Co. Sligo.The team members, Dwayne
Boyers, Maréid Foody, NiamhFoody, Aine Hargadon, andConor O'Brien, gave a lively andvery clear explanation of howthe electric current through awire varies due to variables suchas the length, thickness orconductivity of the wire. Theirteacher is Mrs Margaret Kenny.
The running-up team was fromSandford Park School inRanelagh, Dublin, with theirpresentation “Wrapping Light”,
a very interesting and originaldemonstration about therefractive index of a variety ofdifferent materials.
The branch final of PaperclipPhysics in Northern Ireland washeld on 13 December 2003 atQueen’s University in Belfast.Ross Buchanan, JonathanBuchanan, Anna Irwin, HeatherMcDowell and Charlene Pak ofOmagh Academy formed thewinning team. They won with the
demonstration '”Why Wings?”,which explained why wingsprovide the thrust to make anaeroplane fly. Their teacher isMrs Ruth Cousins.
The Grand Final of PaperclipPhysics for the winning teamsfrom all of the branches will beheld at Institute headquarters atPortland Place in London on31 March 2004. Alison Hackett, IOPRepresentative in Ireland
Ireland’s Paperclip finalists are set for the final
Variable current: the team from Jesus Mary Secondary School, Enniscrone,Co. Sligo, who won the Paperclip Physics heat in the Republic of Ireland,with their demonstration of how electric current in a wire varies due tothe wire’s length, thickness and conductivity. Left to right: MaréidFoody, Aine Hargadon, Dwayne Boyers, Niamh Foody and Conor O'Brien.
Flying colours: the team from Omagh Academy, Omagh, Co. Tyrone,who won the Paperclip Physics heat in Northern Ireland with theirdemonstration “Why Wings?”, which explained how wings provide thethrust that makes an aeroplane fly. Left to right: Ross Buchanan,Jonathan Buchanan, Charlene Pak, Anna Irwin and Heather McDowell.
The deadline for contributions to the next issue of the newsletter is: Friday 2 April 2004
Please e-mail your materials to [email protected]
4Ins t i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
5
This November I had theopportunity to attend thePhysics on Stage 3 (POS3)festival in the Netherlands.Physics on Stage is a unique,Europe-wide programme thataims to raise public awarenessof physics and related sciencesby bringing physics teacherstogether for a week, allowingthem to exchange ideas andassess the current situation inphysics education.
Now in its third year, POS is ajoint project organized by theEuropean Space Agency (ESA),the European SouthernObservatory (ESO), CERN (theEuropean centre for nuclearresearch), the EuropeanMolecular Biology Laboratory(EMBL), the European FusionDevelopment Agreement (EFDA),the European SynchrotronRadiation Facility (ESRF), theInstitute Laue-Langevin (ILL), theEuropean Physical Society (EPS)and the European Associationfor Astronomy Education (EAAE).POS3 was co-funded byEIROforum and the EuropeanCommission as part of theEuropean Science andTechnology Week in 2003.
The event was hosted by theESA at its European SpaceResearch and Technology Centre(ESTEC) in Noordwijk, theNetherlands. Here, in a largesports hall, more than 400delegates from countries all overEurope set up their nationalstands displaying physicsexperiments of various kinds.The experiments on display fellinto two main categories: thosethat involve new and unusualways to demonstrate physicsprinciples, and those that useunconventional equipment to dostandard classroom physicsexperiments.
In the area of new ways toshow physics principles, theIrish stand presented Tim Roe’smodel demonstrating theCoriolis effect. Roe is a retiredphysics lecturer from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.His working model splendidlydemonstrated the effect that isresponsible for setting up therotations of the windsassociated with the weatherpatterns. The model can evenshow the different rotations setup in the northern and southernhemispheres. Roe’s displaydeservedly won the award for“most original demonstration ofa scientific principle” in the finalawards. Many other countriesput on demonstrations, most inkeeping with the theme of thisyear’s show, Physics and Life.The Greek stand had a fullmodel of the workings of theinner ear, while on the Belgianstand there was a modelshowing the principles behindthe MRI scanner.
