A Little Physics Goes A Long Way

In the four days I have been home, I have witnessed more examples of the ways in which my experience with Ivy League Connection at UPenn has altered the way I live than I ever expected. The month I spent in Philadelphia has changed the way I think about the learning process, applying to college, and the world around me.

Since I have returned, friends and family have asked me how my trip was. I feel bad, because in most cases I think they were just trying to be polite and expected my answer to be something like "Oh yea it was really cool, I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot. The end". What they invariably got instead was a ten minute long shpeel about systems neuroscience, single photon diffraction, cosmic rays, Bill Burner's amazing demonstrations, UPenn's dorm food, my amazing roommate, the frozen yogurt in Philadelphia, and a handful of funny stories about the people I met. It was kind of amazing when my parents picked me up from the airport. I almost didn't realize how many stories I had to tell until they couldn't shut me up the entire car ride home.

In fact, even when I am not asked, nowadays it is hard to get me to stop talking about physics. The month I spent learning from Bill was a real-life, tangible example of learning for the sake of knowledge and discovery rather than a report card and that experience leaves a mark. Now when I look around, I see opportunities to learn and teach all over even when there will be no letter grade at the end. When my friend showed me something on her computer yesterday, I spent about three minutes describing how the liquid crystals in her screen polarize the light differently based on the electrical signals they receive and that is how the image is made. By the end all she could say was "That's great, now let me show you this video." I have found that my colleagues here are a little less eager to learn than those I encountered at Penn.

That alone was a bit of a culture shock. After spending a month with a group of kids who were willing to sit through lectures for a third of their summer, it is hard for me to imagine that someone would not be excited to learn. Returning to high school is going to be strange. I have forgotten what it's like not to be surrounded by ultra motivated science freaks. Hopefully, I will be able to spread my enthusiasm to my classmates and get them excited about the subject instead of doing the bare minimum to get an "A". Now, I am more excited than ever to go to college where I know more and more people will share my passion for discovery.

So excited that on my second day home I dumped out the cluttered drawer I keep all the college information I get in the mail and sorted it into piles based on how interested I am in attending the college. Many of the letters I found in that drawer I had barely even looked at, but now I have a new motivation to continue to research colleges. I also have enough information to know where to start applying for scholarships based on my conversations with alums over dinner and our meetings with college administrators as well as the discussions I had with my room mate and other people on our floor. Many of the students I met talked about starting their essays for the common app as soon as they got home. Their motivation and organization has inspired me to take initiative and deal with the daunting task earlier rather than later.

The people that I met were inspirational in more than one way. I had been told that I would be meeting people from all over the world, but I didn't really think about what that would entail. I got to talk to people who's lives are incredibly different from mine in some respects, but I also saw that many experiences and ideas teenagers have are universal. Being around so many different cultures opened my eyes and helped me understand how big the world is. The international students that I talked to were absolutely the most driven people I had encountered. Not only are they generally fluent in English (and in most cases, multiple other languages), they are working hard in intensive programs like international baccalaureate in order to broaden their horizons beyond the colleges of their own country. The Ivy League Connection stresses that its goal is to help students realize that they are not limited to California. I now know that I am not limited to the United States. My roommate even offered to help me through the international application process.

It is only after I have learned these important lessons that I understand fully what exeptional program the Ivy Leage Connection is. I hope to broaden its impact by getting my fellow classmates involved with it and using the presentation skills I learned during my course to show younger students how fun science can be. I plan on working through the high school to schedule lessons at elementary schools like Fairmont where we can show the kids variations of the demonsrations Bill showed us in order to teach them about the basic concepts of Physics. I believe that learning it from someone who truly enjoys the subject will improve the odds of them getting interested as well.

It is amazing to think that it was in the span of only four short weeks, but my experience at U Penn has opened my eyes to a new way of looking at learning: appreciate the knoledge, don't stress about the grades. I believe this state of mind will not only help me enjoy my final year of high school, It will help me find a college I can thrive in and get me genuinely excited about the process.

I Learn Every Day

The time that I spent in Pennsylvania and on the East Coast in general was valuable to me for many different reasons. First off, my time on the East Coast was valuable to me because it was really fun. I also found that I really learned much more than I expected to during my class. However, I also learned a lot outside of the classroom about college which will be very valuable to me in May when I am signing a certificate of intent to attend a college wherever that may be.

Occasionally, things change so suddenly that we say that they have taken a quantum leap forward. For me, going to class at Penn was a quantum leap because I realized how much more I have to learn about everything. Certainly in my high school environment I have taken the toughest classes I can and I always push myself hard, but when I got to Penn I was reminded that there is always more to learn. From the first day I struggled a bit in class, but always was able to get through it and learn in the process. Something valuable that I learned is that it is OK to be a follower sometimes. At school, I tend to always take the lead on projects and make sure that everyone does their part, but in my lab group of 4 at Penn, all 4 of us were trying to do the same thing. We quickly realized that all of us were competent leaders and that it was actually important for us to learn how to accept the leadership of another even when they were doing the lab differently than we would have. In a time of constant collaboration in business, this was valuable for me to learn.

Another thing that I came to realize during my time at Penn is that discipline is critical to achieving success. One guy in my class is the same age as me but he has taken 6 years of physics classes and knows, at last count, 5 languages. Armed only with my year of physics education and 1.3 languages that I speak (English and some Japanese), I was inspired to realize how much more I can do if I really work my hardest at everything. Certainly, some of the difference is due to opportunity, but I have recently come to realizes how much time everyone wastes. In one of my classes at school, my teacher had us all track where all of our time goes over a three week period. I was shocked to find how much time I wasted and due to that and my inspiration at Penn I have resolved to try to always maximize the time I have.

To avoid being all bark and no bite, I would like to briefly lay out how I think that the learning I have done at Penn will help me in my future. First off, I intend to be a lot more organized as a student in the future. While I have gradually realized this in high school, Penn presented the immediate need of knowing where all of your materials were and of simply organizing information so that you could use it effectively. I have also learned to manage my time more effectively. During the upcoming school year, I intend to keep track of the time that I waste so that I can become inspired to do something useful with it. Penn also taught me about setting good and achievable goals. In many scenarios, we would have some huge goal to achieve such as measuring the speed of light. We began this process by breaking it down into many smaller goals along the way. For example, we needed to build a laser, assemble the circuits, and take measurements. Each of these goals could be broken down even further into easily achievable goals such as plugging in our oscilloscope and connecting certain wires. I think that I can easily take this sort of process out of the lab by setting goals, say on a project in school, and making things more manageable by breaking the process into easy parts.

I have been handed an amazing opportunity by the ILC to learn tons about physics, college, and life in general. Something that I haven’t mentioned so far is that I definitely plan to give back some of what I have learned to other people. Many people my age blindly apply only to public California schools and ignore the other options out there. While Californian schools are fantastic, a large part of the ILC is exposing teens from California to the fact that there are so many other colleges that may be a better option than UC’s and CSU’s. To give thanks for the exposure that I have gotten, I plan to collaborate with Alex and Julia to make some sort of presentation about considering many options when applying to college to present to other teens our age. If we can help even one person to take a good look at an East Coast school and realize that it is really what they want, we can call our plan a success.

