19 March 2016- Cooper Pairs | PWN Physics 365

On this day in physics: 19 March 1910- Happy Birthday to Arseny Sokolov who would have turned 106 today. He was responsible for developing synchrotron radiation theory.

Word of the Day- Cooper pairs were named after Leon Cooper, and what he discovered was that at low temperatures, electrons and other Fermions will bind together to form pairs. These nanometers can still be up to several hundred nanometers apart and remain paired. These pairs are able to move almost effortlessly through the material that they exist in.

Quote of the Day: “There is no democracy in physics. We can's say that some second-rate guy has as much right to an opinion as Fermi." -Luis Walter Alvarez

Keywords: Cooper Pairs, Electrons, Superconductors, Fermi, Radiation, Theory, Synchrotron

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18 March 2016- Superconductor | PWN Physics 365

On this day in physics: 18 March 1987- The "Woodstock of Physics" took place, which was a marathon American Physical Society meeting during which there were 51 presentations on high-temperature superconductors, a budding field at the time.

Word of the Day- A Superconductor is a material which allows electrons to flow through it with exactly zero resistance. In the real world, most materials which allow current flow with extremely little resistance are referred to as superconductors as well. Most materials which can have superconductive properties do so at extremely low temperatures. They do this because the electrons in the material pair up in what are known as cooper pairs, and in doing so also in general do not repel from other electrons in the material, but rather flow effortlessly through the material.

Quote of the Day: In searching for physics woodstock, I came across the following quote: "A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything"- Irish Proverb

Keywords: Woodstock, Physics, Superconductor

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PWN E090- Vectors Virtual Tour and App Launch!

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The wonderful day is finally here! We've come a long way and are finally finished with how to handle vectors. Let's wrap up by going through a tour of the new app. The first thing you will come across is the welcome screen, and then the main menu which will direct you through everything you need for your introduction to vectors.

The first place you want to start is answering the question "What's a Vector?" Tap this to enter the what's a vector menu. You can then get detailed explanations for the following: What's a Vector?, Magnitude, Direction, ijkijk (a cool trick for unit vectors), the right hand rule, and a method for vector addition and subtraction.

Now that we're initiated on what a vector is, next we dive into the anatomy of a vector. Shown is a vector on a cartesian coordinates axis with 9 different parts of the anatomy, with detailed explanations.

Now that you understand what a vector is exactly, next we go into how to do dot and cross products, as simple step-by-step procedures, and then examples of addition, subtraction, dot and cross products!

Finally, we test your knowledge with a flash card review. We test the ijkijk concept, vector anatomy, and vector addition, subtraction, dot and cross products.

As if vectors wasn't enough, we then encourage you to go beyond, check out the podcasts for deeper resources, interact with the team by giving comments and ideas, as well as seeing other apps that are available!

So, that is a quick tour of the Vectors app, and will serve to wrap up the section. Be sure to check out the app in the store by clicking the link at the top or bottom of the page. Good luck!

17 March 2016- Work Function | PWN Physics 365

On this day in physics: 17 March 1803- Happy birthday to Carl Jacob Lowig, who was a German chemist who discovered bromine, which he did independently of scientist Antoine Jerome Ballard (more on this in the quote of the day.

Word of the Day- The work function is the energy which binds an electron to its atom. The work function is the minimum amount of energy needed to free an electron from the shackles of a solid. This ties in with the photoelectric effect because the frequency needed or energy needed from the light must be at minimum equal to the work function of the solid and we can test this by just doing the photoelectric effect experiment, and varying the light until we start seeing the effect. There is a monster table somewhere which has the work function for pretty much any solid you could ever want. Lastly, the unit of the work function is the Joule, which makes sense since it relates to the amount of energy.

Quote of the Day: "Balard did not discover bromine, but rather bromine discovered Balard." Justus Von Liebig

Keywords: Work Function, Photoelectric Effect, Bromine, Balard, Lowig

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PWN E089d- Linear Examples Pt 4- The Graph

In today's episode we continue digging into examples concerning our linear equation y = mx+b, where m is the slope, and b is the y-intercept. Our fourth example involves finding the equation from a graph. As usual, coffee-stained notes below. Enjoy!

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16 March 2016- Sublimation | PWN Physics 365

On this day in physics: 16 March 1789- Happy Birthday to Georg Simon Ohm, who would have turned 227 today. Ohm is the namesake of our unit of resistance, the Ohm, and is the physical opposite of the inverse of the ohm, the Mho. Ohm continued the work of Alessandro Volta and his work with electrochemical cells.

Word of the Day- Sublimation is a process where a solid changes immediately to the gaseous state without entering the intermediate liquid state. Sublimation occurs when temperatures change that cause a solid to exist, to temperatures which cause a gas to exist. At certain pressures (which are lower than a substance's "triple point"), it is not possible to have that substance exist in a liquid state.

Quote of the Day: "Resistance is Futile" -Georg Ohm (I was cruising for quotes and I came across this joke quote, which I thought was too good not to share here)

Keywords: Resistance, Ohm, Sublimation, Triple Point, Gas, Solid

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15 March 2016- Photoelectric Effect | PWN Physics 365

On this YESTERDAY in physics: 14 March 2015- Happy Birthday to a little man named ALBERT EINSTEIN, the founder of one of the two pillars of modern science, Relativity, Nobel Prize winner for his work on the Photoelectric Effect, and all around great guy. He would have been 137 yesterday.

Word of the Day- The photoelectric effect is a phenomenon which exists in many metals. These metals will emit electrons when light shines upon them. These electrons are called "photoelectrons" and the energy of these electrons come in multiples of the frequency of the light which shines on the metal. Each metal also has what is known as a "threshold frequency", which if incoming light is of a lower frequency will not induce the photoelectric effect.

Quote of the Day: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." -Albert Einstein

Keywords: Einstein, Relativity, Speed, Mass, Time

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