Assignment Paper

IV. THE HIGGS PARTICLE
Discovery:
1. Briefly describe the discovery.
2. Briefly describe its significance.
Factual Knowledge:
1. List FIVE facts or concepts you learned that are related to the discovery.
IV. THE HIGGS PARTICLE
2. Write a brief explanation of one of your facts/concepts for a non-science friend; drawings are acceptable.
3. Describe how one fact/concept plays a role in a situation NOT related to the discovery in question.
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Process: Answer TWO of the following questions. Number your answers according to your choice. There is extra space on the next page.
1. Regarding Thomas Edison, Monica Dunford says “If he had tried to invent the light bulb with 100 camera crews. . . ”. Should scientist have to deal with such media pressure? Do they have a choice? How could it affect how they work?
2. Discuss how the actions of the scientist match or did not match your expectations. You may also comment on whether or not you think your expectations were reasonable.
3. In the film, the post-doc Monica Dunford says, “When you are dealing with a long term project. . . you can’t think about the end, ever. . . If you (do that), you are done. Mentally, you are done.” How does society support long-term endeavors? There is not single “right” answer to this. You may use examples of other long-term projects to support your response.
People: Answer TWO of the following questions. Number your answers according to your choice.
1. When did David Kaplan begin making this film and why?
2. Write at least a paragraph, debating the pros and the cons of publicizing major steps of an experiment.
3. When the media show “first collisions working” – the first time, what sort of picture of science does this promote? Is it accurate? What does it say about taking risks in science?
Review: Do ONE of the following:
1. Write a one-paragraph journalist’s announcement of the discovery.
2. Design an ad banner or flyer announcing the discovery. Sketch it below.
3. Create a social media post about the discovery. E.g. tweets, posts, memes etc. IF YOU TWEET – create a series of 3 tweets. You can write and sketch your ideas below, or create, print, and attach them below.
V. INDIRECT DETECTION
Rutherford Scattering
1. How confident did you feel about your scattering results?
2. What would you personally need to do in such an experiment to feel so confident of your result that you were willing to make it public? E.g. how many times would you need to scatter the marbles off the object? Would you want different sizes of marbles? Would you want to be working with anther person?
Cloud Chambers
1. What were your feelings in building and running the cloud chamber? Was it easy, difficult, frustrating, tedious, exciting, satisfying?
2. Is being able to see tracks in the chamber, “see” particles that are invisible in our daily lives, exciting enough to balance out the difficulties of the detector?
3. Do you believe that tracks in the cloud chamber is enough evidence that there are particles outside of our atmosphere bombarding us?
Using statistics to “see”/discover particles
1. Why do scientist use statistics to “see” particles?
2. Is this method of discovery any less valid that literally seeing a particle (or some action, behavior) with your eyes or other senses?
3. How might being comfortable with gaining information indirectly, as with statistics, change your view of the world? Do you think it affects how scientists view the world?
4. Compare (Rutherford) scattering with using statistics and the cloud chamber. Is scattering a more direct, believable method of obtaining information? How would you rank the methods in terms of your confidence in each?
Discovering the Higgs
Having reflected some of various processes of indirect detection, what might you say to a friend to convince them that the giant detectors, massive computers, and complex statistical analyses used by physicist can discover a particle?
Other students:
Did someone in class do something you think deserves recognition? Did they bring up a discussion point that you found particularly interest? Did they help with a lab in a particularly helpful way? Something else?
VI. LAST DISCOVERIES: PARITY VIOLATION( P), LIGO; AND OVERALL REVIEW
Discovery: Parity Violation
1. Briefly describe the discovery.
2. Briefly describe its significance.
Knowledge:
VI. LAST DISCOVERIES: PARITY VIOLATION( P), LIGO; AND OVERALL REVIEW
1. List TWO facts or concepts you learned that are related to the discovery.
2. Write a brief explanation of one of your facts/concepts for a non-science friend; drawings are acceptable.
Discovery: LIGO
1. Briefly describe the discovery.
2. Briefly describe its significance.
Knowledge:
1. List TWO facts or concepts you learned that are related to the discovery.
2. Write a brief explanation of one of your facts/concepts for a non-science friend; drawings are acceptable.
People: Answer TWO of the following questions. Number your answers according to your choice.
1. Given what you’ve learned about the discoveries covered in this course and the people who worked on them, what person-
ality traits of the scientists seem prevalent? Describe how these trait(s) play a role in scientific discovery.
2. Discuss the role and success (or not) of the Nobel Prize in recognizing significant breakthroughs in physics. Support your discussion with examples.
3. Discuss the role and success (or not) of the Nobel Prize in recognizing the work of individual scientists. Support your discussion with examples.
4. Evaluate society’s role in and reaction to scientific discovery comparing the past (mid-1800’s, early 1900’s) to today (1990’s to today). Support your discussion with examples.
Process: Answer BOTH of the following questions.
1. Compare and contrast the process of doing art and science. Use examples from the discoveries we have discussed and from your own experience. Because this is a “semester summary” journal section, think broadly about the work process, across many discoveries and/or art forms.
2. Having now spent a semester discussing scientific discoveries, describe several things you have learned about the scien- tific/discovery process that you did not fully understand or appreciate before.
Review: do this for either Parity violation or LIGO – not both
1. Write a one-paragraph journalist’s announcement of the discovery.
2. Design an ad banner or flyer announcing the discovery. Sketch it below.
3. Create social media posts about the discovery. E.g. tweets, posts, memes etc. IF YOU TWEET – create a series of 3 tweets. You can write and sketch your ideas below, or create, print, and attach them below.