The ILC has really changed how I will go through the college application process. First off, I plan to start very soon so that I can have plenty of time to do the job right and not apply to a few schools last minute. This will help a lot because I plan on applying to some very competitive schools and the last thing I want to do is to present a sloppy image of myself. As I talked about goal setting earlier, I think the college application process will be a great place for me to set goals. While everyone talks about the application process as this giant overwhelming thing, it really breaks down into parts quite easily. Inspired by my time at Penn, I already have a calendar with some important dates in the application process on it.

On a very specific level, the ILC will help me in the college application process because at Penn I have gotten to learn more specifically what I really want to get out of college and what sort of college I want to attend. At the most basic level, I have realized that I want to attend a medium or large sized school because of the huge number of opportunities present at a larger college. For example, Penn has the resources to have hundreds of different clubs and sports that I could try. Furthermore, I have realized that a must at any college that I go to is a strong study abroad program. During an information session at Penn, I was glad to learn that Penn has a strong study abroad program and that many students take advantage of it. I could go on for hours about the details of my ideal college, but the bottom line is that through the ILC, Penn has really helped me to narrow down my college search and for that I am very grateful.

During this program, I have not been able to say thank you enough. First off, thank you to all of the people that routinely read this blog whether you are family, friends, or simply interested in what we did. Many thanks to Alex and Julia who were extremely supportive during the entire trip and made everything a lot more fun. I’m glad that I got to be Alex’s roommate because he is a fun and supportive friend that knows how to get work done and knows how to have fun. Thank you very much Mario Miranda for your organization, your fun presence, and your great taste in food. I am very grateful that you spent a month of your summer traveling and learning with us, because it really wouldn’t have been the same without you. Finally, I owe so many thanks to the Ivy League Connection and its sponsors. I have learned so much about physics, college, and myself that I can never repay it.

That’s all I have to say for now, but this program and the knowledge I have learned will stick with me forever.

One of the Greatest Months of My Life

It has been less than a week since I departed from Penn, but I feel like I have been away for much longer. My time in Pennsylvania really left a mark on me. Not only was it my home for a month, but it was also a place where I was part of an intellectual community, I was able to branch out much farther than I normally do at home, and I was able to live a completely different lifestyle. Not only was I able to live more independently, but I was literally fifteen minutes away from one of the most populated cities in the country. My experiences at Penn are things that I will never forget and I will continue to be influenced by the lessons that I have learned.

I feel like going into this program with prior ILC experience gave me a totally different perspective. I was introduced to the world of college exploration last year and I got a good sense of things that I did and didn’t like about colleges. Going in this year, I had a better idea of what to look for in a college that would suit me. Better yet, I knew the questions to ask. When we visited Georgetown and spoke with Bruce Chamberlain, the Senior Associate Director of Admissions, I had several key questions about Georgetown that I was eager to ask. However, he was so thorough that I didn’t even need to ask them. I had planned to ask about Georgetown’s financial aid and the strengths the universities different schools have, but I never had to ask because he had covered those topics thoroughly. He was even able to discuss at great length the opportunities, such as internships in D.C., that are available to students at Georgetown. The same was true of my discussions with Ellen Kim, the Northern California Admissions Representative at Penn. She informed me of how tightly knit the Penn community is and how focused on learning and research the university is. More on that later. Last year I was just beginning to learn about what colleges had to offer in general. Since I got that experience last year, I was able to focus on the details this time around. I was even able to pick up on some of the programs that different schools offer, such as Georgetown’s 3-2 program, which is in conjunction with Columbia where you spend three years at Georgetown and two at Columbia, or Penn’s new major that combines sustainability and engineering that Ellen Kim told me about. This is something that I want to be able to spread amongst my peers. I want to let them know about what college can offer, but I also want to let them know that you need to understand what you truly want out of your college experience when looking at a college.

Not only were the college visitations memorable and enlightening, but so was my course at Penn. The Experimental Physics Academy was the most challenging science class that I have ever taken. Although it may not have had very many assignments outside of the classroom, the class was fast-paced and you had to keep up if you had any chance of understanding the next lesson or lab that was coming your way. We covered topics that I never thought I would have the chance to study while I was still in high school, let alone understand these advanced principles of physics. I had no idea that I would study Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or String Theory while I was still in high school. We covered so many principles of physics, ranging from mechanics and motion to optics and relativity, in just four weeks, that it astounds me that we were all able to keep up. What made it easy was the support of the faculty that ran the program. Bill, Mary, Craig, Ryan, Adam, and Brian were all extremely helpful. Each was dedicated to making sure that we understood the material. It was a top notch learning environment. I didn’t feel like I was taking a class from Bill or any of the TAs. Instead, it felt like I was doing research with them. They always made class an interactive experience and I felt like we were all peers working towards a common goal. I cannot fully express how lucky I was to have been selected for such a great course. I learned skills that will help me work toward my future and, in the process, I learned from people who were truly passionate about education for the sake of education.

Learning for the sake of learning seemed to be a constant theme at Penn. Bill told us on the first day that he didn’t want to give us grades or credit because then we would be playing the game for the grade instead of actually “doing science.” This was also resonant throughout my discussions with Sam Gilbert, a grad student at Penn, and Ellen Kim during our dinner at La Croix. Sam told me that even though you have to do work for a passing grade, the emphasis in almost every class he had been enrolled in at Penn was on learning and research. Ellen Kim also told me about how involved members of the Penn faculty (such as June Chu, a Pre-major Advisor) are in helping you find your path at Penn. This is something that I find admirable about a college these days. There are so many universities and colleges that have massive class sizes that are only focused on getting the grade or being number one. However, at Penn there is a strong focus on collaborative thinking and learning as a whole. The word community is tossed around a lot when college is being discussed. At Penn, there really is a sense of community. You have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, study with professors and researchers, even as an undergrad, and you can get help or support from almost anyone. I really got the feeling that Penn was a huge family and, for a month, I got to be a part of that family. This is the kind of university that I want to attend. I want to be able to interact with people from different parts of the globe and actually have classes that are taught by professors. Penn helped me come to that decision, and I am very thankful for it.

