Author: Lensyl Urbano

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

The BBC has an excellent article on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) launched on the second to last shuttle flight to investigate the origins of the universe. NASA’s page is giving regular updates.

What’s nice is that the basic physics of magnetic spectrometers, where magnets are used to deflect the motion of charged particles, should be accessible to middle school students once they get into electricity and magnetism.

How the AMS works. Image from CERN via the BBC.

Transition Radiation Detector determines highest-energy particle velocities
Silicon Trackers follow particle paths; how they bend reveals their charge
Permanent Magnet is core component of AMS and makes particles curve
Time-of-flight Counters determine lowest-energy particle velocities
Star Trackers scan star fields to establish AMS’s orientation in space
Cerenkov Detector makes accurate velocity measurements of fast particles
Electromagnetic Calorimeter measures energy of impacting particles
Anti-coincidence Counter filters signal from unwanted side particles

— Amos (2011): Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to go on Endeavour shuttle on the BBC.

For additional information, that really gets into the nuts and bolts, you can go CERN’s technical site or get more general info at their public site, which has a wonderful set of videos and animations.

At the Closing of the Year

‘Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour,
The better for the embittered hour;
It should do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul’s stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.

— Alfred Housman (1896): from A Shropshire Lad via USCC.

Individual Research Project Presentations

My students just presented their Individual Research Projects (IRPs) to their peers and their parents, and, I have to say, they did quite a good job.

Image by Ryan W.

They’re called IRPs, but while they are independent projects, they actually don’t all have to be research. This year we had a number of research papers, a few experiments, a short story, and computer program. The last two were by graduating eight graders, who I like to encourage to do something different that aligns with their interests: one wants to be a writer, while the other is really interested in programming.

Now you’re thinking, “That family is mean!” You could say that, but that’s not why we do it.

– From “Beverly” by P.Z.

Graph by Ben T.

It helped that it was a friendly audience who’d just been fed (food always helps), but it was nice to see how confident they were, and, as one parent remarked to me, how much progress they make from year to year. Even my shyest student had everyone laughing with her short story.

Even better still, was the fact that although I did not have the time to review all the presentations in great detail (students have to write a report first, which tends to be the focus of my reviews), the peer-review process, and the experience they’ve had doing presentations all year, really paid off.

And on average, an increase of .100 OPS adds 2 million to the player’s salary. So players on steroids on average get $12,512,630 more throughout their career.

-Michael F. in ” ‘roids”

Tomorrow is graduation, which I always find to be anticlimactic; after all, it’s the work that important and interesting, not so much the diploma at the end. These excellent presentations however, were a great way to cap off the year.

Breaching the Morganza Spillway

Flooded mobile home park in Memphis on May 10, 2011. © 2011 Google, GeoEye

The worst of this spring’s flood has passed Memphis, but they’re still dealing with the water downstream on the Mississippi.

PBS has before and after pictures of the opening of the Morganza Spillway, which is intended to stave off flooding in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The Coastlines Project blog is also aggregating a lot of information about the effect of the flooding. I found the post on the effect of the flooding on New Orleans) to be particularly provocative. It’s probably a good candidate for a Socratic dialogue, because it points out the tradeoff between the ecology of the Mississippi delta and the health and utility of New Orleans. The Corps of Engineers have been regulating the Mississippi along its present course for the last half a century, but this has prevented the river from avulsing and flowing down the Atchafalaya river instead of its current course. This would leave New Orleans high and dry (but not for long) but be a great boon for the Atchafalaya part of the delta.

The current Mississippi River is in blue, while the Atchufalaya River is in green. The Atchufalaya takes a much more direct route to the Gulf of Mexico, and that is the route the Mississippi would take if it were not for the levees. This map also shows the different deltas built up by the Mississippi River as it has changed its course over the last 10,000 years (the Holocene). Image adapted from Aslan et al. (2005; pdf).

Coastlines Project also deals with other issues, such as how the lingering effects of the BP oil spill, affecting the Gulf coast. It’s an interesting blog to follow, especially since we’ll be on that coast next week for our end-of-year trip.

Self-compassion: Learn from Mistakes, Don’t Beat Yourself Up

Compassion is sensitivity to the suffering of self and others and a commitment to do something about it.

— Paul Gilbert (a researcher at Kingsway Hospital in the United Kingdom) in Nixon (2011): Self-compassion may matter more than self-esteem

Robin Nixon has an excellent article on why “[…] self-compassion may be the most important life skill, imparting resilience, courage, energy and creativity.”

She cites the work of Kristin Neff who says self-compassion has three parts to it:

  • mindfulness: accepting your thoughts and feelings without being carried away by them,
  • common humanity: the recognition that everyone goes through similar hardships, frustrations and disappointments, and,
  • being kind to yourself: by being aware (mindful) of your anguish, and recognizing that others have shared similar feelings, you can commit to actions that reduce suffering in the future.

And a Comet Hits the Sun

Comet colliding with the Sun coincides with a coronal mass ejection. Image from the NASA SOHO Observatory.

SOHO scientists think that coronal mass ejection that happens right after the comet hits the Sun was probably not caused by the collision. But it looks really cool.

SOHO has a nice glossary of terms for understanding the Sun that’s specifically for middle school students (there is also a more general one). They also have some much higher quality video.

Osama bin Laden: A Montessori Discussion

[…] the whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish daydream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also.

Who would not have jumped for joy, in 1940, at the thought of seeing S.S. officers kicked and humiliated? But when the thing becomes possible, it is merely pathetic and disgusting.

–Orwell (1945): Sour Revenge in the Tribune. (Found via Megan McArdle).

Over the last couple of weeks, students have been reading and presenting newspaper articles every morning, so, inevitability, we had a few good opportunities to discuss the death of Osama bin Laden.

The discussions were remarkably mature, and quite edifying to hear, because it was pretty much what one would hope to occur among Montessori kids who’ve been dealing with the peace curriculum since pre-school.

There was remarkably little jubilation. So much so, that one student asked, “Are we not supposed to feel happy?”

The answer was that yes we can feel happy and relieved but we shouldn’t “spike the ball”, letting the celebration get so out of hand that it antagonizes bin Laden’s supporters even more, and makes us seem as arrogant as they caricature us to be. If we want to achieve peace we need to be better than that.

Their broader perspective is somewhat akin to what Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk, expressed a couple weeks after the September 11th attack (thanks to Julie H. for the link to the interview by Anne A. Simkinson).

All violence is injustice. The fire of hatred and violence cannot be extinguished by adding more hatred and violence to the fire. The only antidote to violence is compassion. And what is compassion made of? It is made of understanding. When there is no understanding, how can we feel compassion, how can we begin to relieve the great suffering that is there? So understanding is the very real foundation upon which we build our compassion.

[…]

There are people who want one thing only: revenge. In the Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha said that by using hatred to answer hatred, there will only be an escalation of hatred. But if we use compassion to embrace those who have harmed us, it will greatly diffuse the bomb in our hearts and in theirs.

–Thich Nhat Hanh (2001): What I Would Say to Osama bin Laden (Interview by Anne A. Simpkinson on BeliefNet.com)

There’s also a poignant reflection by Megan McArdle, a New Yorker, who was, at first, extremely angry and eager for revenge, but has become much more reflective, and cognizant that we share both humanity and mortality with even Osama bin Laden.

McArdle elaborates more here.