Modern Physics Project
In the Modern Physics project, we all had to choose a topic or subject in today's world of physics and research it. We had to read and annotate science journals, magazine articles, encyclopedia excerpts, and university research and write summaries to prove our knowledge and learn about our topic. We also had to create a cartoon that displayed the topic in a funny or ironic way. Once we had done all our research and created a final cartoon (after rounds of critique), we were assigned groups with other students that had similar topics. Together, we had to create a 15-20 minute presentation on our topics, the most recent discoveries within it, and how it related to the other topics in our group.
My topic was Schrödinger's cat, the famous thought experiment. Erwin Schrödinger came up with this analogy, and it is used to explain the actions of quantum particles and the mystery of superpositions. In the experiment, a cat is placed in a steel box with an atom that will eventually decay, releasing a vial of poison that will kill the cat. The time at which the poison will be released is unknown, and until the box is opened, no one will know whether the cat is dead or alive. According to physics, until it is observed, the cat is in a superposition, both dead and alive. When an observer opens the box, nature is forced to make a decision and the superposition collapses into one state. This thought experiment is used to explain why quantum particles appear to behave erratically when observed/not observed.
I was assigned two other students in my presentation group, one who also tackled the topic of Schrödinger's Cat, and one who researched entanglement. We created a prezi and talked about how the Schrödinger's Cat experiment works, how it relates to quantum particles, new research on superpositions, what entanglement is, and how entanglement relates to Schrödinger's Cat. Click here to view our prezi.
I enjoyed this project because we got to learn about any topic we wanted (as long as it was modern) and we learned many new things about advancing physics. I thought that it was important for us to learn about things that are happening in our world today and where physics is headed. One thing that I struggled with was when I was reading and annotating. We were required to have at least two science journals read and annotated, and they were very difficult to read and understand. It took me days to read one of them, and with all my notes and highlights, I was still extremely confused. However, with the help of peers and my teacher, I eventually understood my topic enough to be able to explain and present it.
Here are the links to two of my summaries:
Schroödinger's Cat
Peeking into Schrödinger's Box
My topic was Schrödinger's cat, the famous thought experiment. Erwin Schrödinger came up with this analogy, and it is used to explain the actions of quantum particles and the mystery of superpositions. In the experiment, a cat is placed in a steel box with an atom that will eventually decay, releasing a vial of poison that will kill the cat. The time at which the poison will be released is unknown, and until the box is opened, no one will know whether the cat is dead or alive. According to physics, until it is observed, the cat is in a superposition, both dead and alive. When an observer opens the box, nature is forced to make a decision and the superposition collapses into one state. This thought experiment is used to explain why quantum particles appear to behave erratically when observed/not observed.
I was assigned two other students in my presentation group, one who also tackled the topic of Schrödinger's Cat, and one who researched entanglement. We created a prezi and talked about how the Schrödinger's Cat experiment works, how it relates to quantum particles, new research on superpositions, what entanglement is, and how entanglement relates to Schrödinger's Cat. Click here to view our prezi.
I enjoyed this project because we got to learn about any topic we wanted (as long as it was modern) and we learned many new things about advancing physics. I thought that it was important for us to learn about things that are happening in our world today and where physics is headed. One thing that I struggled with was when I was reading and annotating. We were required to have at least two science journals read and annotated, and they were very difficult to read and understand. It took me days to read one of them, and with all my notes and highlights, I was still extremely confused. However, with the help of peers and my teacher, I eventually understood my topic enough to be able to explain and present it.
Here are the links to two of my summaries:
Schroödinger's Cat
Peeking into Schrödinger's Box