My experiences at Penn would have been much less memorable if I didn’t have so many wonderful people to share them with. I was very lucky to have such an excellent cohort. Mr. Miranda was an excellent chaperone and I can certainly see why the ILC has asked him to chaperone for six years of the program. Not only was he responsible and on top of things, he was also very knowledgeable. I think of him as a renaissance man because he is able to speak extensively on so many different topics, from architecture to evolution. His wealth of knowledge made me realize the value of a liberal arts education, one where you can learn a little bit about everything even if you are focusing on one subject. Brian and Julia were great as well. Things were a little strained at first because the two of them and Mr. Miranda already knew each other, but I feel like once we got to know one another we were great friends. I was able to get to know Brian really well because we were roommates. He was always fun and (thankfully) didn’t mind when I stayed up late doing my blogs. Julia was great too. She was always lively and brought a special sense of humor to the group. However, my cohort was not my only family at Penn. Soon we befriended four very special people. Fred Kwon, Alison Lui, Abheek Basu, and Onur Soybir were my closest friends throughout the program. Despite how different we all are, we were drawn together and ultimately became inseparable. Fred was always a great person to talk with, either individually or in the group. He was fun and sincere. Abheek shared my dry sense of humor and was always good for a laugh. Alison seemed to have something in common with everyone, no matter how small it was. She could relate to and was friendly with everyone. Onur was extremely sociable. Whatever he did or wherever he went, he tried to include as many people as possible to make it a group experience that we could all share. I especially enjoyed his company because there are so many cultural differences between America and Turkey that we were able to discuss, such as differences in our schools, cities, and even food. I will always treasure the friendships that I made with the other six members of our Clique and I know we will keep in touch. Like I said, we have become inseparable, barring distance.

My adventure in the east is over. Although I have left Penn, it will linger in my mind for a long time. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to have such a great experience if it weren’t for the Ivy League Connection. This program has grown to such great heights since it began seven years ago and it would not be possible without Charles Ramsey, Madeleine Kronenberg, Don Gosney, the sponsors, and everyone who has supported or been a part of the ILC. This unique program has influenced the lives of so many students, and I am extremely fortunate to have been a part of it. Of course, I also have to thank my parents, who have been supportive of me throughout my life and especially my ILC experience. I would not be the person I am today if it weren’t for the ILC because both of my experiences on the east coast have shaped my decisions in both high school and my plans for the future. I have become more organized as a student, I have decided that I would like to attend an urban campus, I know now that not-so-well-rounded students are acceptable to many colleges, and so much more. This whole experience has changed my paradigm drastically, and to show my thanks, I will continue to spread the word about what students can achieve if they look to colleges outside of California. I would also like to organize a project with my fellow Pinole ILC scholars to spread the word about the opportunities that wait outside of California and that students do not have to fear the college admissions process. This is all information that needs to be given to the students because it can change their opinions about higher education, just as it has impacted ours. I feel like this would be the best way to put all that my peers and I have learned from our respective journeys in the Ivy League Connection to good use.

After two years with the greatest program in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, my journey has come to a close. For the last blog with the Ivy League Connection, I’m signing off. Thanks for everything.

Good-bye Philly, Hello Pinole

Today was the first day in a month that I did not wake up in dorm room 302 in the NY Alumni building in the Penn quad. I awoke to the sun coming through the blinds in our hotel room and it hit me that it had all ended last night. Although we said our goodbyes to the quad and our friends the night before, waking up somewhere other than the dorm was strange. I really got into a daily rhythm. After the shock of waking up somewhere else, Brian and I got ready to meet Mr. Miranda and Julia in the lobby for breakfast. We ate a quick meal in the restaurant in the hotel lobby. Once we were finished, we headed back upstairs to grab our luggage and then made our way back down to check out. It was time to leave campus.

We headed to the Philadelphia airport and, although it was early, began to make our way through the sea of people. Once we were through security, we grabbed some Peet’s and walked to the gate. Luckily we were in the first couple of groups to board because we were basically able to walk right onto the plane when we got to our gate. Our first flight was quite small. The plane was actually so small that Brian’s head scraped the ceiling. I actually slept for the majority of this flight, but when I was awake the flight was relatively smooth. After only an hour and a half, we had landed in Chicago.

Our layover in Chicago lasted several hours and we really did not have that much to do to fill the time. We ate lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant (the last meal our cohort would eat together!) and then browsed the magazines and souvenirs that O’Hare International had to offer. Somehow, we made this last almost the entire layover. However, there were complications when we began to board the plane: Brian’s reservation was switched at the last minute to another flight! We thought that Mr. Miranda would have to give Brian his ticket and the three of us would have to fly back without our chaperone. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case and all four of us were able to board the same plane. This flight was a little bit rockier, but it was still ok, even though it was a three and a half hour flight.

We landed safely and headed to baggage claim, where our families were waiting for us. I walked up to my parents and greeted them for the first time after a month. I was finally home. While we waited for our bags to come out of the luggage carousel, our families spoke to each other and Mario. However, once my bags arrived, it was time for me to depart. I bid farewell to my cohort and left the airport with my parents. Dinner with my parents seemed to be non-stop questions, and I can’t blame them. There were a lot of things that they did not yet know about my journey, even though we spoke constantly. I’m certainly glad to see my real family again.

Now, I sit in my room, just as I left it exactly one month ago. My adventure is over and it is time for me to return to my life here in good old Pinole, California. No longer can I head down the hall to say hi to Fred and Abheek, walk down the street to Wawa, or take a trolley to get to a bustling city center within minutes. Life is different here and I will have to adjust again. Although I will miss all of those things about life in Philly, I am also glad to be back in my own home, in familiar territory. Even though I left Pennsylvania today, I hope to return at some point in the future, maybe to attend Penn. But for now, I’m resuming life here. I’m home Pinole.

The End of Days

I write today’s blog with a mixture of emotions. On one hand, I’m happy to be returning home to my family and friends. On the other hand, I’m leaving the “family” and friends that I have grown to know so well over the past four weeks. Tonight, the three of us departed from the quad, departed from our lives at Penn, and watched our Clique wave goodbye to us. The events of today were truly a great way to end the month.

We began class with our final presentations, our reports of the exponential physics experiments. These were, by far, the best presentations so far. All of the slideshows and presenters were entertaining, informative, and concise. Our presentation on Newton’s Law of Cooling, I felt, went exceptionally well. We had good background information, sufficient data, we came to the correct conclusion, and presented it in such a way that Bill and the TAs wholeheartedly agreed with our analysis and description. Ryan even told us that our analysis was exactly the way he would have taught the topic. This was comforting to hear since we did not have a lot of guidance with this experiment. The research, experiments, and presentation were largely left up to our decisions. To learn that we had come to the correct conclusion and that we taught the class the same way one of our instructors would was a great feeling.

Following the presentations, we had a long discussion on what could be improved in the program and what should be kept on for the next year. It was interesting to hear about what everyone thought about different aspects of the class. For example, I enjoyed hearing the opinions of people that had never taken physics before coming to the program. Most of them felt that the program was a great way to get involved in physics and that it was still a very educational experience, despite the pace. Even the students that have been taking physics for years said that the program benefited them immensely, and I could not agree with them more. I do not have any regrets or negative feedback for this program whatsoever. Everything was run excellently, Bill and the TAs were great, and the overall experience was one that I will never forget. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in pursuing science, and even to some who aren’t necessarily interested in taking that path.

