The Nuetrino Puzzle

John Bachall and Raymond Davis Jr. were two collaborating researchers who strictly believed in their work on discovering neutrinos. It took much persistence and patience to collect only 12 particles a day that would reach the Earth from the Sun.

I think the type of person needed to perform this type of research needs to be patient, determined, and open to all types of information (positive or not). This person has the ability to get excited about the smallest piece of positive information and being able to take really pieces and assemble them into a grand puzzle. Doing research as gigantic as this takes much thinking and working through mistakes, which this type of researcher would have to have. "It was just plumbing on a very big scale."

Lastly, I think for this type of research, the men has to be extremely motivated in order to obtain that much money to conduct their experiments. They had to publicize their work in such a positive manner that epople would WANT them to discover the answers they were searching for.

HR Diagrams

It all starts with the stellar nursery. Gravity is the first recognizable characteristic of the star-to-be. As gravity pulls the atoms around a central clump, there are collisions between the hydrogen atoms. This collision creates another essential force, pressure. After the clump becomes bigger and bigger, it starts to create a proto-star. The proto-stars’ gravity pulls dust and gas to the core. The temperature increases due to collisions between the hydrogen atoms. As this happens, the density increases, as does the gas pressure. The gas pressure resists the collapse of the nebula. When the gas pressure equals the force of gravity, creating an equilibrium, the accretions stops.

This star turned out to be a Sun-like star. If it wasn’t murdered it would have gone from a stellar nursery to a proto star, then from a proto star to a solar type star, then from the solar type star to a red giant, then from a red giant to a planetary nebula to a white dwarf, than from a white dwarf to a type 1a SNR.

Unfortunately this will not happen for this star. The equilibrium between gravity and pressure had become unbalanced. The pressure overtakes the gravity due to the complexity of the fusions taking place in the suns. After all the hydrogen’s fuse into helium, the helium must turn into beryllium. The fusions become too complex for the sun so the pressure of the sun murders the gravity. The unbalance causes the sun to explode causing another stellar nursery. This will repeat the cycle causing new suns to be born.

The End!
By: Sheila McCusker

Black Holes

Black holes are places in space where ordinary gravity becomes so extreme and the object of mass becomes so compact that not even a beam of light can escape because of the gravitational pull of the object. They are produced by massive stars (ususally a dying star with a much, much larger mass than the sun), as a natural part of the stellar evolutionary process.

A person falling into a black hole would be literally ripped apart because the gravitational pull would be so much greater on their feet than on their head. They would then be crushed into an infinate density and sucked into the black hole.

Black holes are invisible because no light can ever escape them because of their density. There are three types including stellar, supermassive, and miniature black holes. But don't fret because only dying stars with the mass WAY WAY WAY bigger than the sun have the ability to die and become black holes.

My Passion

My current passion is helping people. In the future, I want to pursue a degree in the medical field to assist, diagnose, and treat patients and their needs.

I love helping people so much because of the satisfaction it brings them. Although I realize not every outcome will be successful, I believe it is the fact that I tried to benefit the patient to the best of my ability. Without people who share my same passion, this world would be an unhappy place.

In the future, I plan to finish all the schooling required to pursue my degree of choice and settle down. I want to get married and hopefully be successful. After a few years, I want to have children and hopefully a pet or two. I hopefully will move away from Manchester into a bigger city with more opportunity for my and my husband's job.

I think passion, no matter what it is, contributes all in the same way to make the world a better place. If people like Annie Cannon didn't have passions, what would the world be missing today?

Sunspots

a) what sunspots are
b) how they change
c) the purpose of a Maunder diagram
d) the cycle of sunspots
e) why they matter to Earth
f) when the next solar maximum will be
g) how we study them safely
h) what telescopes work the best

a.) Sunspots are spots on the sun that look darker then the rest of the sun because the temperature of the sunspots are cooler then the surface temperature of the sun.

b.) They change because the sun needs to release energy but the suns gravity pulls it back in.
c.) The Maunder "Butterfly" Diagram is used to show how heliographic latitude of observed sunspots versus time.
d.) The cycle of activity in the photosphere that is a 22 year cycle.
e.) Information showed that during low sunspot activity, earth had long dragging brutal winters, so it's important to the earth's climate.
f.) In 2010-2011
g.) A telescope with a solar filter
h.) The best telescope would be the iderostat-type Refractor Telescope

Near Earth Asteroids and The End of the World

1. Near Earth Asteroids are very, very large space rocks that are about 100 m in diameter. However, none of the known asteroids are on path to hit the Earth. The closest one has been 8.8 LD away (16 billion x 8= # of miles away). I think N.E.A's could become a potential problem but as of right now, if none of them are on course to hit the Earth, we shouldn't have anything to worry about.
   
2. YES:
1. The magnetic poles are moving rapidly, causing the loss of northern lights and position of the North and South poles. --> Science
   
2. The end of the Mayan Calendar (December 21, 2012). --> Pseudoscience
   
3. The poles are going to flip upside down and degrade the Earth in 50,000 years. --> Pseudoscience
3. NO:
   
1. The only principal correlation with the modern calendar is the Haab’ that recognized there were 365 days in one solar year (it’s not clear whether the Mayans accounted for leap years)--> Science to an extent
   
2. Many people think when something ends (such as the Mayan Calendar) that something drastic is going to occur --> Pseudoscience
   
3. Media is affecting a lot of people's minds about the end of the world and asteroids, etc.--> Pseudoscience
   

Powers of 10

1. For a nerve to send a signal --> fraction of a second --> 10^-4
   
2. Blink --> fraction of a second --> 10^-1
3. Log on to Blogger --> 1 minute --> 10^1
   
4. Bake Cookies --> 7 minutes --> 10^2
5. Prepare supper --> 1 hour --> 10^3
   
6. Cook a 20 lb. turkey --> 5 hours --> 10^4
7. Travel to the moon on a spacecraft --> 3 days --> 10^5
8. Sheila's 17th Birthday --> 1 year --> 10^7
   
9. Travel to Jupiter on a spacecraft --> 6 years --> 10^9
10. World War 2 Ends --> 64 years --> 10^10