Monthly Archives: August 2017

The Falls

1930s businessman Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family lived in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Kaufmann owned a rural retreat outside the city and wanted a weekend home there. He assumed his 67-year-old architect would design the home with a good view of … Continue reading

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Variable stars with the Wooster observatory (Jr IS guest blog by Nate Moore)

  The night sky is full of wonder and splendor. Stars, many more than one can count by themselves, and what a great expanse it truly is, reaching beyond our visible universe. In the vast nothingness, there are things that … Continue reading

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Storing Memory in Light (Jr IS guest blog by Avi Vajpeyi)

When we say that two particles are quantumly entangled, we mean that the particles cannot be looked at independently even when separated by great distances. This means that if we measure one particle, we will automatically get the measurements of … Continue reading

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A Physicist Studying a Chemistry Experimental Method (Jr IS guest blog by Zane Thornburg)

    Absorption spectroscopy is popular form of chemical identification and characterization. Typically, light is passed through a sample once and the intensity of the light after passing through the sample is measured. If light is absorbed by a sample, … Continue reading

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Aerodynamics of concave surfaces (JR IS guest blog by Collin Hendershot)

My name is Collin Hendershot. For my Junior Independent Study project I observed the effect of concavity on the aerodynamics of high speed automobiles. The two important aerodynamic characteristics of automobiles are downforce and drag. Downforce is the force of … Continue reading

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An underwater “scramjet engine” (Jr IS guest blog by Jack Mershon)

I have always thought that one of the most outdated technologies we currently employ in the large scale is propellers for ships. While this isn’t a critical fault in our world it does lead to a lot of inefficiencies. Modern trade … Continue reading

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Modeling Solar Sails (Jr IS guest blog post by Nate Smith)

Solar sails utilize the change in momentum of photons as a means of propulsion. This allows spacecraft with solar sails to significantly reduce their mass, since they do not have to carry onboard fuel (in comparison to traditional rocket-based spacecraft). … Continue reading

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Stochastic Resonance in a Hysteretic Circuit (Jr IS guest blog by Gabe Dale-Gau)

This project uses an electronic circuit to demonstrate something called stochastic resonance. Stochastic resonance (SR) is present many places in nature–from dictating the timing of ice ages to aiding in fish hearing. So, what is it? SR is simply when … Continue reading

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RLC circuit resonance with an oscillating inductor (Jr IS Guest blog by Kyle McNickle)

The purpose of my experiment was to analyze whether the behavior of an RLC (Resistor, Inductor, Capacitor) circuit is noticeably affected by replacing the inductor with an oscillating spring. Common inductors take the form of solenoids which are helical coils … Continue reading

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This is not black magic. This is physics. This is laminar flow. (Jr IS guest blog by Emma Brinton)

For my Junior Independent Study, I looked into some cool physics videos to find an interesting topic to explore. I found a youtube video about the University of New Mexico Couette cell apparatus for demonstrating laminar flow and decided that … Continue reading

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