After lunch, we all gathered in the small lecture hall on the ground floor of the DRL. This was the greatest part of today. We were told that this was Bill’s time to show off all of his best demonstrations. This was absolutely true. We were given quite the show this afternoon as Bill took us through the most entertaining demonstrations of physics he had to offer. He displayed the properties of elastic potential energy by sitting on a gigantic coil that was attached to the ceiling, blew up a small house using the flow of electrons through an unstable environment, and even shattered a wine glass using sound. Bill really pulled out all the stops today, and I couldn’t think of a better way to complete the course. After the demonstrations were over, we were given USB drives with everything that we could possibly want from the program. We received the slideshows from every lecture (guest and regular), well-known physics papers that were written by some of our guest lecturers, and even every single document and presentation that Mary uploaded to Dropbox. We were also given certificates of completion for the program and wooden stars that had C’s on them, as a testament to our ability to accurately measure the speed of light. Once Bill and Mary said all that they wanted to say, goodbyes, thank you’s and even some sorrowful hugs were exchanged between both classmate and staff. I made sure to say thank you and goodbye to Bill and all of the TAs before I left, except Adam, but he left early. It all felt complete after that.

I finally got my picture with Bill

Ryan was always a huge help and a pretty cool guy. Couldn't pass up a photo-op.

It was sad to say good-bye to Mary. We have grown close.

Coolest. TA. EVER.

Bill in serious clothing??

Once we returned to the dorms, I had to finish my packing. Somehow I managed to cram all of the things I brought and all of the souvenirs and gifts I purchased into my suitcase and suit bag. I couldn’t find a scale though, so I am really hoping that my luggage isn’t overweight. If it is though, I can always transfer some items from my suitcase to the suit bag, because that is definitely under-weight. I couldn’t wait to finish packing because I wanted to get as much time with everyone else as possible. Unfortunately, it took everyone quite a while to get everything packed, so we weren’t all finished until about 6:00. We decided to just get sandwiches from the convenience store near the quad and eat light, since we would be dancing later.

The dance began around 7:30 out in the lower quad. It was actually pretty funny because after about fifteen minutes of music, it began to rain. That was actually one of the hardest rains that I had experienced during my time at Penn. This put the party on hold for about fifteen minutes, but after that, it did not stop for another three hours. The music was loud, everyone was having a great time, and for a while we all let go of the fact that we would be leaving each other very, very soon.

At 10:10, Mr. Miranda arrived to sign us out. We didn’t actually leave the quad until at least half an hour later. It wasn’t that sign out took a long time, but our good-byes took a very long time. This would be the last time for a long time, if ever again, that the seven of us would be together, so it was all very emotional. I realized at that moment how attached I had become to my friends here. I knew that I would miss them, but I did not imagine that I would be so moved just by having to say goodbye. It truly is like ripping off a bandaid, you just have to do it quickly. Sometimes, that just isn’t possible. We were so unwilling to let go of each other. Several hugs were exchanged between each of us, touching parting words were said, and there was a universal need for tissues by the time we exited the front gates. Ed bid us adieu and we were officially out of Penn’s Summer Discovery experience.

This past month has been filled with fantastic events that I will always treasure. Whether it was meeting new friends or exploring the college that I may one day call my home, I never regretted coming to Penn, not for one second. I have never been more thankful to the Ivy League Connection, and everyone who supports it, than I felt today. Although I am sad to leave Penn and my new family behind, I am overjoyed to know that I have made life-long connections, and it wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for this amazing program. I am forever indebted to the ILC for all that they have done for me. For my last time in Philadelphia, I’m signing off. Good night, and good-bye Philly.

Out With a Bang

The final day here at U Penn was both incredible and heartbreaking. During class, Bill showed us four hours worth of creative, informative, exciting and occasionally hilarious demos that he himself had designed. Our evening activity, a camp-wide outdoors dance, was especially fun as well (despite the rain). By the end of the night, when I realized the month was really over and I was going to have to part with the group of friends and classmates that I met, I came close to shedding tears.

The day started off in a typical manner. Wake up, shower, dress, and say goodbye to my roommate Noor before leaving for breakfast. Our goodbye today however was much more significant because it would be the last time we saw each other before the program ended (her flight was this afternoon). We exchanged e-mails and plan to keep in touch, but it is going to be difficult waking up in the morning without her motivational music. Not seeing her every day is going to be hard to get used to.

Class began normally as well. We started off giving out presentations about the exponential relationship between variables that we studied. Alex, Brian, Onor, and I gave our presentation about Newton's law of cooling based on the data we collected with our temperature probes in hot water last week. It was interesting giving a presentation about thermodynamics to fellow high school students because not long ago, for my final project in my physics class at ECHS, I taught a similar lesson to a sixth grade class. Needless to say, my presentation today required much less background information and repetition, but I still tried to present the ideas in a similar way - on a conceptual level rather than a repetition of textbook definitions, a technique that Bill has stressed the importance of throughout the course, and is very important to me as well.

After our presentations and a short lunch break, the really fun stuff began. We moved into a larger lecture room to watch Bill perform the number of demonstrations he had set up for us. Each one displayed a different concept that we had experience with either from earlier in the course or earlier years of science in an exciting way that often exposed new ways of looking at the laws they proved. It was awesome.Above is a photo of the first demonstration. It dealt with how objects float in environments with higher densities and sink when the density of the object is greater. If you look closely, You can see a bubble floating in the tank. He accomplished this by mixing vinegar and baking soda to create carbon dioxide that stayed in the tank because it was heavier than the surrounding air. When he blew bubble into the tank, the increased density resulted in a tank full of floating bubbles. It was really cool to watch. This demonstration was designed to show the effects of angular momentum. Because the wheel he is holding is spinning, the stool he is sitting on has the ability to spin, and together they are a closed system. Bill could make himself spin on the stool by changing the angle at which he held the spinning disk. The demo was especially interesting because he informed us that this is exactly how scientists steer the Hubble telescope.Next, he brought out a vandagraph generator and used it to show us the principles of static electricity. The example of his hair strands repelling each other as they picked up a charge was particularly amusing, but my favorite was the example of the stack of pie pans that flew off, one after the other, as soon as the machine was turned on.

Bill clearly is willing to go to great lengths to provide us visual, palpable examples when he hung himself from the celling on a spring to show us what oscillations look like. He even used a motion sensor hooked up to logger pro to show us the beautiful sine wave that results from harmonic motion in position, velocity, and acceleration. I addition to being highly entertaining, seeing Bill bounce up and down like that was actually helpful in understanding the system.

Some of my other favorite demonstrations included the one that described projectile motion. He posed the dilemma of wanting to shoot a monkey that lets go of the branch he is swinging from as soon as he sees that he is being shot at. Rather than aim below the monkey as one might initially think to do, parabolic motion says that it is best to shoot directly at the monkey because as the monkey falls, the bullet falls at the same rate. Bill created a rather ingenious contraption in order to demonstrate and prove this theory. He set up a blow gun with a metal piece fitted into the end. When he blows the bullet out of the tube, the metal piece is force out, breaking an electrical circuit that was magnetically suspending a toy monkey in front of the gun. With this setup, the monkey falls at exactly the same time the bullet leaves the tube. Bill aimed his gun directly at his target and hit the monkey every time.

