Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-9
I. Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger was born August 12, 1887. He was an Austrian-Irish physicist that is known for his work with quantum mechanics. He also worked a lot with color and color perception, but he is not well known in this field of science. He lived in Austria during World War II, but he and his family had to flee to Italy when Hitler occupied Austria. He went on to write a few books, but his most famous work is the Schrodinger Equation which uses a cat in a box example to represent quantum mechanics. He died at the age of 73 of Tuberculosis on January 4, 1961.
II. This past week in class we presented our honors projects. I presented mine on my work with carotenoid from sponge associated bacteria. I had already given a similar presentation at UR back in February, so it was interesting to revisit the presentation a few months later. I was surprised looking back on it by how much I had learned and at how much fun I had while doing it. I am extremely glad I had such a wonderful opportunity, and I think I would like to participate in the same program again next year. I was also surprised at some of the other honors projects. I thought Scott Brower’s project about vacuum forming was very cool. Not only was it interesting to see how plastic can be molded easily, but I thought the idea of making a how-to video on youtube was great. I also thought Vikki’s energy project was interesting.
III. This is the last journal entry so I do not know if I need a question. If I need one it will be what is the answer to the mirror question we talked about it class.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
General Relativity
Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-8
I. I found out from wikipedia that the first recorded capacitor was invented in October of 1745 by Ewald Georg von Kleist of Germany. It was made using a glass jar with water in it. Somehow electricity was built up inside the jar then when it was ready to be discharged it was released through the mouth of the jar. Benjamin Franklin proved that the charge was stored in the glass, not the water as previously believed.
II. This week was my first time back in physics class in more than two weeks. On Monday we finished up our electricity and wave lab packets. Then on Wednesday we learned more about sound and resonance. We watched really cool video about a bridge that collapsed because the wind caused it to oscillate at its natural frequency. We also looked out how different waves have different frequencies. The visible light spectrum that we can see is near the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum. As the frequency increases the wavelength decreases and visa-versa. Gamma rays are to one extreme for having the smallest wavelength while radio waves are on the other with having the longest wavelength. On Friday we started to watch a video on general relativity and string theory. We had already watched a lot of this video earlier in the year. However, the new things on the video were very interesting. The video talked about how Einstein was looking for an equation to relate everything in the universe together but looking at things on a large scale. On the other hand, other scientists at the time were looking inward to discover the mysteries of the universe. What they came up with is known as quantum mechanics. Surprisingly, the way that they explained it in the video made a lot of sense. It seems like a lot of it relates heavily to some of the things I learned about in AP chemistry this year such as Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
III. For next week I would like to find out more about the life of Erwin Schrodinger.
Period-7
Journal 4-8
I. I found out from wikipedia that the first recorded capacitor was invented in October of 1745 by Ewald Georg von Kleist of Germany. It was made using a glass jar with water in it. Somehow electricity was built up inside the jar then when it was ready to be discharged it was released through the mouth of the jar. Benjamin Franklin proved that the charge was stored in the glass, not the water as previously believed.
II. This week was my first time back in physics class in more than two weeks. On Monday we finished up our electricity and wave lab packets. Then on Wednesday we learned more about sound and resonance. We watched really cool video about a bridge that collapsed because the wind caused it to oscillate at its natural frequency. We also looked out how different waves have different frequencies. The visible light spectrum that we can see is near the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum. As the frequency increases the wavelength decreases and visa-versa. Gamma rays are to one extreme for having the smallest wavelength while radio waves are on the other with having the longest wavelength. On Friday we started to watch a video on general relativity and string theory. We had already watched a lot of this video earlier in the year. However, the new things on the video were very interesting. The video talked about how Einstein was looking for an equation to relate everything in the universe together but looking at things on a large scale. On the other hand, other scientists at the time were looking inward to discover the mysteries of the universe. What they came up with is known as quantum mechanics. Surprisingly, the way that they explained it in the video made a lot of sense. It seems like a lot of it relates heavily to some of the things I learned about in AP chemistry this year such as Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
III. For next week I would like to find out more about the life of Erwin Schrodinger.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
AP and SOL testing...
Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-7
I was not here on tuesday because of an AP chemistry exam, and on Thursday we did not have class because of the SOL testing schedule.
Period-7
Journal 4-7
I was not here on tuesday because of an AP chemistry exam, and on Thursday we did not have class because of the SOL testing schedule.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Magnetism and Electricity
Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-5
I. I found out that the standard deviation is the square root of the variance. The equation for standard deviation is σ= ((Σ(x-"x-bar")²)/N)½ . This equation means you take the sum of all of the individual points (x) subtracted by mean value of x (x-bar). Before you do the sum of all of these numbers you have to square each number you get so you get rid of any negative numbers. Then you divide whatever sum you get by the total number of points you have (N). If you stopped here you would get the variance. However, if you take the square root of this you get the standard deviation. Standard deviation is very useful in determining if your data is statistically significant or just random scatter. However, a calculator will easily do the equation for standard deviation for you.
II. Two weeks ago in class we continued to do exercises that highlighted principles of electricity. One day we did a Castle activity that went over which way electricity flowed. We tested this by running a current across a compass. It seemed that when the total power from the battery source was kept constant then the lower the resistance of the wire the more the compass needle would move in relationship to the wire. When we did this in class it seemed like we had a lot of outside interference from other electrical sources such as the computer and possibly the lights. However, we were able to notice a change in the needle of the compass when the wire had a current flowing through it. We also talked about how a capacitor works. I thought this was very interesting. Before this year in physics I had never heard the term capacitor, but I had seen them work before in such things as the flash of a camera.
