Physics pumpkin drop featured on ESPN
The 9th Annual Pumpkin Drop, hosted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy every year during Dad’s Weekend, received national attention during ESPN coverage of the Oct. 12 football game.
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Arts and Sciences Media Headlines
WSU planetarium previews 3D science learning – free Oct. 1
The latest digital technology for viewing the universe at the WSU planetarium will be previewed in a free, public demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, in Sloan Hall 231. A demo for WSU organizations, departments, clubs, units, students, staff and faculty will be at 2 p.m. Seating is first come, first served.
The demo of the SciDome 3D projector by maker SPITZ, Inc. will include teaching visuals, lessons from the extensive SciDome curriculum, the Layered Earth software for earth science teaching and previews of full-dome shows featuring astronomy and space science, biology, chemistry, earth science, mathematics and the arts.
In addition to using the planetarium for WSU classes, the Department of Physics and Astronomy welcomes hundreds of school children from the region each year to the facility.
WSU observatory holds star party
Jazz and Barbecue Star Party
Enjoy live music, BBQ dinner, dessert, and good company at the Jewett Observatory! Sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Palouse Astronomical Society, the event is free but a $7 donation is suggested.
When: Saturday, September 7, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Where: You’ll find the observatory on Olympia Avenue, up the hill from Grimes Way
The tractor beam has arrived
WSU physicist Phil Marston was intrigued by the way an acoustic beam is scattered by a sphere.
“Basically, it goes into the category of a problem you solve because it would be curious to see what the answer is and whether there is something there that you didn’t anticipate,” he says. “That was true.”
In the serpentine path from abstract musing to basic science to demonstrated phenomenon, he sowed the seeds for a small-scale but real-life tractor beam that could have applications in both nanotechnology and medicine.
Superconductor created from solvent
From WSU News:
A study led by Washington State University researchers has turned a fairly common nonmetallic solvent into a superconductor capable of transmitting electrical current with none of the resistance seen in conventional conductors.
“It is an important discovery that will attract a lot of attention from many scientific communities – physics, chemistry and materials science,” said Choong-Shik Yoo, a professor in chemistry and in the Institute for Shock Physics. The National Science Foundation-funded discovery, which grows out of research by Yoo doctoral student Ranga Dias, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read more at WSU News about the power and transport implications
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