The most exciting part was when he exploded a toy wooden house using an electrical current and a chemical mixture that created a reactive gas within the house. He showed us that when the house was electrically grounded with a lighting rod, nothing happened, but when that protection wasn't there, a boom loud enough to make my heart skip a beat and the entire class to jump about a foot in the air. It was quite a memorable demo.
When Bill ran out of demonstrations to show, or more likely, time with which to show them, we received our certificates of completion and a thumbdrive with all the links, slideshows, articles and contact information related to what we learned and who we met during the course. It is a huge amount of valuable information that will keep my busy for the remainder of the summer, and possibly year. We said our goodbyes and our "thankyouthankyouthankyou"s to all the teachers and staff that helped us learn the amazing things we learned this week and then went back to our dorms to pack.

Once our rooms were depressingly bare, we went out to the quad for the dance party. At first, people we a little shy. I got the feeling that many of them were more comfortable with equations that dance moves, but by the end of the night, we were dancing like crazy, screaming along to the music and enjoying ourselves as much as possible in order to squeeze every last drop out of our final night. By the end, I was exhausted and fulfilled. I knew that I had made the most not only of the evening, but of the entire month.

During the past four weeks, I have learned some of the most interesting concepts and met some of the most dynamic people I have ever learned or met before. It has changes the way I look about science and learning and given my some incredible tools that will allow me to continue to discover more throughout my life. I am incredibly grateful that the Ivy League Connection informed me of the program and enabled me to experience the fascinating world of experimental science.

Going out With a Bang

Today was really an interesting and emotional day. From the start, things felt a little bit different, but Alex and I did our usual routine and went to the bakery Au Bon Pain to get our breakfast. In class, we started off by doing our presentations on research that we did a week or so ago. In general, our assignment was to test different phenomena and to determine if they were exponential relationships or not. That sounds a little bit vague, so I’ll give examples of a few of the phenomena that groups tested. My group tested Newton’s Law of Cooling to see if it was an exponential relationship. Newton’s Law of Cooling basically describes how quickly a hot object will cool down in a cold surrounding medium and how a cold object warms up in a hot surrounding medium.

To test this relationship, we got several cups of water and heated about half of it. The first test that we did tested how a cold temperature probe warmed up in the hot water. We started our data collection, placed the probe in the water and waited for a couple minutes. As soon as we saw the graph of the temperature increasing, it seemed pretty clear that Newton’s Law of Cooling is an exponential relationship. To be sure, we tested our hypothesis out by using the software, Logger Pro, to do a curve fit of our data. The data fit very well with an inverse exponential function and we concluded that the relationship is exponential.

Several of the other groups had interesting presentations such as the group that tested a car that supposedly accelerated exponentially. Exponential relationships are very important in nature, so I was glad to get some exposure to a few of these phenomena. At lunch, I ordered some pizza and then realized that I had about $30 left on my Dining Dollars card. Luckily, Mary had mentioned that people could bring snacks for the afternoon lecture if they had dining dollars left so I bought a bunch of chips and soda to share. When I got back to class, we discovered that Mary had also made all of us cookies to enjoy while we watched Bill’s demonstration show.

Bill struck me from the start as a hands on kind of guy. I was definitely right, because Bill is in charge of making physics demonstrations at UPenn. Bill started off his demonstration by showing us examples of the buoyant force by showing us how regular soda sinks but diet soda floats because it’s less dense. Things quickly got better as Bill blew some bubbles in the air and pointed out that they always sink to the ground. Just as I was about to award him the Mr. Obvious award, Bill mixed up some baking soda and vinegar in an aquarium and then blew bubbles into it. Because the baking soda and vinegar react to make carbon dioxide, which is denser than air, the bubbles floated and bounced around in midair which was pretty cool.

Bill’s demonstrations got wilder and wilder as he began to well, blow stuff up. To demonstrate how well lighting rods work, Bill brought in a scale model of a typical home and filed it with a chemical that quickly converts into acetylene gas. With the lighting rod on the house, Bill shocked the house with an electric bolt but nothing happened because of the lighting rod. When he took the rod off and repeated the process, the house exploded into pieces and made a bang so loud I’m sure every person reading this blog heard it.

I loved Bill’s demonstrations, but the several hour show flew by in moments, and soon it was time to say goodbye. Mary showed us a final slideshow of everything we did and then gave us flash drives full of everything we’ve done in the last 4 weeks. Each of our teachers spoke for a little bit and I could once again see how dedicated each of them is to the program. I cannot express how thankful I am for Bill, Mary, Ryan, Craig, Adam, Brian, and everyone in the program for making the last 4 weeks so amazing and educational.

In the evening, we got to celebrate a little bit. Summer Discovery provided a D.J. for us and we had a fun, informal dance. The dance was really fun, but for me it was overshadowed by the fact that we had to leave at 10 o’clock. Finally, it was time to say goodbye to all of my friends that have made the last 4 weeks the best time of my life. I couldn’t stop myself from crying when I said goodbye to Fred, Abheek, Onur and Alison each of whom have been fantastic friends over the last 4 weeks. While I did cry a bit, I am reminded by one of my favorite people ever, Dr. Seuss, about how to deal with something like this.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” ~Dr. Seuss

With modern technology, there’s no excuse not to stay in touch, so I know we will continue to be great friends even as Onur heads back to Turkey, Abheek back to London, Alison back to Florida, and Fred back to Alabama.

Thank you to everyone in this program for making it such a great experience.

A Guided Tour of the World of Experiments

Time has gone by so quickly! I am still in shock that tomorrow is my last day of class. Even thought we are so close to the end, we continue to learn more about the way experimental physics works in the real world. One thing that has changed in the final couple days is that we are beginning to learn about it from many different sources. In addition to the guest lecture today I heard from my fellow classmates (and got to teach them a thing or two myself) as well as some of the grad students that populate the basement of our building, working on some groundbreaking studies with radio telescopes, carbon nano-tubes, and soft matter.

The day started off with a very interesting guest lecture about the construction of SNO (Subdury Neutrino Observatory), a huge neutrino detector placed at the bottom of a nickel mine to shield it from unwanted background information. By studying these subatomic particles that can travel the distance between us and the sun in just over eight minutes, we can learn a lot about the nuclear reactions occurring at the suns core currently. It turns out the data also proves the Standard Sun Model, which had previously been questioned because previous experiments did not account for oscillations that can change the "flavor" of neutrinos. The most interesting part of the lecture for me was seeing the journey from the first detector that failed to collect conformational data and the confusion that insued, to the construction of SNO and the steps that led scientists there. That is truly what experiments are all about: dealing with confusion.