III. For next week I would like to find out who invented the capacitor and how.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Electrical Circuits
Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-4
I. After Edison lost the war of the currents he continued to work as an inventor. Also, his child, the DC is still an important part of our everyday lives. This is because anything that runs on a battery runs by DC. Edison also advocated the use of AC for the electric chair and for torture.
II. This past week in class we finished up our wind turbine labs. We white boarded our results and discussed what further steps we could have taken in the future to make our results more reliable. The biggest drawback of our experiment was that we did not have enough trials, so we could not tell if our results were typical or not. On Friday we started to talk about electrical circuits. We played around in groups testing different materials to see if they were conductors or insulators. We can to the conclusion that metals are conductors and non metals are insulators. A lot of the activities we did in class seemed very simple and elementary. I would have preferred to have done more engaging activities with electrical circuits and conductors.
III. For next week I would like to find out what the formula is for calculating standard deviation.
Period-7
Journal 4-4
I. After Edison lost the war of the currents he continued to work as an inventor. Also, his child, the DC is still an important part of our everyday lives. This is because anything that runs on a battery runs by DC. Edison also advocated the use of AC for the electric chair and for torture.
II. This past week in class we finished up our wind turbine labs. We white boarded our results and discussed what further steps we could have taken in the future to make our results more reliable. The biggest drawback of our experiment was that we did not have enough trials, so we could not tell if our results were typical or not. On Friday we started to talk about electrical circuits. We played around in groups testing different materials to see if they were conductors or insulators. We can to the conclusion that metals are conductors and non metals are insulators. A lot of the activities we did in class seemed very simple and elementary. I would have preferred to have done more engaging activities with electrical circuits and conductors.
III. For next week I would like to find out what the formula is for calculating standard deviation.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Electricity
Daniel Miranian
Period-7
Journal 4-3
I. I found out that one blade wind turbines typically run at higher tip ratios than two or three blade wind turbines. However, they are not as efficient as higher blade designs. Additionally, the noise that is produced by the spinning of the blades increases exponentially. Therefore, one blade wind turbine designs are not very popular, especially, they are located near people.
II. This past week in class we continued testing our wind turbines. It was cool to be able to use calculators to collect data from the instruments. I was surprised that our one and two blade designs produced the most power. We also watched a video about Nikola Telsa on Thursday. It highlighted his life accomplishments and explained his many setbacks. I was unaware that he helped design so many different machines that we still use today. Without his innovative ideas, our world would certainly be much different today.
III. I think that Tesla could be classified as a genius who went crazy. At the start of his work with electricity he led a rather normal life. However, after years of devoting his life to his work began to lose touch with the outside world. One way that Tesla could be called mad is that cut off all communication socially with the outside world. He holed himself up in his laboratory and for hours on end. However, he could also be called genius because he thought years ahead of his time. For example, he wondered if he could make a current alternate, when DC was the only available way to power things. He was even criticized by his professor in college for even proposing such an outlandish idea. However, he went on to successfully create AC along with numerous other ingenious inventions.
IV. Tesla was no doubt an incredible thinker and inventor. However, at times he seemed very socially immature. From watching the video he did not seem socially awkward in the sense that he just could not communicate with people. Instead he missed key subtle parts of conversation. For example, he took Thomas Edison literally when he said he would pay him $50,000 for improving his DC turbine. This failure led him to eventually start working on his own. If Tesla had not split from Edison when he did he may have become stunted with frustration. Also, Tesla’s desire to focus on science rather than interacting with others allowed him to concentrate at a much higher level than most. In conclusion, I would say sometimes you have to lead a miserable life filled with sacrifices to actually accomplish real change.
V. For next week I would like to find out more about what happened to Thomas Edison after he lost the war of the currents to Tesla.
Period-7
Journal 4-3
I. I found out that one blade wind turbines typically run at higher tip ratios than two or three blade wind turbines. However, they are not as efficient as higher blade designs. Additionally, the noise that is produced by the spinning of the blades increases exponentially. Therefore, one blade wind turbine designs are not very popular, especially, they are located near people.
II. This past week in class we continued testing our wind turbines. It was cool to be able to use calculators to collect data from the instruments. I was surprised that our one and two blade designs produced the most power. We also watched a video about Nikola Telsa on Thursday. It highlighted his life accomplishments and explained his many setbacks. I was unaware that he helped design so many different machines that we still use today. Without his innovative ideas, our world would certainly be much different today.
III. I think that Tesla could be classified as a genius who went crazy. At the start of his work with electricity he led a rather normal life. However, after years of devoting his life to his work began to lose touch with the outside world. One way that Tesla could be called mad is that cut off all communication socially with the outside world. He holed himself up in his laboratory and for hours on end. However, he could also be called genius because he thought years ahead of his time. For example, he wondered if he could make a current alternate, when DC was the only available way to power things. He was even criticized by his professor in college for even proposing such an outlandish idea. However, he went on to successfully create AC along with numerous other ingenious inventions.
IV. Tesla was no doubt an incredible thinker and inventor. However, at times he seemed very socially immature. From watching the video he did not seem socially awkward in the sense that he just could not communicate with people. Instead he missed key subtle parts of conversation. For example, he took Thomas Edison literally when he said he would pay him $50,000 for improving his DC turbine. This failure led him to eventually start working on his own. If Tesla had not split from Edison when he did he may have become stunted with frustration. Also, Tesla’s desire to focus on science rather than interacting with others allowed him to concentrate at a much higher level than most. In conclusion, I would say sometimes you have to lead a miserable life filled with sacrifices to actually accomplish real change.
V. For next week I would like to find out more about what happened to Thomas Edison after he lost the war of the currents to Tesla.
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