This is the UCD School of Physics feedback forum.
Please feel free to add comments.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Saturday, December 8, 2007
UCD Transition Year Physics Course 2007
Heya Everyone!!!
Welcome to the UCD Transition Year Physics Course Blog 2007!!!This blog basically consists of our thoughts, views and opinions of the week's events.We hope that you enjoy it!!!
Our Week in the UCD Physics Department. . . . .From Nanophysics to rocket launching to trampolining our week here at UCD has been anything but boring!On the first day we were all quite apprehensive about the week ahead. Would it be hard? Would we understand anything? . . . . We arrived in dribs and drabs to room 128 and slowly began making new friends and extending our knowledge of physics. Throughout the week we've had a series of lectures on many of the different aspects of physics. Although the word lecture was synonymous with boring in my mind up until now, these lectures were very far from uninteresting, in fact, some were really fascinating. The first lecture was titled 'What is Physics?' In this we discussed the basics of physics including motion and energy. We took part in some interesting demonstrations which made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable. Next a man called Dr. Ian Mercer talked to us about lasers and there many uses in technology. We also tested our reflexes and found that the girls in the class were a lot quicker than the boys. But of course we knew that already!
After our lectures and our experiments we had a tour of the physics department. This gave us a great insight into all the different careers available in physics. We had the opportunity to speak to many of the physicists from the different sectors. They were really patient and answered all of our questions. As we toured the building we looked at tons of high-tech material and even got to see plutonium!
All in all the week was a huge success. There was a perfect blend of both fun and educational activities and so everyone had a great time. The physicists were all so welcoming and friendly, especially Padraig and Lorraine; they definitely helped a career in physics onto the short list of my possible career choices.
After our lectures and our experiments we had a tour of the physics department. This gave us a great insight into all the different careers available in physics. We had the opportunity to speak to many of the physicists from the different sectors. They were really patient and answered all of our questions. As we toured the building we looked at tons of high-tech material and even got to see plutonium!
All in all the week was a huge success. There was a perfect blend of both fun and educational activities and so everyone had a great time. The physicists were all so welcoming and friendly, especially Padraig and Lorraine; they definitely helped a career in physics onto the short list of my possible career choices.
Throughout the physics course we had a rocket and space themed day. In the morning we had two lectures. One on astrophysics and the other on the rocket physics. These two lectures were some of the most interesting.It is really unbelievable how much is unknown about space! There was so much information to take in and to get your head around but most of it made sense.We think we know so much about space and the universe but as you hear the information and ask questions, no one knows the answer to, you realise how small and insignificant we all are.While learning about how a rocket works, we noted plenty of figures and laws. This really helped us in the construction and launching of our rockets.
After learning all about rockets we proceeded to lab 132 and made our very own rockets out of empty plastic bottles, cardboard and plenty of sellotape!. After about an hour of preparation our rocket was finally complete.We all made our way to the football pitches where we prepared for launch.
To launch we filled 1/3 of the bottle with water and connected it to the pump. We pumped and pumped and pumped some more and finally, after a few mishaps, our rocket named ‘Barbara’ blasted off and was the best water rocket ever created(we think so anyway!).
To launch we filled 1/3 of the bottle with water and connected it to the pump. We pumped and pumped and pumped some more and finally, after a few mishaps, our rocket named ‘Barbara’ blasted off and was the best water rocket ever created(we think so anyway!).
Another highlight of the physics course was the day dedicated to Medical Physics.I had never before been aware of this particular branch of physics and it was introduced to us by Professor Peter Mitchell with his lecture on 'Medical Physics and Radition safety'
Throughout the lecture we discussed the many different aspects to medical physics. We talked about radioactive decay, including the different types of decay; Alpha, Beta and Gama Rays.We were introduced to the various machines used in nuclear medicine; a Gama Camera, a PET (Position Emission Tomography), MRI and CT scanners.We then proceeded to discuss Radiation Radiotherapy as well as the harmful effects of radition. This part of the lecture was very graphic and quite gruesome! However, it definately drilled into us the importance of radiation safety. Overall the lecture was both very interesting and very benificial!