Another great part of the day was listening to the experiences and findings of the classmates who worked on different interest groups than me. Groups gave presentations on cloud chambers, measuring cosmic rays, using radio telescopes, and a number of other really fascinating things. Something really exceptional about the presentations was not the data they got (although sometimes, when they came really close to the accepted value that was also neat) but the experimental process that each group preformed, and in some cases designed.

To be completely honest, my favorite part of the presentations was the part where my group got to share our experience with quantum mechanics and electron/photon diffraction. It was a really cool feeling being able to tell a group of people about the data that we collected ourselves and the significance of it, especially because particle/wave duality is such a mind-bending phenomenon that is crazy just to think about, let alone explain. My group faced the challenge quite elegantly and we sat down knowing that each of our peers knew a little bit more about the amazing concept that we could prove with our own data.

After lunch, we went on a tour of the grad labs, which gave me more of an idea of what the field of physics actually looks like than anything we've done in class before. Young students with excited smiles and scraggly beards showed us the equipment they worked with and explained to us why they were interested in the field they were currently researching. It was clear it was a lot of hard, and possibly tedious work, but it was also clear that each of them was genuinely excited about what they were doing and confident that the work they were doing was both significant and completely awesome. It was an environment I can see myself fitting right into.

Our PENNultimate Day

Today was exciting from the start because we began our class with a talk with Rick Vanberg. For the first few minutes I munched on my bagel and listened, but soon his talk became quite captivating. The first thing that Rick talked about was the standard nuclear model for the sun. Based on the observations of nuclear activity on small scales, scientists came up with a model that accounted for the gravity, high pressure, and high nuclear activity in the center of the sun. One problem was that the accepted model at the time predicted a large number of neutrinos would be released for every fusion reaction in the sun.

Because there are so many reactions every second, scientists predicted a certain number of neutrinos per second would hit each meter of the Earth’s surface. To test this model, a scientist filled a large vat full of liquid and then waited for a while. Although the experiment was underground, neutrinos are tiny and have no charge so they very rarely interact with the matter in the way. When the neutrinos strike the liquid, they are absorbed and they change the atom that they strike into a different element. When he took the measurements of the number of neutrinos that he detected, he found that there were only about 28% of the neutrinos that there should be.

To solve this conundrum which either implied that our model of the sun was totally wrong or that we didn’t understand neutrinos, a Russian scientist stepped up to the plate. Communicating through the veil of the Iron Curtain, this scientist published several papers where he claimed that we misunderstood the neutrino. To test this claim, a project called SNOW was developed. Snow basically consisted of a huge neutrino detector built to detect all kinds of neutrinos unlike the past models. To filter out background radiation, SNOW was built 2 kilometers beneath the surface of the Earth in a nickel mine in Ontario. SNOW ended up successfully measuring all of the neutrinos that came from the sun and we learned that the neutrinos were being morphed into other flavors and that the nuclear model of the Sun is actually correct.

Next on our schedule were the student focus group presentations. Each of us spent 4 days last week with our groups researching a subject that we picked. My group studied a non-Newtonian fluid called oobleck which basically means that it is a material that behaves both as a solid and a liquid. The peak of our presentation was on Monday when we used the oobleck in a demonstration. Because oobleck acts a solid when it’s under pressure, each of us could run over it. Today, we showed some graphs of how objects decelerate when they hit oobleck compared to when they hit water. The graphs were neat because you could really see how the oobleck gave away for a moment and then hardened and stopped the incoming solid whereas the water allowed the object to easily pass through. It would be way too much to talk about every other group’s presentation, but they covered many amazing topics such as quantum mechanics and radio astronomy. Each group had a unique perspective to offer and we all learned a lot from each other.

When we returned for lunch, we got to do something pretty interesting. We split into groups and then visited different parts of our building and the one across the street. We got to go into research labs and listen to brief talks by the researchers themselves about what they were working on. The first lab we stepped into was a lab where a grad student and a professor from UC Santa Barbara (WHOO California) were developing technology for better mammograms. Because current mammography methods require the breast to be squished tightly between pressure plates so that the waves could get better images, these researchers were searching for a way to do mammograms with near infrared light. The advantage of this is that the discomfort of the plates could be avoided and therefore more women might show up for their mammograms. I was impressed by how applicable this research seemed and that it truly was for a good cause. We heard many other talks about great stuff like carbon nano tubes and grapheme. These researchers were researching grapheme so that they could manufacture tiny detectors for things such as bomb detection. Overall, I was very impressed by how passionate these researchers were about their areas of study.

I am in shock that tomorrow will be my last day here at UPenn, but who knows; maybe I’ll be able to spend another 4 years here.

Thanks to Alex for capturing Julia's momentary lack of enthusiasm.

The Day is Almost Here...

Today was much less intense than the past couple of days. We began with a lecture from a well known particle physicist, Rick Van Berg. Rick primarily designs detectors for particle physics experiments. He has done a lot of work in the Cern Laboratories in Switzerland, home to the smartest scientists of this age and the best particle accelerator in the world. Lately, he has been working in the SNO facilities in Ontario, Canada. SNO stands for Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and it too is one of the best research facilities in the world. His lecture was actually all about Neutrinos, which is a basic particle that usually travels close to the speed of light, can pass through most matter unaffected, and is electrically neutral. He discussed the origins, discovery, and research of neutrinos and it was all fascinating. For instance, the SNO facilities are basically giant clean rooms, much like facilities in which they produce computer chips in. Professor Van Berg told us that if even a teaspoon of dust were to be introduced to the facility, every project would be ruined. I always find the stipulations that are put on certain research environments interesting. I like seeing all the effort that scientists and researchers are putting in to reduce their possibility for error as much as possible. Professor Van Berg covered one of the more difficult and complex lectures, but his was much more understandable than some of our other lectures.

After lecture, we continued with our presentations. I was very excited to watch these demonstrations because I wanted to see what kind of work my friends and peers had been doing for a week. I was also anxious to see how our data and experiments would stack up against theirs. When it came down to it though, our topic was quite different than most of the other groups’. While most of the other groups were doing experimentation for the majority of the week, we were being given lectures about radio astronomy and the tools used to study it. This was completely understandable though. Although we did not do many experiments, we needed to know how everything worked before we could understand what exactly we were doing before we could actually do it. This really made our presentation stand out because our data section was short, but our general and background information was much more extensive than the other groups’. Mary told us at the beginning of lunch that she though our presentation was a nice change from the rest and that our information was plentiful and well-organized.

