Tag Archives: Physics

STEM Community Day at Loughborough, 16th March 2019

Leave a reply

Every year as part of British science week Loughborough University opens its doors to the community to host a range of STEM based activities. This year there are several activities organised by my group and in coordination with the UG reps:

If you’re in the area drop by for a chance to get messy, learn something new, or just have some fun! I will be posting summaries of each activity over the next few weeks.

Science in the Park 2019 – Light Painting

Leave a reply

I have added rough times for the images below. They are organised by group(s) for the two separate SD cards that were used. If you do not see your photo in the top, please make sure to scroll through to the bottom for the other SD card.

  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 3-4pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 2-3pm
  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm
  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm

  • 12-1pm
  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm

  • 3-4pm
  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm

  • 2-3pm
  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

  • 1-2pm

“I am a Physicist” Challenge

Leave a reply

1547839443427-568296403

The East Midlands Branch covers Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Loughborough, Northampton and Nottingham, with centres based in Derby, Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham. We organise a full programme of lectures, meetings and conferences in the East Midlands and work locally to promote physics, physics education and public understanding of physics.

The IOP East Midlands branch have recently launched the ‘I am a physicist’ Girlguiding badge and resource designed to introduce girls to the fascinating world of physics in a way that is accessible, fun and educational.

Currently being piloted in Nottinghamshire, the badge is open to all Girlguiding sections with age appropriate activities from the youngest Rainbow at 5 to the oldest Ranger at 18. We hope leaders will enjoy the activities too.

The challenge is in four sections:

  • Section 1: Experience
  • Section 2: Create
  • Section 3: Investigate
  • Section 4: Meet, visit, community

The pilot will run until the end of the year during which time workshops and events will be run to support leaders, such as a stand at Science in the Park at Wollaton Hall and Deer Park next weekend, or at County Day on 23 March. Look out in the Girlguiding Nottinghamshire diary for further dates.

http://www.girlguidingnottinghamshire.org.uk/resources/programme-ideas-badges/

http://www.iop.org/activity/branches/midlands/east-midlands/

https://en-gb.facebook.com/iopeastmidlands/

#Iamaphysicist

@physicsnews

@girlguidingnott

@IOPEastMidlands

@IOPMidlands

Double Rainbow

Leave a reply

Can you see the double rainbow?

Ever noticed how the order of the colours changes for the second rainbow (red – yellow – green – blue – violet…)

Typically rainbows are formed when light is refracted (bent) through a raindrop.

A double rainbow forms when light is refracted twice in a raindrop, and occurs commonly when the sunlight is low in the sky. See here for more.

 

Faint double rainbow in Derby, 2017
green = refracted
Double rainbow in Mitcham, 2016

Useful Resources

Leave a reply

I will be adding resources here as I find them – mostly Maths and Physics themed.

Online Mathematics Course

Loughborough’s Mathematics Education Centre runs a free, three-week MOOC – Getting a Grip on Mathematical Symbolism – designed for those students aspiring to become scientists or engineers but who lack mathematical confidence.

It will run again on the FutureLearn platform starting May 8th. Registration is open now:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/mathematical-symbolism

The course is designed for students who have some engineering or science knowledge gained through vocational qualifications or through workplace experience but who perhaps have not studied mathematics formally since leaving school. It will be appropriate for those who lack confidence but who need to establish a bedrock of knowledge in order to further their education.
This is a foundation, entry-level course and is not intended for those who already possess recent post-GCSE mathematics qualifications. It is highly recommended for those students going to university who have not studied maths beyond GCSE. Please share when appropriate.
 
Note that it is planned to run this course again shortly before the start of the new academic year in September.

Magnet Academy

Magnet Academy is an online resource provided by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory — the largest, most high-powered magnet lab in the world. It has a wide selection of useful tutorials about electromagnetism for ages 5 upwards.

Interactive Magnetic Tutorials

British Science Week

Leave a reply

As part of British Science Week, Loughborough University hosts a ‘Community Day’ event where Loughborough locals are invited on campus to take part in various ‘science based’ activities.

This year it falls on 25th March I will be:

  • Coordinating an Electrodough workshop – for which we’re looking for student ambassadors.
  • Running a ‘Cold Science’ demonstration with liquid nitrogen.
  • Working with the East Midlands Institute of Physics to deliver several ‘busking’ activities –  for which I’m looking for student ambassadors.

If you’re interested in getting involved please let me know.

 

Fleming’s Left Hand Rule

2 Replies

Any charged particle moving through a magnetic field will experience a force that will cause it to move in a particular direction. An easy way to remember the direction of this force is Fleming’s Left Hand Rule (where the direction of current is the direction in which positive charges move).

Illustration of Fleming's Left Hand Rule

Illustration of Fleming’s Left Hand Rule

So for the example above, a positive particle moving into a uniform magnetic field experiences a force that pushes it up away from the magnetic field. This “motion” of the charged particle is due to the magnetic field that the moving charge makes, interacting with the magnetic field it is moving through (just like two magnets can repel each other).

We can use this rule to figure out the direction in which the rotating arm of a motor will move.

Factoid:

This effect is used to define the standard international (S.I.) unit of magnetic field – the Tesla.

1 Tesla = the value of magnetic field (B) that causes a force of 1 Newton to act on a 1 meter length of conductor (i.e. copper) carrying a current of 1 Ampere at right angles to the magnetic field.

What is that goop? – Ferrofluid

1 Reply

If you’ve ever had a chance to play with ferrofluid then you’ll be familiar with the typical picture of a ‘flower-like’ pattern.Ferrofluid example

A ferrofluid is a suspension of tiny magnetic (iron) particles, covered in a substance called a surfactant (e.g. oleic or citric acid) that is mixed with oil.

The combination of these 3 substances leads to an animated response to magnetic fields:

1) The iron particles are attracted to the magnet.

2) The surfactant binds the iron particles and oil limiting how far the iron particles are pulled towards the magnet thus leaving it slightly mobile.

3) A combination of the magnetic field and surface tension of the ferrofluid mixture results in patterns that follow the direction of magnetic field lines.

Some mythbusters:

1) Yes, you can make a simple ferrofluid suspension with laserjet toner and oil, but it will never result in the patterns seen above unless a surfactant has been added. (This typically involves more detailed steps that I will not outline here but might be a great question/project for a chemistry teacher…)

There are several videos online (YouTube is a big culprit here) that suggest otherwise but I can only assume that they switch to storebought ferrofluid when they start the demonstrations. If anyone disagrees with this send me your recipe! I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

2) One of the YouTube videos above also suggests that you can mix the ferrofluid with water to create a more fluid mix. Again, this is pure myth. For a short term solution you could mix it with a water:propanol solution but this will slowly breakdown the ferrofluid itself and likely would not last more than a few weeks. If you want something more long term then you may need to buy it from a specialised company.

*Non-technical description of a surfactant: A chemical with ‘arms’ that can grab onto other substances.