The Coffee-Ring Effect and the Physics of Breakfast Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-02 | As anyone who has ever spilled coffee knows, liquids that contain suspended particles tend to leave ring-shaped stains when they dry. This ubiquitous phenomenon has been observed for thousands of years, but the physics behind it has only become clear over the past 20 years. In a related vein, while finishing a bowl of cereal, you may have noticed that the final few pieces tend to clump together on the surface of the milk. I will explain the physics underlying these, and other related effects. Further, though they may sound silly, these discoveries have many industrial applications, thus demonstrating value of understanding the basic physics of seemingly simple systems.
Quantum Computing and the Entanglement Frontier Georgia Tech Physics 2019-04-25 | The quantum laws governing atoms and other tiny objects seem to defy common sense, and information encoded in quantum systems has weird properties that baffle our feeble human minds. John Preskill will explain why he loves quantum entanglement, the elusive feature making quantum information fundamentally different from information in the macroscopic world. By exploiting quantum entanglement, quantum computers should be able to solve otherwise intractable problems, with far-reaching applications to cryptology, materials, and fundamental physical science. Preskill is less weird than a quantum computer, and easier to understand.
How a Failed Astrophysics Major Became a Successful Science Writer Georgia Tech Physics 2019-03-19 | I knew from the time I was a very young child that I wanted to be an astronomer. The dream lasted until I got to college, where I learned to my dismay that I actually had no passion for doing what an astronomer does; what I really wanted is to know what an astronomer knows. This is the story of how it all worked out.
The Science of Origami Georgia Tech Physics 2019-03-01 | What kinds of shapes can you make by folding a sheet of paper? How strong can you make them, or how flexible? Although we've been folding paper for centuries, we're still discovering fascinating new answers to these questions. Origami-inspired structures can improve the energy-efficiency of massive buildings, deliver drugs deep within the body, power spacecraft and even stop bullets. As we learn to manipulate sheets as thin as a single atom, humanity approaches the ultimate origami challenge--folding structures as rich and varied as those nature achieves through folding proteins. We will discuss how all of these structures are achieved by mastering the geometrical structure hidden within every sheet of paper.
How the Universe Made the Elements in the Periodic Table Georgia Tech Physics 2019-02-14 | .The creation of the elements in the universe took billions of years and required various processes. The first few minutes of the big bang produced only hydrogen (H) and helium (He). No new elements were formed until a few hundred million years later when the first generation of stars were born and they started fusing H and He into slightly higher-mass elements, such as carbon and oxygen. Various fusion reactions by multiple generations of stars eventually created elements up to iron (Fe). However, normal stars cannot produce elements beyond Fe. Creation of elements heavier than Fe required the cataclysmic explosions of supernovas. These violent deaths of massive stars not only completed the natural elements in the periodic table. They also enabled human life, because certain life processes require heavy elements.
Forecasting Turbulence Georgia Tech Physics 2018-12-04 | Fluid turbulence is one of the greatest unsolved problems of classical physics (and the subject of a million dollar mathematical (Millenium) challenge). Centuries of research--including Leonardo da Vinci’s observations of “la turbolenza” and the best efforts of numerous physicists (Heisenberg, Kelvin, Rayleigh, Sommerfeld, ...)--have failed to yield a tractable predictive theory. However, recent theoretical and computational advances have successfully linked recurring transient patterns (coherent structures) within turbulence to unstable solutions of the equations governing fluid flow (the Navier-Stokes equations). The solutions describing coherent structures provide a geometrical structure that guides the evolution of turbulence. We describe laboratory experiments where the geometry of key coherent structures is identified and harnessed to construct a roadmap to forecast the behavior of weakly turbulent flows.