The other experiments on thestands used all sorts of excitingand novel ideas, equipment andtricks to demonstrate classroomphysics. Many made use of thematerials commonly available byscavenging old appliances, suchas computers and microwaves.For example, on the Czech standthere was a range of physicsexperiments performed usingitems rescued from defunctcomputer CD and hard drives.Everything from colour mixing,magnetism and gyroscopes tothe conversion of mechanicalenergy to electrical energy wasdemonstrated with thisequipment. These experimentswere just a few of the hundredsof good ideas and nice tricks tobe seen at the fair – far toomany to mention here.
While much time was given towhat is known as “the fair”,where delegates had time to seeeach others stands and look attheir demonstrations andexperiments, time was also setaside for performances,presentations and workshops.The performances were stageshows presented in an adjoiningauditorium by teachers or
students from the differentcountries. They covered all areasof physics with titles such as“beautiful life and physics”,“simple experiments on thephysics of vision”, “food for life”and “Alice in quantum-land”.These performances usedvarious methods from large-scale demonstrationexperiments to theatrical
Václv Piskac of the Czech Republic and a “broken hardware” experiment.
The conservation of momentumdemonstrated with the help of aball and a bucket presented byIvan Banek of the Slovak Republic.
Third Physicson Stage eventproves successin Netherlands Jennifer Egan demonstrates the mixing of colours on the Irish stand.
Tim Roe of Galway-Mayo Instituteof Technology standing by hisaward-winning demonstration – a model of the Coriolis force.
Ins t i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
performances and audienceparticipation to conveyinformation about the principlesof physics.
Many of the sponsoringagencies, such as CERN, ESAand ESO, gave presentationsthroughout the week, outliningtheir current scientificprogrammes and detailing theirown educational programmes.They also hosted stands at thefair where teachers could findout more about the agencies,collect information booklets andsee what they have to offer toeducation. Such contacts arehugely important to agencies ifthey are to broaden support andunderstanding for their researchas well as help to encourageeducation to produce the newgeneration of researchers thatthey need.
The workshops, which all wereencouraged to attend, addressedthe provision of new teachingmaterial for teachers throughoutEurope. I went to a workshop onthe production of new resourcesfor science teachers and aftermuch debate we presented ourresults, which made specificrecommendations suggesting aWeb-based forum for thedissemination of these resources.
The other workshops looked
at topics such as training,equipment, performance inteaching and research links – allareas that could result inimproved pan-European scienceeducation. The results andfeedback from the workshops isparticularly important toEIROforum this year as they willbe used to finalize its planningfor its EIROforum ScienceTeaching Initiative (ESTI).
In 2004 it is proposed tolaunch ESTI. This project wasput forward to the EC as anintegrated programme of majorevents, training and support toimprove science teaching inschools throughout Europe, toestablish new links between theworlds of research and schools,to create novel educationalresources, and to make sciencemore attractive to students. Anannouncement will be made atthe EIROforum website (www.eiroforum.org when the ECannounces its decision aboutfunding the four-year project.
As part of ESTI, if it isaccepted, Science on Stage willbe one of its annual events. Thiswill follow on from Physics onStage while broadening thescope to include the lifesciences. Science on Stage willbe held on 12–18 October 2004
in Grenoble, France, and will bepart of the European ScienceFestival, which has as its theme“Can science still make usdream?” So if you have anyinteresting demonstrations,ideas or presentations, do sendthem on to the national steeringcommittee for Science on Stage.They will, as they did this year,be sending information in duecourse to all schools in thecountry along with applicationforms for those with ideas andpresentations that they mightlike to present at the fair.