Throughout the lecture we discussed the many different aspects to medical physics. We talked about radioactive decay, including the different types of decay; Alpha, Beta and Gama Rays.We were introduced to the various machines used in nuclear medicine; a Gama Camera, a PET (Position Emission Tomography), MRI and CT scanners.We then proceeded to discuss Radiation Radiotherapy as well as the harmful effects of radition. This part of the lecture was very graphic and quite gruesome! However, it definately drilled into us the importance of radiation safety. Overall the lecture was both very interesting and very benificial!
Next on the agenda was the B-Ray Absorbtion experiment, in Lab 132, with Thomas and Gillian. The aim of this experiment was to show that the absorbtion of B-Rays depends, not on the nature of the material, but on the mass per unit area of the absorber. This experiment was good fun, if just a tad complicated!
After lunch it was time for a ''UCD Road Trip'' to St. Luke's Cancer Hospital, in Rathgar. Upon our arrival, we were given two brief lectures on medical physics. We were then split into groups to view various different areas and scanners in the hospital.
We were taken to examine a Gama Ray Gun. We viewed it in action and were showed how it worked.Next it was off to the CT scanner and finally to Radiation Storage.It was here we were to be educated on Radioiodine Treatment for Thyrotoxicosis. We learnt that it is quite a difficult and intensive treatment, yet a very effective one.
All to soon our tour was finished and we returned to UCD, our heads full of medical physics; of radition, Scanners and Gama Ray Guns!All in all the day was a huge success and I shall most definately be adding medical physics, as a possible area to study, for my future careers!
In conclusion, we would just like to say, that this has been a very worthwhile, informative and an enjoyable course which, we feel, has benifited everyone involved.It has also given us the chance to experience student life at UCD which, for the record, is great!!!
Finally, we would just like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Loraine and Padraig for organising such a great TY physics course aswell a a big thank you to the numerous lecturers, guest speakers and phd students who made this week such a benificial experience for us all!!!!
Finally, we would just like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Loraine and Padraig for organising such a great TY physics course aswell a a big thank you to the numerous lecturers, guest speakers and phd students who made this week such a benificial experience for us all!!!!
By: Cara, Conor, Jenny and Laura.
Friday, December 7, 2007
MONDAY
We arrived at 9:30 on Monday morning, not really knowing what to expect, hoping we wouldn't be bored with maths and lectures all week.
We were greeted by the two organisers, Loraine and Padraig, who immediately calmed our fears with their welcome and summary of the week to come. After registration and introduction we had a lecture on what physics actually is. I thought this really interesting and learned a lot which helped us in the later lectures throughout the week. But it never seemed like school, where the information is just drilled into you. It was always interesting and Padraig explained it all really well so that it was easy to understand. This was a good way to start the week and I know that it helped me a lot during the week.
The lecture lasted for about 45 minutes. After which we had a lecture on lasers. Although this was also very interesting, and it opened up the whole new world of "Pico" and "Nano" for us, it did go a little over our heads and I think the phrase " The more you know, the more you don't know" which one of the lectures used, seems appropriate to us as we came out of that lecture!
We then had a well deserved break, where we got free biscuits and drinks, which was very welcome as some of us were quite peckish after all that thinking!
The highlight of the day, and one of the many of the week was to follow our break. We went into the lab and did an "experiment on superconductivity"- which was really an excuse to play with liquid nitrogen! It was so cool! And the liquid nitrogen did not disappoint, it was also a little scary, we only had a pair of safety goggle, if that was in school, we would be in full body armour!
After thoroughly enjoying our time with the liquid nitrogen we had lunch. There are so many places to eat and I found a nice chipper, the ½ pounders are something special!
Following lunch we were split up into groups and got a tour around the whole physics building. I was surprised to learn that there is so much research going on that is at the very forefront of international physics. Didn't really understand exactly what that research was but it was still really interesting.