Lighting the way with microscopic tractor beams and sculpted laser pulse Georgia Tech Physics 2018-11-12 | The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes two breakthrough inventions in laser physics. The first, optical tweezers, allows scientist and engineers to use lasers like the tractor beams of Star Trek to manipulate everything from molecules to living cells. Optical tweezers have provided researchers with fingers in the microscopic world that can pull apart DNA, probe the mechanics of life, detect disease and study fundamental interactions in biology, physics, chemistry and engineering. The second breakthrough, chirped pulse amplification, enabled the construction of lasers of incredible power and precision. With the super-high power lasers came cutting-edge applications as diverse as attosecond time-resolved dynamics of atoms and molecules and laser eye surgery. In this public talk, Georgia Tech Professor Rick Trebino will give an overview of optical physics. Professors Jennifer Curtis and Chandra Raman will present a brief history of these discoveries and discuss their impacts on science and society, with an audience Q&A session afterwards.
Non-Euclidean Virtual Reality Georgia Tech Physics 2018-10-31 | The 2016 confirmation of Einstein's prediction of gravitational waves has put the spotlight back on the importance of curvature for the physics of the universe. While the ability of mass to curve our space has fueled the imagination of many, it is by far not the only instance of warped spaces being important for physics: The materials science of the very small scale -the science of nanostructures and nanoengineering- is one of them. In fact, often these 'small' spaces are very strongly curved, far from what mathematicians call 'Euclidean'; for example two parallel lines may no longer only meet at infinity. Bizarre and exotic spaces with very unusual properties. Until recently, many of these complex spaces defied most people's imagination, but Virtual Reality technology has now been developed to help us immerse in them. Prof Sabetta Matsumoto will take us on a tour -enabled by the latest in Virtual Reality technology- into the innate beauty and mystery of some spaces, such as the cross between a Euclidean straight line and Poincare's hyperbolic plane made popular by Escher's artwork. Real-world applications or technological uses of these mathematical insights may seem to be light-years off, but don't worry, the real world will catch up with the imagination faster than we think.URI
When Will We Find E.T. and What Happens If We Do? Georgia Tech Physics 2018-10-04 | Are we alone in the universe? The scientific hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence is now well into its fifth decade, and we still haven’t discovered any cosmic company. Could all this mean that finding biology beyond Earth, even if it exists, is a project for the ages – one that might take centuries or longer? New approaches and new technology for detecting sentient beings elsewhere suggest that there is good reason to expect that we could uncover evidence of sophisticated civilizations – the type of aliens we see in the movies and on TV – within a few decades. But why now, and what sort of evidence can we expect? And how will that affect humanity? Also, if we do find E.T., what would be the societal impact of learning that something, or someone, is out there? Note the speaker gave a Physics Colloquium at 3pm in Pettit Microelectronics 102A&B with the same abstract. https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/60456
SETI: Any Closer to a Discovery? Georgia Tech Physics 2018-10-03 | Are we alone in the universe? The scientific hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence is now well into its fifth decade, and we still haven’t discovered any cosmic company. Could all this mean that finding biology beyond Earth, even if it exists, is a project for the ages – one that might take centuries or longer? New approaches and new technology for detecting sentient beings elsewhere suggest that there is good reason to expect that we could uncover evidence of sophisticated civilizations – the type of aliens we see in the movies and on TV – within a few decades. But why now, and what sort of evidence can we expect? And how will that affect humanity? Also, if we do find E.T., what would be the societal impact of learning that something, or someone, is out there?
Sex, Flies and Video: Communicating Science to the Public in Words and Images Georgia Tech Physics 2018-04-04 | Scientists and journalists have similar, but not identical interests in getting information about their work to the public in an appealing, but accurate way. James Gorman will draw on his experience as a New York Times reporter and editor to talk about these common and competing interests and what works in translating technical information for a popular audience.
The Case for Cosmic Modesty Georgia Tech Physics 2018-03-21 | Based on the premise that we are not special, Loeb argues for modesty from a cosmic perspective. His “principle of cosmic modesty” implies that both primitive and intelligent forms of life should exist away from Earth, and we should therefore search for them without prejudice.
Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817: A Multi-sensory Experience of the Universe Georgia Tech Physics 2018-03-05 | August 17, 2017, is a milestone date for astrophysics. For the first time, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories detected signals from the collision of two neutron stars. The powerful event shook space-time and produced a fireball of light and radiation from the formation of heavy elements. Satellites and observatories all around the world observed the light produced by this event. For the first time, we have measured gravitational waves and light produced in the same astrophysical event. What this discovery means for astrophysics is equivalent to the difference between looking at a black-and-white photo and watching a 3-D IMAX movie! The combined information of gravitational waves and light is greater than the sum of its parts. The combination allows us to learn new things about physics, the universe, and what we are made of – and perhaps explain mysteries that continue to emerge. No one has ever been able to do this before! The historic detection of a cataclysmic celestial collision using signals from multiple messengers signals the era of multi-messenger astrophysics. Discussing the milestone and its implications are School of Physics Professors Laura Cadonati, Nepomuk Otte, and Ignacio Taboada. School of Physics Chair and Professor Pablo Laguna will moderate the discussion. The panel discussion is part of the College of Sciences' Frontiers in Science Lecture Series.
From Molecules to Migration: How Quantum Physics Can Explain the Compass of Birds Georgia Tech Physics 2018-03-02 | The world of quantum physics appears mysterious, even spooky, and far removed from everyday phenomena we can observe in the world around us. Especially the realm of living organisms was thought to be far too disorganized and noisy for quantum phenomena to play a role. Recently, however, clues have been mounting that the rules governing the subatomic world may play an unexpectedly pivotal role for phenomena in biology. One particularly fascinating example of this emerging field of quantum biology is bird navigation. Even without GPS, birds are able to travel up to thousands of miles and return to their original location, aided by a physiological magnetic compass sense. Despite having been discovered more than 50 years ago, the underlying mechanism for this “sixth sense” still remains a mystery. Thorsten Ritz will present evidence for the idea that a quantum mechanical reaction may lie at the heart of the magnetic compass of birds and possibly other organisms.
Will Evolution and Information Theory Provide The Fundamentals Of Physics? Georgia Tech Physics 2018-03-02 | This presentation will describe an arc in the mathematical/theoretical physics research of the presenter that has traversed concept spaces from equations, to graphical imagery, to coding theory error-correction, and pointing toward evidence of an evolution-like process possibly having acted on the mathematical laws that describe reality.
Einsteins Cosmos and the Quantum: Origin of Space, Time, and Large-Scale Structure of the Universe Georgia Tech Physics 2017-11-28 | For over two millennia, civilizations have pondered over the questions of cosmogenesis. But serious attempts to address them began only with Einstein's discovery of general relativity a century ago. Advances over the past 25 years have led to the fascinating conclusion that the large-scale structure of the universe can be traced back to quantum nothingness. Investigations in quantum gravity are now addressing the issue of the origin of space and time itself, enabling us to peer past the Big Bang. This talk will provide an overview of this saga in terms that are accessible to undergraduates and the general public.URI
Georgia Dome implosion from GT Observatory -11/20/17 Georgia Tech Physics 2017-11-20 | The Georgia Dome was imploded on Monday, November 20, 2017 at 7:30 am EST. This is a video taken from the Georgia Tech School of Physics Observatory.
The Ig Nobel Prizes and Improbable Research Georgia Tech Physics 2017-10-16 | The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, then THINK. Ten new prizes have been awarded every year since 1991, in gala ceremonies at Harvard and MIT, with winners traveling from around the world, and Nobel laureates physically handing out the Ig Nobel Prizes. The whole history of science, technology and medicine is a parade of things that at first made people LAUGH, then THINK. The Igs focuses public curiosity on the early, thought-provoking, "Is it good, bad, or too-early-to-tell?" stage of things.