The wealth of ideas andmaterial on display is staggeringand in my 18 years of teaching Ihave not attended anythingquite like this. There are somany new experiments andapproaches that can be used inthe class that I feel that I havelearned more “tricks of thetrade” in one week than I did inall my previous years ofteaching. One of the main aimsof POS is to disseminate theinformation and ideas to asmany physics teachers aspossible. To this end thenational organizing committeestake on the responsibility ofpassing on the knowledgegained at the fair to teachers intheir own countries.
The Irish delegation hopes toproduce a booklet of the bestideas encountered once theyhave a chance to test them andensure that they are feasible.Once this is done and the ideashave been published, they willbe distributed to teacherscountrywide. The bookletproduced after 2003’sconference was distributed to allphysics teachers at one of thedepartment in-service days lastyear. If you didn’t get a copy orhave mislaid it, you candownload a copy from the Webat http://pos3.may.ie/pos2.pdf.The next booklet should beequally useful.
We also hope to have a standat the forthcoming ISTA ScienceEducation Conference (26–28March 2004; see http://www.ista.ie/dundalk1.htm) inDundalk, Co. Louth, to showsome of these experiments andideas, so if you are going toDundalk, do come and see us.
Finally, thanks to theDepartment of Education, whichprovided substitution for theweek, Forfás who providedsponsorship, and the Institute ofPhysics in Ireland, whicharranged things from this end.Sean Fogarty, St Mary’s, NewRoss, Co. Wexford
Need to contactour IOPI rep?
This newsletter is publishedthree times a year by theInstitute of Physics in Irelandand is distributed to all of itsmembers and affiliated schools.
We invite contributions fromany of our members. Theseshould be sent to the editor, ifpossible by e-mail ([email protected]) or as hardcopy to Dr Peter J M van derBurgt, Department ofExperimental Physics, NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth,Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
Digital photographs submittedfor inclusion in the newslettershould at the very least have1024 × 768 pixels. Furtherinformation about the Instituteof Physics in Ireland and itsactivities, including back issuesof this newsletter, are availableat http://ireland.iop.org/.
The IOP Ireland representative,Alison Hackett, has moved heroffice. Contact her at theInstitute of Physics in Ireland,c/o Department of ExperimentalPhysics, University CollegeDublin, Dublin 4; tel: 01 7162216; fax: 01 283 7275; e-mail:[email protected].
The project entitled A RadioTelescope for Ireland (ARTI)aims to obtain funding toconstruct and operate a state-of-the-art 32 m radio telescope ona site near Birr Castle in Birr, Co.Offaly, provided by Lord Rosse.
The telescope will spend mosttime on single-dish observations,interferometric observationswith the upgraded MERLIN arrayin Britain, and interferometricobservations with antennas inthe European VLBI Network.
The official project launch willtake place at the Royal IrishAcademy in Dublin on 25 March.It will begin at about 6.00 p.m.,with a lecture by Prof. PhilDiamond, director of MERLIN.Other speakers will include Prof.Gerard T Wrixon, president of
University College Cork, and SirBernard Lovell, a key pioneer ofradio astronomy in the UK, whowill be coming to Irelandespecially for the event.
For further information aboutthe ARTI project, contact theproject coordinator, DeniseGabuzda, University College Cork(e-mail: [email protected]),or the project scientist, AaronGolden, at NUI Galway (e-mail:[email protected]).
In addition, a website iscurrently under construction andis planned to be available onlineby the date of the launch (seehttp://www.arti.ie).
Ireland may get a radiotelescope
The branch newsletters arepublished by Institute of PhysicsPublishing, Dirac House, TempleBack, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK.
©2004 The Institute of Physics inIreland
Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc,Bourne, Lincolnshire, UK.
The contents of this newsletter donot necessarily represent the viewsor policies of the Institute of Physics,except where explicitly stated.
The Institute of Physics, 76 PortlandPlace, London W1B 1NT, UK.Tel. +44 20 7470 4800.Fax +44 20 7470 4848.
Would you like tocontribute to thenext newsletter?
6Ins t i tu te o f Phys ics in I re land News le t te r • March 2004