The whole day was really well planned, we were never bored, and although pretty tired at the end I really enjoyed the day, and I looked forward to the rest of the week, which didn't disappoint. I'm so glad I have done this course, which if nothing else has been an amazing expierence.
We arrived at 9:30 on Monday morning, not really knowing what to expect, hoping we wouldn't be bored with maths and lectures all week.
We were greeted by the two organisers, Loraine and Padraig, who immediately calmed our fears with their welcome and summary of the week to come. After registration and introduction we had a lecture on what physics actually is. I thought this really interesting and learned a lot which helped us in the later lectures throughout the week. But it never seemed like school, where the information is just drilled into you. It was always interesting and Padraig explained it all really well so that it was easy to understand. This was a good way to start the week and I know that it helped me a lot during the week.
The lecture lasted for about 45 minutes. After which we had a lecture on lasers. Although this was also very interesting, and it opened up the whole new world of "Pico" and "Nano" for us, it did go a little over our heads and I think the phrase " The more you know, the more you don't know" which one of the lectures used, seems appropriate to us as we came out of that lecture!We then had a well deserved break, where we got free biscuits and drinks, which was very welcome as some of us were quite peckish after all that thinking!
The highlight of the day, and one of the many of the week was to follow our break. We went into the lab and did an "experiment on superconductivity"- which was really an excuse to play with liquid nitrogen! It was so cool! And the liquid nitrogen did not disappoint, it was also a little scary, we only had a pair of safety goggle, if that was in school, we would be in full body armour!
After thoroughly enjoying our time with the liquid nitrogen we had lunch. There are so many places to eat and I found a nice chipper, the ½ pounders are something special!
Following lunch we were split up into groups and got a tour around the whole physics building. I was surprised to learn that there is so much research going on that is at the very forefront of international physics. Didn't really understand exactly what that research was but it was still really interesting.
The whole day was really well planned, we were never bored, and although pretty tired at the end I really enjoyed the day, and I looked forward to the rest of the week, which didn't disappoint. I'm so glad I have done this course, which if nothing else has been an amazing expierence.
Tuesday, 4th December 2007
Today we had a lecture on particle physics, a lecture explaining how physics could lead to many different careers; we tracked the trajectory of a projectile using the computer, were shown how a radar gun works and had a lecture on computational physics.
In the lecture on particle physics, Dr. Ronan McNulty told us about the strong force and the weak force. Neither forces are understood fully but the strong force prevents the protons in atoms from repelling each other and the atom from exploding. The weak force causes radioactive decay to occur.
At 12ish we were taken outside and were shown how a radar gun is used to find out the speed of something. It uses what is called the Doppler effect. This is when sound waves emitting from the radar gun are compressed by the oncoming object, and expand as the object gets further away. By measuring the speed ate which these waves contract and expand, the machine can tell how fast the object is moving.
During lunch, Ashleigh and I went to feed the seagulls and swans (which eat out of your hand!) down at the lake.
In computational physics, we learned that there is a number called the Golden Ratio. This number's decimal digits go on forever and never repeat their order. This number rounded down is 1.6 and is the ratio of the length of your hand to the length of your arm, the perfect distance for leaves and petals to be spaced on a plant for them to receive maximum sunlight and the ratio of the width of your face to the length of your face. This number appears all over the place. Today was very fun and interesting and I have enjoyed it immensely
Wednesday
Today we had a lecture on Medical Physics and Radiation Safety with Prof. Peter Mitchell. I learned allot about how radiation effects our living tissue and how we use it and/or avoid it. I 
found it extremely interesting how this very dangerous material is used to preserver life. When we went to St. Luke's we were shown what type of containers they needed, just to keep those working around them save. It was truly a great experience, learning about what type of work is involved in the medical physics from working with Nuclear medicine to operation the gamma camera. After what I have learned today, I am really interest in learning more about this area of physics!
