Minute Physics took up a topic that I had discussed previously. It is about the time scale on how long a pencil can be balanced on its tip.
Note that in a previous post, I had pointed out several papers that debunked the fallacy of using quantum mechanics and the HUP to arrive at such time scale. So it seems that this particular topic, like many others, keeps coming back every so often.
Zz.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Cuddly Plushes At Synchrotron Beamlines
I mentioned of my final visit to the NSLS before its impending shutdown. I had to stop and chuckle at one of the UV beamlines during my casual tour around the place. There were cuddly plushes strategically placed along the beamlines, including Kermit and Miss Piggy in a rather amorous position (not that there's anything wrong with it).
And yes, I took a few photos.
I hope they remember to rescue these guys before the wrecking ball arrives.
Zz.
And yes, I took a few photos.
I hope they remember to rescue these guys before the wrecking ball arrives.
Zz.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Saying Goodbye To NSLS
I had a chance recently to visit my old romping ground, the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven Lab. I spent 3 years there doing my postdoc work, and the facility is about to be shut down at the end of Sept. 2014 as the new facility, the NSLS II just right next door, will take over. The old lady is still running, but you can tell that she's old, decrepit, with lots of aches and pains, and about ready to retire. One can tell that this place is about ready to be shut down when even the vendors no longer refill the vending machines!
I was there on the day that Long Island, NY received 13 inches of rain within a 12 hour period, and walking in the next day, I saw leaks and a few water issues. Oh yeah, the old lady is definitely ready to go. The NSLS was such a workhorse during her glory years. To say that she was over-subscribed is an understatement. The place was packed with users on top of each other. The presence of two separate rings, one for the x-ray and the other for the UV/IR/low energy photons, made it quite unique and useful for many applications and studies.
Across the street from her is the new lady on the block, the NSLS II. She's huge when compared to the old lady, she's shiny and new, more powerful and sleeker. I look forward to visiting her when she's in operation, but I'll never forget the one I spent a lot of days and nights with. She gave me good data. How many dates have you been on where you can say that?
So long, NSLS!
Zz.
I was there on the day that Long Island, NY received 13 inches of rain within a 12 hour period, and walking in the next day, I saw leaks and a few water issues. Oh yeah, the old lady is definitely ready to go. The NSLS was such a workhorse during her glory years. To say that she was over-subscribed is an understatement. The place was packed with users on top of each other. The presence of two separate rings, one for the x-ray and the other for the UV/IR/low energy photons, made it quite unique and useful for many applications and studies.
Across the street from her is the new lady on the block, the NSLS II. She's huge when compared to the old lady, she's shiny and new, more powerful and sleeker. I look forward to visiting her when she's in operation, but I'll never forget the one I spent a lot of days and nights with. She gave me good data. How many dates have you been on where you can say that?
So long, NSLS!
Zz.
Saturday, August 09, 2014
Data Analysis App
A while back, I asked if anyone had a suggestion for the best physics apps that are available for mobile devices. I've been mostly using my iPad when I am away from home, ditching my travel laptop. It has worked rather well for me. The only thing that I miss is that I don't have my usual data analysis/graphing software that I often use. I use Origin on my laptop/desktop to analyze, plot, and produce publication-quality graphs. I don't intend to do such extensive work on my iPad, but I do need a quick and dirty way to enter or import data, plot it, and do some rudimentary analysis on it. At the very least, it must be able to do some simple data-fitting and produce a decent-enough graph that I can e-mail to my collaborators.
After looking around for a bit, and after trying this one out for the past month, I think I found a very nice app that does just the thing that I was looking for. The app is called "DataAnalysis". You can find it in the Apple App Store, and I don't know if it has a version on Android. I don't work for the company and get nothing for recommending this app (darn it!), so this is an unsolicited recommendation.
The app is easy enough to use, even though it has links to a couple of YouTube tutorials if you need them. You can either import ASCII text data, or create your own data in an empty data sheet. The data are in a simple, two-column format, space separated (don't you commas or it'll complain!). Once you have your data, you can easily plot it.
You then have the option of doing some simple data analysis. It has a number of already built-in mathematical expression that you can fit your data to. For an undergraduate student in science and engineering, this feature should be sufficient for most cases.
It has a limited number of customization for your graphs. I don't expect to produce a publication-quality graph using this app. But it is good enough for me to send a graph to my collaborators. Having the ability to save and/or send graphics/pdf of the data easily is an important feature that I require, and this app does that.