The Physics and Materials Science of Superheroes Georgia Tech Physics 2017-10-16 | In 2001 James Kakalios created a Freshman Seminar class at the University of Minnesota entitled: "Everything I Know About Science I Learned from Reading Comic Books." This is a real physics class, that covers topics from Isaac Newton to the transistor, but there’s not an inclined plane or pulley in sight. Rather, ALL the examples come from superhero comic books, and as much as possible, those cases where the superheroes get their physics right! While physicists, engineers and materials scientists don’t typically consult comic books when selecting research topics; innovations first introduced in superhero adventures as fiction can sometimes find their way off the comic book page and into reality. As amazing as the Fantastic Four’s powers is the fact that their costumes are undamaged when the Human Torch flames on or Mr. Fantastic stretches his elastic body. In shape memory materials, an external force or torque induces a structural change that is reversed upon warming, a feature appreciated by Mr. Fantastic. Spider-Man’s wall crawling ability has been ascribed to the same van der Waals attractive force that gecko lizards employ through the millions of microscopic hairs on their toes. Scientists have developed “gecko tape,” consisting of arrays of fibers that provide a strong enough attraction to support a modest weight (if this product ever becomes commercially available, I for one will never wait for the elevator again!). All this, and important topics such as: was it “the fall” or “the webbing” that killed Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s girlfriend in the classic Amazing Spider-Man # 121, how graphene saved Iron Man’s life and the chemical composition of Captain America’s shield, will be discussed. Superhero comic books often get their science right more often than one would expect!
Strange and subtle states of matter – the topological ideas behind the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics Georgia Tech Physics 2017-06-28 | The gases, liquids, and solids that humans have known and harnessed since prehistory are human-scale reflections of how atoms and molecules are organized at the atomic scale. This organization is driven by the forces exerted by atoms and molecules on one another. At high temperatures, the organization consists only of local conspiracies that continually form and decay but are too small to have much impact. At low temperatures, however, the conspiracies spread to become global revolutions, which bring new phases of matter that exhibit new properties reflecting the new organization. Rigidity, magnetism, liquid crystallinity, and superconductivity are just a handful of examples of such properties, which we call emergent collective properties. Until recently, organization meant geometry: Picture the tidy lattice of ions in a crystal of table salt. Nowadays, however, in the light of the elegant ideas put forward by David Thouless, Duncan Haldane, Mike Kosterlitz, and the many they have inspired, physicists recognize that organization can be subtler and more elusive. It can be invisible to geometry, though detectable via topology, and still trigger revolutions in the human-scale properties that make matter useful. My aim is to spend fifty minutes at the intersection of beauty and impact. I shall introduce the circle of ideas that underlie classical and quantum phases of matter and then focus on the “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter” that the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics is celebrating.
The Physics of Genes and the Promise of Personalized Medicine Georgia Tech Physics 2017-06-28 | The twenty-first century is poised to see dramatic advances in medicine. The rapid after water and oxygen, is the most famous molecule of life known. This is not surprising, as the eye-catching double helix of DNA carries instructions to manufacture and assemble all the components of a living organism. The wealth of information encoded in DNA often overshadows its unusual physical properties, for example, the possibility of an effective attraction between same-charge DNA molecules regulated by their nucleotide sequence. Furthermore, the methods used to determine the informational content of DNA—its nucleotide sequence—until now relied on biological processes. In this lecture, I will describe our recent efforts to characterize the physical properties of DNA and determine their role in orchestrating the function of a biological cell. I will demonstrate how the physical properties of DNA can be used to build a physics-based reader of the DNA sequence. Finally, I will describe how recent advances in the field of DNA nanobiotechnology are paving the way to personalized medicine.