found it extremely interesting how this very dangerous material is used to preserver life. When we went to St. Luke's we were shown what type of containers they needed, just to keep those working around them save. It was truly a great experience, learning about what type of work is involved in the medical physics from working with Nuclear medicine to operation the gamma camera. After what I have learned today, I am really interest in learning more about this area of physics! THURSDAY
BY: Eoin McAuley
Today we reached for the skies, in more ways than one. We began the day with a lecture in Astrophysics by Dr. Lorraine Hanlon. Astrophysics is connected to Astronomy. Astronomy is an observational study of the universe i.e. the totality of all space, time, matter and energy. This lecture gave us, what I thought to be an intriguing insight into space science and the universe. We accumulated interesting facts about space during this lecture, such as that the speed of light is 300, 00,000 m/s, and that 1 light year is 10 trillion km. This lecture was followed by another one by Dr. Hanlon about The Physics of Rockets. Following this lecture we had to put into practise what we learned, and build a miniature rocket out of old drink bottles. These were then filled with water and pumped full of air with a pump in order to launch them outside. We theorised that if we used fizzy drinks instead of water the extra carbon would send them further into the sky. In consideration to the heavy winds that day I believe that the Launch was a success.
Before lunch we tried to see how far we could reach the sky ourselves with help from U.C.D.'s Trampolining Society. Unfortunately my lack of skill led me to experience the full impact of gravity. But this was pleasant experience none the less.
The day ended with us all becoming stars as we were filmed being asked questions about our experience at U.C.D. You can see these videos on this Blog.
BY: Eoin McAuley
Today we reached for the skies, in more ways than one. We began the day with a lecture in Astrophysics by Dr. Lorraine Hanlon. Astrophysics is connected to Astronomy. Astronomy is an observational study of the universe i.e. the totality of all space, time, matter and energy. This lecture gave us, what I thought to be an intriguing insight into space science and the universe. We accumulated interesting facts about space during this lecture, such as that the speed of light is 300, 00,000 m/s, and that 1 light year is 10 trillion km. This lecture was followed by another one by Dr. Hanlon about The Physics of Rockets. Following this lecture we had to put into practise what we learned, and build a miniature rocket out of old drink bottles. These were then filled with water and pumped full of air with a pump in order to launch them outside. We theorised that if we used fizzy drinks instead of water the extra carbon would send them further into the sky. In consideration to the heavy winds that day I believe that the Launch was a success.
Before lunch we tried to see how far we could reach the sky ourselves with help from U.C.D.'s Trampolining Society. Unfortunately my lack of skill led me to experience the full impact of gravity. But this was pleasant experience none the less.The day ended with us all becoming stars as we were filmed being asked questions about our experience at U.C.D. You can see these videos on this Blog.
UCD Physics Transition Year Programme
Photo Gallery From the week:
UCD Physics Transition Year Programme
December 3rd-7th 2007
Monday,
So basically we started at 9.30am and we met in a room called Room 128 in the North Science Building.
Our first “lecture” more like a relaxing class, was about answering the question “What is Physics?” and we got on hell of a lecture in 45mins. In simple terms everything we learned for three years in our Junior Certificate.
Another lecture, that day, was the “New laser see new things”. This lecture was enlightening although 30mins longer than I thought. But interesting, never the less.
The highlight of the day had to be the experiment “Superconductivity, Resistance and Temperature” in which we got to use liquid nitrogen to super the coil wire. Overall the experiment was fun, mainly because we got to “play” with liquid nitrogen.
After lunch we got a tour of some of the physics labs and research. We visited about four labs, including a plutonium lab and a nanotechnology research lab.
After the visit to the plutonium lab and seeing some actual plutonium we got divided into groups and started on our blogs which we have to complete on Friday.
And that was Monday, an interesting, exciting, and eventful day. Now the only thing left is for my 1.15hrs trip back home and relax.
by Christian Korpos
UCD Physics Transition Year Programme
4th of December
We started our day as usually at 9.30 on Tuesday morning. Our day started with a lecture from Dr. Ronan McNulty who talked to us about particle physics. It was a very engaging talk and all of us found it really interesting! Dr. McNulty talked about different forces and what our world is made of. We even learned how a small apple's gravitational pull towards the centre of the earth is linked to why the moon revolves around the earth.