Following lunch, we split into four groups to tour different labs around DRL. I didn’t realize that there were so many different kinds of research going on in the DRL. We visited medical labs, cosmology labs, and even soft-condensed matter labs, which deal with matter that has both the properties of liquids and solids. Mostly, we spoke to grad students that were doing research in the lab. They were able to tell us all about the projects they were working on. One of the most interesting projects we saw (in my opinion anyway) was a machine that was being developed that would use near-infrared waves to sense tumors. The research was mostly focused on improving scans for breast cancer, but it was also applicable to scanning other tumors and also brain activity. It was truly amazing work. Of course each of the labs was showcasing the best of what they were working on and each of them told us why their specific field of research was one of the best. It was interesting to hear about the different research styles and opportunities that all of these grad students have. It was even better to hear that undergrads are also allowed to study in these labs and perform research. Our visits to these labs were truly enlightening because it gave me an even better glimpse of what kind of research opportunities I could potentially have in college.

Sample data collected by grads and undergrads

Professor Van Bern discussing ATLAS, another project he worked on

After class, I continued packing a little bit. I’ll finish tomorrow before the room check, but it’s definitely not something that I am looking forward to. Once 6:00 came around, my floor and our RC, Carlos, went out to Bobby’s Burger Palace for a group dinner. Apparently the Bobby, after which this restaurant is named, is THE Bobby Flay. I didn’t realize this until we walked inside and there was a whole section of the counter dedicated to Bobby Flay marinades, spices, and cookbooks. The food was amazing as well. It was just a burger and fries, nothing too extravagant, but it was just so delicious. The burger was cooked to perfection and the fries were perfect. I couldn’t imagine a better way to come together as a floor. We all took a group picture out front, but we only had time for one shot because we had to be back at the quad as a group before a certain time. Unfortunately my camera was not the one used, but my friend and floormate Sachit’s. He will be uploading the picture to Facebook soon and I will be sure to use the shot in my reflection blog.

Everyone approves of Bobby's

We returned to the quad and got as much of the group together as we could. Since this is our last full night here at Penn, we wanted to enjoy our final moments hanging out in our lounge-like dorm. Although Fred, Abheek, and Julia were busy, Alison, Brian, Onur, and I still had a great time. We talked, we laughed, but most importantly we just enjoyed each other’s company. Being together in the dorms and lounges is what I’m going to miss the most about being at Penn. These nights were often the highlights of my days and I will always treasure the moments I’ve had in our little family of seven. The end is near.

One day remains.

A different take on Vettriano...

A Unifying Theory

We got right to work today with a morning lecture about nuclear physics from Ryan, one of the very helpful and knowledgeable assistant teachers. The first couple slides were about the history of nuclear energy and the discovery of x-rays. Ryan went on to explain the physics behind alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma radiation (during this part of the presentation, our previous lecture about the standard model came up again and it was necessary to recall the concept of leptons and quarks). The remainder of the lecture was devoted to explanation of applications of radiation that are highly important both within and independent of the realm of physics. We discussed the benefits and waste products of uranium mining, the breakthroughs and limitations of radiation as a cancer treatment, briefly touched on the subject of mass spectrometry and how radiation can be a helpful tool in studying the origins of the universe. Towards the end, the lecture transformed into more of a discussion that was so lively and obviously relevant, that I found myself more engaged than I had been during any previous first-thing0in-the-morning lectures.

After Ryan's talk, we were given a short break to let the information soak in a little and to give us time to prepare for our presentations of the Hershey Park Rides. It was a very different experience hearing from groups of fellow classmates as opposed to professors and teachers. Each group went on a different ride, so the data was unique in that regard, but each team's presentation and analysis of data varied greatly as well. Some groups were able to record videos and sync them to their data, others calculated the resultant total acceleration based on the x, y, and z values they collected. One group even had a three dimensional animation of altitude v. y acceleration v. time. By the end of the day, I had learned a lot from my fellow class mates about creative ways to handle data in a way that makes sense to your particular experiment and goals.

When all the presentations were over and we returned from our lunch break, we prepared for our guest lecture by watching "Elegant Universe", the PBS show on string theory. As I was watching, I realized that I had seen parts of the show before; my fifth grade teacher played if for our class. At that time it had come out only a few months ago. I remembered the movie distinctly because it was a moment in my life when I realized both how incredibly cool science could be, and at the same time, how very little I understood about the complexities of it. Watching the film this time around, I understood many more of the concepts, but the sense of wonder was not lost.

Only moments after watching the program he was quoted in, we got to hear from string theorist Burt Overt himself. He described to us, in much greater detail than the movie, the basic concepts of string theory, the implications that the theory has, why it makes sense in the real world, and the ways in which it can be tested.

The basic definition of string theory is the hypothesis that the smallest components that make up the universe are not particles but tiny strings that vibrate at different frequencies to create different kinds of matter. The mathematical calculations that have been done suggest that such a theory means that there must be 6 other dimensions besides the three spacial dimensions and time. The concept of extra dimensions is a hard one to grasp, but it made more sense to me today than it ever has before when Dr. Ovurt did a demonstration with a rolled up piece of paper. Another implication of string theory he discussed was the concept of supersymmetry, meaning that for every particle, there is a so-called "sparticle" that also exist. These particles have yet to be found because they do not appear in low-energy circumstances, but Ovurt has high hopes that CERN will provide the environment necessary to make significant breakthroughs in the subject.

It was fascinating listening to an expert talk about a field that is at the very outer edges of the scientific frontier. The fact that people in the class asked questions that no one in the world has answers to, but that Ovurt is actively working on discovering was almost too much to comprehend.

After class, we had a few hours to wander campus before we went out to dinner with Mr. Miranda and the Yale chaperone. We ate at City Tavern, a place I had been interested in visiting since our initial tour of the city. The food they serve is all based on the typical cuisine of the taverns of the 18th century that our country's founders used to eat. While we munched on some sweet potato pecan rolls (apparently one of Thomas Jefferson's favorites) we discussed not the past, but the future: our plans for senior year, applying to colleges etc. When dinner was over, we visited an ice cream parlor, a great end to one of my last days here at Penn.

Today Was Truly a Rollercoaster...

Our final days in class seem to be getting more and more complicated. Today we began class with a lecture from Ryan on nuclear physics. The subject material was confusing at first, but he was able to make it accessible. He told us that this was one of the most important topics that is almost never covered in high school physics classes. Since this is an issue that will invariably affect all of our lives. Nuclear reactors and energy has been an issue for several decades and, with the approach of peak oil and the need for alternative energies, will continue to be an issue in the coming years. Since this is a prominent issue, people my age need to be informed of just how nuclear physics works so they can make informed decisions. With that said, I found his lecture to be quite informative. One of the points that Ryan made that I found quite funny was that a plate that one microwaves several times over a long period of time will be more radioactive than a cell phone. Since there is a lot of worry over the radiation given off by cell phones, I found it ironic that people don’t even realize that there is a bigger danger right in front of their noses. This just demonstrates why people need to be informed about nuclear physics. I found that it fit the situation perfectly.