The one major drawback that I see with this app is the inability (at least, I couldn't find how to do it yet, if the capability exists) to plot more than just one set of data on the same graph. Right now, all I can do is give a set of x and y values. I can't do a set of x, and then a set of y1, y2, etc.. values. It will be a nice feature to have to be able to plot more than just one set of data in a single graph. It can't be that difficult of a feature to add.
Otherwise, this is a very useful app on the go and it does what I need it to do.
Zz.
After looking around for a bit, and after trying this one out for the past month, I think I found a very nice app that does just the thing that I was looking for. The app is called "DataAnalysis". You can find it in the Apple App Store, and I don't know if it has a version on Android. I don't work for the company and get nothing for recommending this app (darn it!), so this is an unsolicited recommendation.
The app is easy enough to use, even though it has links to a couple of YouTube tutorials if you need them. You can either import ASCII text data, or create your own data in an empty data sheet. The data are in a simple, two-column format, space separated (don't you commas or it'll complain!). Once you have your data, you can easily plot it.
You then have the option of doing some simple data analysis. It has a number of already built-in mathematical expression that you can fit your data to. For an undergraduate student in science and engineering, this feature should be sufficient for most cases.
It has a limited number of customization for your graphs. I don't expect to produce a publication-quality graph using this app. But it is good enough for me to send a graph to my collaborators. Having the ability to save and/or send graphics/pdf of the data easily is an important feature that I require, and this app does that.
The one major drawback that I see with this app is the inability (at least, I couldn't find how to do it yet, if the capability exists) to plot more than just one set of data on the same graph. Right now, all I can do is give a set of x and y values. I can't do a set of x, and then a set of y1, y2, etc.. values. It will be a nice feature to have to be able to plot more than just one set of data in a single graph. It can't be that difficult of a feature to add.
Otherwise, this is a very useful app on the go and it does what I need it to do.
Zz.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
The Discovery of CP Violation
This is a very informative article on CERN Courier on the early days of the discovery of CP violation in elementary particle physics.
This is a very important discovery because, as of now, it is considered as one of the factors that might, just might (although the effect is still too small), explain why our universe is dominated by matter and not equal amount of matter-antimatter.
It is also one of the "Who Ordered That?" effect that many didn't see coming.
Zz.
This is a very important discovery because, as of now, it is considered as one of the factors that might, just might (although the effect is still too small), explain why our universe is dominated by matter and not equal amount of matter-antimatter.
It is also one of the "Who Ordered That?" effect that many didn't see coming.
Zz.
Saturday, August 02, 2014
The Origins Of Mass
We have covered this before in this blog, but here's another one to drill the point in, especially if you missed it during earlier coverage. You just have to excuse the bad pun at the beginning of the video.
Zz.
Zz.
The Title Doesn't Match The Content - Part 2
Here's another news article where the title really doesn't match the content. This one came from Huffington Post, and it was titled "The End of Accelerator Physics?"
When I first saw the title, I thought it was about funding issues, and that no one is going to fun larger and more expensive accelerators than the LHC. WRONG!
The article was focusing more on the advancement in particle physics, with very little on accelerator physics (really!). Again, as is common, people are confusing the field of accelerator physics with elementary particle physics and high energy physics! I've repeatedly emphasized on here on the fact that these two are very different field of studies, and the overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of particle accelerators in the world have NOTHING to do with particle physics at all!
I am well aware that this is almost a futile effort to educate the masses, but if just one of you reading this learn about it and educate yourself, and then maybe help to educate just one of your friends, then this will all have been worthwhile.
Zz.
When I first saw the title, I thought it was about funding issues, and that no one is going to fun larger and more expensive accelerators than the LHC. WRONG!
The article was focusing more on the advancement in particle physics, with very little on accelerator physics (really!). Again, as is common, people are confusing the field of accelerator physics with elementary particle physics and high energy physics! I've repeatedly emphasized on here on the fact that these two are very different field of studies, and the overwhelming majority (more than 95%) of particle accelerators in the world have NOTHING to do with particle physics at all!
I am well aware that this is almost a futile effort to educate the masses, but if just one of you reading this learn about it and educate yourself, and then maybe help to educate just one of your friends, then this will all have been worthwhile.
Zz.
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