After the talk on particle physics were given a talk about the Young Scientist competition and a talk on a career in science given by a woman from The Institute of Physics. They were both really fascinating and informative lectures. We learned about the history of the Young Scientist and the different ideas people have had in the past. In the talk about a career in physics we learned about all the different careers you can have in the future if you study physics.
After break we learned about the different parts of the computer. It was really fascinating to learn about how the computer works. We then went down to the computer lab to learn about computer projectile graphs. Once we had learnt how to plot a projectile graph we went outside and used a radar gun. We threw tennis balls at the radar gun and it recorded how fast in km it was going. It was great fun and some people even discovered a new skill.
After our lunch break we had a talk on computational physics given by Ted Cox. We learnt about encryptions, Fibonacci numbers and the Golden ratio. It was a great lecture and fascinating to learn about the role maths plays in our world. We even learned how to plan the perfect leaf plan on a stalk!
by Rebecca Keating
Ballon Break/party from Thursday:
UCD Physics Transition Year Programme
December 3rd-7th 2007
Monday,
So basically we started at 9.30am and we met in a room called Room 128 in the North Science Building.
Our first “lecture” more like a relaxing class, was about answering the question “What is Physics?” and we got on hell of a lecture in 45mins. In simple terms everything we learned for three years in our Junior Certificate.
Another lecture, that day, was the “New laser see new things”. This lecture was enlightening although 30mins longer than I thought. But interesting, never the less.
The highlight of the day had to be the experiment “Superconductivity, Resistance and Temperature” in which we got to use liquid nitrogen to super the coil wire. Overall the experiment was fun, mainly because we got to “play” with liquid nitrogen.
After lunch we got a tour of some of the physics labs and research. We visited about four labs, including a plutonium lab and a nanotechnology research lab.
After the visit to the plutonium lab and seeing some actual plutonium we got divided into groups and started on our blogs which we have to complete on Friday.
And that was Monday, an interesting, exciting, and eventful day. Now the only thing left is for my 1.15hrs trip back home and relax.
by Christian Korpos
UCD Physics Transition Year Programme
4th of December
We started our day as usually at 9.30 on Tuesday morning. Our day started with a lecture from Dr. Ronan McNulty who talked to us about particle physics. It was a very engaging talk and all of us found it really interesting! Dr. McNulty talked about different forces and what our world is made of. We even learned how a small apple's gravitational pull towards the centre of the earth is linked to why the moon revolves around the earth.
After the talk on particle physics were given a talk about the Young Scientist competition and a talk on a career in science given by a woman from The Institute of Physics. They were both really fascinating and informative lectures. We learned about the history of the Young Scientist and the different ideas people have had in the past. In the talk about a career in physics we learned about all the different careers you can have in the future if you study physics.
After break we learned about the different parts of the computer. It was really fascinating to learn about how the computer works. We then went down to the computer lab to learn about computer projectile graphs. Once we had learnt how to plot a projectile graph we went outside and used a radar gun. We threw tennis balls at the radar gun and it recorded how fast in km it was going. It was great fun and some people even discovered a new skill.
After our lunch break we had a talk on computational physics given by Ted Cox. We learnt about encryptions, Fibonacci numbers and the Golden ratio. It was a great lecture and fascinating to learn about the role maths plays in our world. We even learned how to plan the perfect leaf plan on a stalk!
by Rebecca Keating
Ballon Break/party from Thursday:
Monday, December 3, 2007
Introduction to the Physics Blog
Hello, this year we will use the medium of the web log (blog) to tell people about what went on this week on the transition year experience. Each of the 6 groups will put a couple of pages together which will be linked from the UCD Physics website. At the end of the week (December 7th) we will close editing links to the blogs and they will be in their final form. We hope that a mixture of still images, video and text will let readers get a feel for what happened at UCD Physics this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)