Nerd Humour

From here

And this is just plain silliness!



Awesome Chemistry Shirt

Farewell

Two years (five if you count Year 8) later and our journey together is over.

It has been a rewarding and memorable experience.

It is a slightly sad part of teaching that we often don't get to see our 'investment' grow. I hope you know that I am proud of every one of you, so whatever ATAR throws at you and whatever you do in 2012-2013 (and beyond) please let me know (tristan dot burg at gmail dot com).

And with that we come to the end of Dr Blurg as you know it. Feel free to pop back in and browse the blog whenever you want to see what is happening in the world of HSC Chemistry and Physics. However, many of the old links and files wont work anymore because as of 2012 the 'real' Dr Blurg will be under new management - new town, new school, new students...

Farewell Year 12 2011 - may God bless you with lives of prosperity, happiness and love

Dr Blurg

Cloud Chambers - QTQ

See this sheet for activity & notes - what to do - make notes about the design features of cloud chamber and what they do. Describe HOW the vapour trail (cloud) forms along the radiation path. Compare and explain the trails left by alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

Update - here is the clip I REALLY wanted you to see. Seeing how the Radon gas moves through the chamber is a) Awesome  b) A nice insight to how tracers work

And here is a link to the description of the mosquito killing laser system - nothing to do with cloud chambers though.

And while we're off the topic - here is a link to slow motion footage of what happens to stuff when you shoot it with a .50 Cal round.

Standard Model and Particle Accelerators

THIS website is the best!

Read all the pages by clicking on ALL the links and sublinks on the left and you will learn A LOT about the last part of the Quanta to Quarks elective.

Particle Physics is freaking amazing!

Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum runs a Shipwrecks, Corrosion and Conservation program that is not bad. Not good enough to take you all the way to Sydney for it though. However, that gives Dr Blurg the oppurtunity bring the best of the Maritime Museum to you. Three sets of images below. If you click on the images you should get a larger view where you can read the informative (and sometimes correct) captions.

SET 1 - History of Shipbuilding Materials

SET 2 - Corrosion

SET 3 - Artefacts: Conservation & Restoration

Interesting superconductor article

Hi Physicists,

We haven't talked much about the 'real' reason why Cooper pairs don't interact with the lattice but this article does a pretty good job. See the four paragraphs after the BCS diagram for a good explanation.

But as, as with all simplifications of quantum physics, NEIGH!

More advice "Just work"

"Isn't it nice when things just work" - well yes, but getting things to work requires lots of 'just work'

While the end result of the commercial is impressive the hidden heroes of the commercial are

• the planning involved
• the precision required
• the persistence (606 takes to get it right...)

What I want for you is for your HSC exam experience to run as smoothly as that commercial (and I imagine you want this as well) - to know your work so well that you apparently, effortlessly, flow from exam to exam and question to question. But that takes work now:
planning your term and study, making sure all of your work is precise (the best it can be) and the perseverance to overcome mistakes, difficulties and setbacks.


So you want more HSC advice?:  'Just Work'
I know you can do it.

You want advice?

All my many years of thinking about how to best-prepare for the HSC has been condensed and crystallised into the (awesome) diagram below. So before you ask about how you are going, or before you next submit a draft, homework task, experiment report or study notes, take time to ponder the mysteries of ‘NEIGH’.

The Bomb

No I'm not talking about this blog  (haha, but that does remind me of the joke about the two  drums and the cymbal that rolled down the hill) - but the Manhattan Project.

Physicists should take the time to read the following Wikipedia sites (and despite what you might have been told: Wikipedia is awesome!):

• Manhattan Project
• Bombing Japan

But this is also awesome Operation Gunnerside - the German nuclear threat was real and taken very seriously. Apart from that there were lots of amazing commando raids in WWII related to capturing or studying German technology, or destroying critical resources - the Green Beach raid is another.