Purls of Wisdom: The Geometry and Topology of Weavables, Wearables and Wallpaper Georgia Tech Physics 2017-06-28 | Curved space and bizarre mathematical worlds beyond Euclid’s axioms entered physics with Einstein’s general theory of relativity. But these geometries are all around us, hiding in plain sight, in the guise of familiar settings. For instance, did you know that making your clothes fit is actually a problem in non-Euclidean geometry? Join Prof. Matsumoto as she takes a sock’s eye view of geometry and topology and walks you through an evening of fun with fabrics.
The Square Kilometre Array: Big Telescope, Big Science, Big Data Georgia Tech Physics 2017-06-28 | The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a next generation global radio telescope currently undergoing final design by a collaboration of institutions in 11 countries.
10 Years of Southern Stargazing: How Star Trek Changed Everything Georgia Tech Physics 2017-06-28 | The destination for the 1960s Apollo missions was the Moon, but the premiere of Star Trek in 1966 got the nation thinking about possibilities beyond our Solar System. What about other galaxies, alien life, faster-than-light travel? Glenn Burns, chief meteorologist of WSB-TV, discuss how a unique blend of science fact and science fiction inspires generations of astronomers.
The Astrophysics of Supermassive Black Holes by Prof. David Ballantyne Georgia Tech Physics 2016-08-02 | Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious and enigmatic objects that one can imagine. Their gravitational fields are so strong that light is unable to escape their grasp, and even fundamental quantities such as space and time are severely disrupted by their presence. Yet, despite their fantastical nature, astronomers have compiled significant evidence that black holes are actually quite common and are lying at the centers of almost all massive galaxies. Therefore, black holes are no longer the theoretical subjects of mathematical physicists; they are now known to be crucial to our understanding of how galaxies and other structures in the Universe formed and evolved. This talk will provide an overview of our understanding of black holes in the observable universe, and outline how astrophysicists are using them to probe some of the deepest questions in the cosmos.
Turning Stars into Gold Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-03 | Most beginning chemistry students struggling with the complexities and underlying structure of the Periodic Table will simply accept the existence of the approximately 90 stable elements. Rarely does it occur to them that somewhere and in some way, all of the elements had to be synthesized. Such element generation or nucleosynthesis, through transmutation of one element into another, is a crucial byproduct of stellar energy generation. It has occurred since the birth of the first stars in the Galaxy, and without it life on Earth would not be possible. Although the general picture of element formation is well understood, many questions about the nuclear physics processes and particularly the astrophysical details responsible for forming precious elements such as platinum and gold remain to be understood.
How Do Chipper, Kobe, Serena and Rory Do It? What Physics Has to Say About Achievements in Sports Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-03 | A great part of physics deals with motion, and the essence of sports is the human body in motion. The components of the human body that produce motion, namely the skeletal muscles and bones, and the sports equipment itself are bound by the laws of physics. Aspects of various sports, including baseball, basketball, karate, figure skating, golf, tennis, long jump, and more, will be examined using introductory-level physics. We will also discuss whether we have reached our limits in human performance in certain sports. All who appreciate the workings of the human body and the laws of science dictating performance in sports are welcome.
Using Science to Predict the Future: An Interactive Discussion of Induction and Scientific Reasoning Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-03 | In the 17th Century, there was a profound scientific revolution, as first Galileo and then Isaac Newton overturned the commonly-accepted Aristotelian principles and replaced them with what we now call the laws of “Classical Physics.” The success of Newton’s Laws was so overwhelming that it led to an explosion of scientific research and engineering that changed society in a fundamental way. But why is it that Newton’s results were so successful? What can we learn from classical laws of physics, or from any scientific law? What can scientific principles tell us about the future? And how is it that we really know anything about the universe around us? In this talk, we will briefly review the history of scientific thought and then – through an interactive, audience-participation challenge – discuss the philosophy of David Hume, a skeptic from the early 18th Century whose philosophical theories cast doubt on the rational basis for all of scientific inquiry.