After Ryan’s lecture, we did our presentations on our Hershey Park rides. Our group was the fifth to present (out of eight) and I would say that ours was one of the better presentations. Each of our PowerPoint presentations had their strong suits, whether it was creativity, enthusiasm in the presentation, or being strong in data analysis. One group even produced a 3-D model of their coaster in a graphing application on one of their member’s Mac. All of the groups kept their presentations entertaining as well. The group that was assigned the Great Bear filled their presentation with bear puns (it was almost un-bear-able). I had a great time watching all of the presentations and it made me look forward to the presentations that we will be giving tomorrow.

Our guest lecture followed lunch. Today we were visited by Dr. Burt Ovrut, a string theorist who teaches Theoretical High Energy Physics. String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity and is a contender for the theory of everything, a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system. That was the definition that Dr. Ovrut gave. In layman’s terms, string theory is the theory of how everything in the universe is tied together by basic elements called strings. In his lecture, Dr. Ovrut discussed the possibility of other dimensions that are parallel to ours and are unreachable, different particles that may exist, such as gravitons and sparticles, and even membranes, which separate the dimensions. The lecture was extremely difficult to follow. The pace of the discussion was non-stop and you either had to keep up or get left behind. I would like to understand string theory better someday, but before then I will definitely need to work a lot harder, and I am prepared to take on that task.

After lecture, Brian and I headed back to the dorm. He began his summer assignment for AP Lang and I decided to begin packing so I don’t have to do all of it on Friday afternoon. It was actually kind of sad because I felt like I was taking apart different pieces of the home that I have built over these three weeks. My desk is much cleaner, my closet and drawers are nearly empty, and my suitcase is about half full. I know I will be glad that I started packing today, but when I was taking down the wall mount I had made for my lightsaber, it was quite saddening. It is still hard to believe that I will be returning to California soon.

Around 6:20, we met Mr. Miranda in the office so he could sign us out for dinner. Much to my surprise, we dined with Ms. Nardone again, the Yale chaperone. We ate dinner at an old fashioned restaurant at Penn’s Landing that was set to the theme of an older Philadelphia, around the time of the Founding Fathers. The attire for employees, decorations in the restaurant, and even the meals felt like they were ripped straight out of a history book. I enjoyed the venison medallions with a starter called mushroom toast. The toast was basically just marinated and grilled mushrooms over a piece of bread that was toasted to the consistency of a crouton. It was delicious and almost as good as my entrée. I had never had venison before this meal, and it is one of the best kinds of meat I’ve ever had. We also got the chance to get to know Ms. Nardone a little bit better thanks to this dinner. She’s a very interesting and knowledgeable person and I think the Yale group is very lucky to have her as a chaperone. After dinner we stopped by an ice cream parlor called the Franklin Fountain. It is the Philadelphia equivalent of Fenton’s in California. The ice cream was truly amazing and I wish we could have gone sooner. The parlor even had a section in the back with shelves full of vintage soft drinks, including bottles of RC Cola, Dr. Pepper, and several brands I had never heard of before. At first I was sad that I would miss the talent show to go have dinner, but I had a great time and I wouldn’t trade it at all.

A true colonial...kind of...

Ice cream in a Chinese take-out box...I approve

When we returned to campus, we had a meeting in the lower quad to discuss our last few days in Summer Discovery. Ed told us that normal rules would still be enforced, even though some people may think that everything is basically over, and that he didn’t want us to be sent home prematurely just because of something stupid that might be done on the last day or penultimate day. He also told us about our check-out procedure and that our rooms need to be clean by 5:00 on Friday afternoon. We were also given an evaluation form to evaluate the program as a whole and even the Summer Discovery staff that we interacted with the most. After that, the night was pretty laid back, which was more than welcome after the mind-boggling guest lecture and traumatizing experience of packing from earlier today.

Two days remain.

Time's Flying

I stepped into class today with a couple of bagels from the campus bakery and took my seat. I’d have to say that today is the first day where it’s really hit me that I have to go home in only a few days. It’s hard to walk anywhere on campus without seeing a few Ben Franklin quotes, and I think one of the ones that has stuck most is, “When the well is dry we know the worth of water.” I’m realizing now that I only have a few days left here so of anything I’ll try to appreciate them more than any of the others instead of whining about it. Anyways, I was in a very receptive mood for Ryan’s lecture on radioactivity and I think I learned a lot from it.

Ryan first discussed the development of what we know about the atom and how we learned it. This stuff was mostly review for me because of my chemistry classes, but it honestly amazes me every time how scientists such as Thomson and Rutherford pieced together an accurate model of the atom while everyone else thought they were crazy at the time. It also impresses me how each of these atomic models built on the last but did not totally discard. Thomson proposed that there were positive and negative charges in the nucleus and Rutherford discovered that the nucleus is actually a dense positive center. This model was improved on by Niels Bohr where he theorized that electrons orbit the nucleus much like planets do the sun. This was later revised, but the ideas of each of these scientists were still kept in some form.

The next part of Ryan’s lecture was talking about the uses of nuclear energy and a few common misconceptions about it. One of the first things he summarized is how a nuclear reactor works. By packing together fuel rods near each other, the excess neutrons from an atom fly out and then hot another atom which produces a couple more neutrons for each one that hit it causing a chain reaction. Then, what surprises a lot of people is that this energy is simply absorbed and used to boil water. From this point on, the power is generated just as it is in any other power plant; the steam is used to drive a turbine which turns a magnet which creates a current.

One of the first misconceptions that Ryan sought to debunk is that many people think of radiation as dangerous and very negative. What many people don’t realize is that radiation also has many applications that are very beneficial to humans when controlled properly. One of the biggest areas radiation is used to benefit humans is in the medical industry. As I believe Ryan pointed out, the acronym MRI is really missing a letter; it should really be NMRI which stands for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging. MRI machines use carefully aimed radiation to get something like an X-ray of your body, but 3 dimensional and with a low dose of radiation. Furthermore, radiation can be very carefully aimed at malignant tumors in the body to kill them before they mestastethize. Although this treatment is not always successful, it can help in some cases and is certainly a good application of radiation.

The day only got better as we got further in, because the next part of our day was about string theory. We watched a brief movie on the fundamentals of string theory, and then talk to one of the leading experts in the field, Burt Ovrut. The fact that Burt truly talked to us and didn’t have a lecture prepared made his talk extremely valuable because we could easily tap his brain about any part of the subject we were interested in. The basic premise of the talk was that string theory proposes that the universe is full of tiny vibrating strings that when struck at different frequencies act as the ‘particles’ we commonly observe. I will avoid trying to dump a huge amount of information here, but the reason that string theory is so important is because it could unify all of physics as we know it. Today, physics is a shattered mess of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and a bundle of different forces. String theory is intriguing because when you work out the complex equations, there are simple solutions to these complicated problems. For example, string theory predicts only one force instead of the gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, and weak forces as we know them today. As Bill always says, it’s only philosophy until there’s solid evidence, there is little evidence to support string theory today. However, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland may well find evidence for or against sting theory, and guess what college physics program helped develop some of the detectors for the LHC. That’s right, scientists at UPenn helped. It’s very exciting to be around a place where there is so much progress going on.