Past Schedules: 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2008-2009

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“How Physics Shapes the Surface of Snow Fields”

Snowfields and glaciers can be sculpted into remarkable shapes by the action of the sun and wind. This talk will introduce examples of these structures, such as suncups, penitentes, and dirt cones, and explain the physics of how they form. We’ll focus particularly on “penitentes.”

Penitentes are spikes of snow—they can be 3 feet to 15 feet high—that often form large elds on glacier surfaces in the Andes. Recent experiments have reproduced penitentes in a lab environment. These experiments help give insight into how increasing pollution and global warming will affect the future of penitentes and therefore water resources in the Andes. 

Prof. Meredith Betterton

“Quantum Oscillations and Antimatter”

Recent research has clarified the place of particle-antiparticle asymmetry in the quark sector of elementary particle physics. I present these results, after an introduction to the nature of antimatter, particle decay, and meson-anti-meson oscillations. I illustrate the last with a demonstration of a mechanical analogue, the coupled pendulum.

Link to Presentation Slides

Prof. William T. Ford

Experimental elementary particles and fields

“Nano technology: Making and Shaking Small Things”

"Nanotechnology" refers to the creation and use of extremely small objects, things where the physical dimensions are measured in nanometers (one billion nanometers in each meter). Contributions to this area come from an interesting mix of physicists, chemists, biologists, and engineers. For example, the 50 nanometer size range marks the point where some of the smallest human-made electronic components reach the size of single viruses, thus offering biologists and engineers the possibility of directly measuring bio-processes in single organisms. In this talk, I will discuss some of the major tools, such as electron-beam lithography, that we use to create extremely small electronic and mechanical devices. I will show recent examples of nano-scale mechanical oscillators. We are studying whether these oscillators could be used as miniature radio sources in cell phones, or as sensors that can be used to detect and measure the chemical binding of individual molecules.

Link to Presentation Slides

2 P.M.
Duane Physics G1B30

“Billiards at the Nanoscale”

Interactions between free-radical molecules drive many important processes including chemistry in the atmosphere. These processes are complicated and difficult to understand because the molecules are at a relatively high temperature and thus have a large distribution of velocities. Recently, we have begun to cool free-radical molecules to near absolute zero where the molecules’ motion is reduced dramatically. We can now study how molecules interact and react with unprecedented precision. I will describe how we cool the molecules and what we can learn by studying their interactions.

Prof. Heather Lewandowski

Experimental atomic and molecular physics

“Physics of Baseball at Mile High”

The game of baseball is strongly influenced by the aerodynamics of its central object, the ball. In Denver, where the air is 20% less dense than at sea level, a batted ball can be hit significantly farther, and a curve ball will curve significantly less. In an attempt to mitigate these effects, the Colorado Rockies began storing baseballs in a humidity-controlled environment in 2002. In this lecture, I will discuss the physics behind the flight of a baseball and the changes that altitude make in the game. I will also estimate the likely effects that storing balls in a humidor has on pitching and batting.

Link to Presentation Slides

Prof. John Bohn

Theoretical atomic and molecular physics

“Einstein, the Early Universe and Everything”

Almost a hundred years ago, Einstein forever changed the way we look at the Universe when he described how the familiar force of gravity is really nothing more than bodies doing their best to go straight through space and time that are curved by the presence of other bodies. The consequence that space and time themselves are dynamical, and can stretch and shrink in response to matter and energy, has underpinned our understanding of the evolution of the Universe from its very early stages to today.

It has only been in the last ten years, however, that a picture has begun to emerge of what the Universe is actually made of, with the mysterious dark energy joining the ranks of ordinary matter and dark matter in the cosmic census. Together with Einstein's ideas, this census has given us new insight into what the very early Universe was like and what the future of the cosmos may bring — although much remains to be understood. In this talk, I will review the basics of Einstein's ideas, and discuss the picture of the Universe's distant past that scientists are now starting to assemble.

Prof. Oliver DeWolfe

Theoretical elementary particles and fields