Physics of the Piano Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-03 | Why does a piano sound like a piano? A similar question can be asked of virtually all musical instruments. A particular note, such as middle C, can be produced by a piano, a violin, and a clarinet. Yet, it is easy for even a musically untrained listener to distinguish between these instruments. One would like to understand why the sound of the “same” note depends greatly on the instrument. In particular, we would like to understand what aspects of the piano are most critical in producing its musical tones. The questions we will address in the talk include: Who invented the piano and why? Why does the piano have 88 keys and not more or fewer? How and why is the tone color of a loud note different from that of a soft note, and why is this important? Why are the bass strings on a piano made by wrapping a coil of wire around a central wire core? A piano tone is the sum of components that can be described by sine waves. The frequencies of these sine waves deviate a small amount from a simple harmonic series. What is the source of these deviations and why are they important? After we have addressed all of these questions, we’ll be able to understand why a piano sounds like a piano.
A Discovery! The Higgs? Why it is important. How it was done Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-02 | The ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider with its sister experiment CMS reported a discovery last summer of a new boson which is consistent with the Standard Model Higgs boson. The Higgs particle has been searched for decades. It is the final jewel in the Standard Model of particle physics, a crowning achievement of 20th century science that gives a powerful understanding of fundamental particles and their interactions. In the Standard Model, the Higgs is the quantum of a field that accounts for the masses of those particles. We will describe the apparatus, the data and other searches.
From Urination to Georgia Techs First Ig Nobel Prize Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-02 | How long does an elephant urinate? How quickly does a dog shake? How many eyelashes does a camel have? Asking a new and sometimes strange question is arguably the most important step in advancing science, and not any less so if you study animal movement, a field at least as old as Leonardo da Vinci’s pioneering observations. Asking questions is not only fun, but can also lead to unexpected scientific discoveries. In this talk, I will discuss my journey with wacky science, how it led me from being peed on while changing a diaper, to this year’s Ig Nobel Prize.
100 Years of Einsteins Gravity Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-02 | Curved spacetime, relativistic time, black holes and gravitational waves are just a few topics in Einstein’s theory of gravity called Special and General Relativity. Professors Cadonati and Shoemaker will take you on a journey of gravity and how it shapes research today. The journey will highlight two of the more controversial results of Einstein’s theory, black holes and gravitational waves, which represent the most exciting challenge in modern astrophysics.
Chaotic Music and Fractal Art: A Glimpse into the Neurophysiology of Aesthetics Georgia Tech Physics 2016-06-02 | The enjoyment of music and art are uniquely human experiences. Yet we still do not understand the attributes that lead us to appreciate some artistic works and not others. In this talk I will address how concepts in mathematics and physics can help us to think about these matters. Chaos refers to irregular time series that are generated following a definite set of deterministic rules. A fractal is an image, in which magnification of a small region is similar to the whole. I will give examples of how the concepts of chaos and fractals can be exploited to propose simple computer algorithms that can be used to generate sequences of sounds and images. I will also show how random patterns of dots can be manipulated to generate displays that are visually interesting, and that can be used as an input to probe the physiological processes underlying visual perception. The talk will challenge you to think about what you hear and see, and how you do it.
5th Squishy Physics Saturday - Ice-Cream Georgia Tech Physics 2016-05-17 | Most of what we eat is squishy – behaving as a solid on a plate, or as a liquid when processed in your mouth. Squishy Physics or Soft Condensed Matter investigates materials that are soft and easy to deform and that, in many cases, consist of mixtures of phases. Mayonnaise, for example, is a collection of oil droplets in egg yolk, and milk is comprised of solid-like particles inside water. The squishy physics activities are aimed at communicating science to the general public through the use of soft materials that are familiar to all of us in our every day lives.
The Origin of the Universe and the Arrow of Time by Sean M. Carroll Georgia Tech Physics 2016-05-17 | Georgia Tech School of Physics Public Lectures Series focuses on the physical sciences, and highlights cutting edge research at Georgia Tech. All public talks are open to everyone.
