I hope you’re having a good summer!

I’m working in the Microelectronics Research Center on the campus of Georgia Tech again this summer. I get to spend my summer working around and with expensive and dangerous equipment. I practically had a heart attack this afternoon when I was afraid that I was about to drop a $4,000 piece of electrical equipment smaller than a Coke can! It’s a lot of fun!

Here’s the device I’m working on: My job is to come up with a mechanism to move a sample back and forth across a laser beam to measure the light coming from the sample. The sample is housed inside that tall tower in the picture below. The tower will have electrical wires, vacuum lines and liquid nitrogen lines attached to it. The sample has to be several hundred degrees below zero at an ultra-high vacuum (77 Kelvin if you’re counting). The computer will move the sample 1/1000th of a millimeter at a time. You can just see where the sample is mounted - look at the copper triangle in the circular window at the center. That’s an expensive piece of glass that can take the vacuum and temperature extremes. The table that’s sitting on is 4′ x 6′, weighs just under a ton and is floating on a cushion of air to dampen out vibrations. Pretty cool!

If you haven’t noticed, our test on Acids and Bases is this Wednesday, May16th.

Friday, May 18th, we will bend glass and make smores! I’ll provide the ‘mallow, you bring the chocolate & graham! (although… some friends of mine prefer what they call smores plus)

No, not a superhero!

Check out this movie of a green flash over Italy!

Do you know Ray Tracing?

Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire.

Mythbusters tried (and failed) - here is a group of M.I.T. engineering students who tried it too.

Click Here!

From Scientific American’s section called “Ask the Experts”

Does temperature affect the sound of a musical instrument?

Chris Rogers, a professor of mechanical engineering at Tufts University, and Jesse Jones, a musical instrument engineer, explain.

Temperature can affect the sound of an instrument in a variety of ways, which are different for each instrument. It also influences the abilities of a player. In the case of the violin, for example, warmer weather changes the amount of friction between the bow and the strings, changing the way the bow pulls on each string. Warm weather also tends to expand instruments…

Read the rest of this article here

What would it be like if you could travel at (or near) the speed of light?

Here is a fun page answering this question. It has lots of other links too. Try the one that lets you explore the universe at your favorite speed.

I hope you enjoyed your time off this week! Maybe you went to the beach?

I know I enjoyed my spring break. I spent lots of time sitting out on the deck during cool evenings, listening to the seagulls, the smell of the ocean…

I know we just had a cold snap, but the high temperatures on my spring break didn’t reach the lows here at home!

See you tomorrow!