Physics | Blogs
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Universe is Getting Bigger!
Every minute of every day, the Universe is expanding. In fact, this past week, three scientists won the Noble Prize in Physics for proving that the Universe is expanding at a faster rate.
Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess won the Nobel Prize for proving that the Universe is expanding by studying supernovae. A supernova is is an explosion of an old star at the end of its life. The star is compact as it is as heavy as our Sun but only the size of Earth. As it explodes, that one supernova can emit as much light as an entire galaxy. The scientists located some of the most distant supernovae in the Universe. They compared images of...
Thursday, August 4, 2011
What is the Higgs boson and why is everyone looking for it?
We’ve been seeing some news/rumors lately that the Higgs boson has been found. We were utterly befuddled as to what a Higgs boson is until we heard its more memorable nickname, the “God Particle1”.
The Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of several physicists who theorized its existence in 1964. The Higgs boson is a theoretical particle in atoms that gives the atoms mass. It may even be the reason why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. The challenge in proving that the Higgs Boson gives matter mass is that it is so small, physicists have no actual proof that it exists.
Researchers are...
Thursday, August 4, 2011
What is the Higgs boson and why is everyone looking for it?
We’ve been seeing some news/rumors lately that the Higgs boson has been found. We were utterly befuddled as to what a Higgs boson is until we heard its more memorable nickname, the “God Particle1”.
The Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of several physicists who theorized its existence in 1964. The Higgs boson is a theoretical particle in atoms that gives the atoms mass. It may even be the reason why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. The challenge in proving that the Higgs Boson gives matter mass is that it is so small, physicists have no actual proof that it exists.
Researchers...
Thursday, August 4, 2011
What is the Higgs boson and why is everyone looking for it?
We’ve been seeing some news/rumors lately that the Higgs boson has been found. We were utterly befuddled as to what a Higgs boson is until we heard its more memorable nickname, the “God Particle1”.
The Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs, one of several physicists who theorized its existence in 1964. The Higgs boson is a theoretical particle in atoms that gives the atoms mass. It may even be the reason why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. The challenge in proving that the Higgs Boson gives matter mass is that it is so small, physicists have no actual proof that it exists.
Researchers...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I'm Atoms (Scientific Cover of Jason Mraz's I'm Yours)
Here in Chicago it has been gray for the last three weeks – no sun, just melting snow and rain. This song made our day. It has sunshine, great music and atoms! The lyrics include fabulous lines such as:
“Atoms bond together to form molecules
Most of what’s surrounding me and you…”
This science verse has been set to the music of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”. This is a must watch!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
What are UW Badger Scientists Doing at the South Pole?
Hunting neutrinos, of course. University of Wisconsin professor Francis Halzen developed the idea of the project now called IceCube. Halzen is a professor of physics and wanted to study neutrinos which are subatomic particles (meaning smaller than atoms). Neutrinos are emitted by cosmic events such as supernovas and black holes. These neutrinos are very difficult to find and Professor Halzen theorized that he could locate them more easily in ice.
IceCube is an observatory that instead of looking at stars looks into ice. Engineers drilled through the ice with hot water up to one and a half miles deep....
