Its all about those Waves this week and my film debut!
Welcome avid space geek readers to this weeks blog post!
I wont lie this one has been a struggle, as well as learning about the different types of waves this week with Topic 8 I have also been battling my own illness waves, the reason why this blog post is a day late! Apologies everyone :) This time next week I will hopefully be on the mind and fit as a fiddle again!
Before I move onto what I have been learning about this week, who in the UK experienced the snow? Stupid question right?
For those outside the UK we experienced a pretty bad storm last week which left most of the country under mountains of snow, with temperatures well below zero. Something which you would think we would be more prepared for, however unfortunately this is not the case and as the temperatures and snow fell everything ground to a halt and my son enjoyed a Snow Day!
One of the very first topics this first year of my degree was all about answering the question "Why does it snow in winter?", so rather than complaining about the fact the snow had arrived I was marvelling at the fact I now knew why it had arrived and how each of those tiny snowflakes had been created. Whilst walking at in the snow with my family I found myself recalling what enables those snowflakes to fall to earth and the forces at work. On this walk we found a frozen stream, where we conducted our own mini science experiment. Our hypothesis "If we throw a snowball onto the partially frozen stream, it will sink" or not...so from a bridge my son threw numerous snowballs onto the ice to discover that the snow in fact did both, it would hit the ice and then start to fall through, taking around 10 seconds to do so.
I would like to point out that the storm we experienced the end of last week does not reflect who I am.... confused?? Well the storm that hit the UK end of last week was called "Storm Emma" and that's my name, I dont know whether to be quite pleased that I had a storm with the same name as me or not lol
So whilst trying to avoid going out too much in the cold weather I have been busy going through Topic 8 of my first year, this one is all about the different sorts of waves.
You would think naively that there is only really waves you see in the sea, however did you know there are also waves in the atmosphere? Those clouds you see in the sky, there are even waves there.
The definition in my studies explains waves quite well "a wave can be defined as a regular repeating disturbance that can transport energy from one place to another". When you think about it that way it then gets you thinking that waves must be everywhere!
My practical this week has consisted of making a pendulum and testing for simple harmonic motion and then using maths to calculate how long it will take that pendulum to oscillate!
I have also learnt about diffraction and how by using a diffraction grating and observing the resultant diffraction pattern you can determine what the object the wave is passing through looks like.
Finally this evening I have been looking at earthquakes and the types of waves that are produced from these, who knew that from measuring the P Waves using seismometers you can determine how far away that earthquake.
This topic has involved a fair amount of physics which again I have surprisingly enjoyed, although not much space related study in the last two topics I can see how these can be linked to astronomy.
With studying being a bit of a struggle this week I am looking forward to two events in the next few days!
The Women In Physics Conference in London is being held this Saturday and I shall be there!
https://www.kclwomeninphysics.com/events/women-in-physics-london-2018-conference
It will be a key event to network and listen to women in the STEM industry, I will write a review on this next weekend :)
This week also sees me make my film debut! Intrigued?
A few weeks back I was contacted by The Open University as they had seen my blog, I have been asked to be part of two short films all about my student life, my blog and why I have chosen to study with them. I am now frantically trying to find something suitable to wear that makes me look taller and slimmer! lol So watch this space for more info!
On a final few notes I received my official email from The Institute of Physics to say I am now an Associate Member! Now that does make me feel more professional :)
And if you follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/EmmaLBoland and you are looking for some new space people to follow, why not check out https://twitter.com/NorwichAS a great page that is always more than willing to answer questions :)
Wish me luck readers!
Em
I wont lie this one has been a struggle, as well as learning about the different types of waves this week with Topic 8 I have also been battling my own illness waves, the reason why this blog post is a day late! Apologies everyone :) This time next week I will hopefully be on the mind and fit as a fiddle again!
Before I move onto what I have been learning about this week, who in the UK experienced the snow? Stupid question right?
For those outside the UK we experienced a pretty bad storm last week which left most of the country under mountains of snow, with temperatures well below zero. Something which you would think we would be more prepared for, however unfortunately this is not the case and as the temperatures and snow fell everything ground to a halt and my son enjoyed a Snow Day!
One of the very first topics this first year of my degree was all about answering the question "Why does it snow in winter?", so rather than complaining about the fact the snow had arrived I was marvelling at the fact I now knew why it had arrived and how each of those tiny snowflakes had been created. Whilst walking at in the snow with my family I found myself recalling what enables those snowflakes to fall to earth and the forces at work. On this walk we found a frozen stream, where we conducted our own mini science experiment. Our hypothesis "If we throw a snowball onto the partially frozen stream, it will sink" or not...so from a bridge my son threw numerous snowballs onto the ice to discover that the snow in fact did both, it would hit the ice and then start to fall through, taking around 10 seconds to do so.
I would like to point out that the storm we experienced the end of last week does not reflect who I am.... confused?? Well the storm that hit the UK end of last week was called "Storm Emma" and that's my name, I dont know whether to be quite pleased that I had a storm with the same name as me or not lol
So whilst trying to avoid going out too much in the cold weather I have been busy going through Topic 8 of my first year, this one is all about the different sorts of waves.
You would think naively that there is only really waves you see in the sea, however did you know there are also waves in the atmosphere? Those clouds you see in the sky, there are even waves there.
The definition in my studies explains waves quite well "a wave can be defined as a regular repeating disturbance that can transport energy from one place to another". When you think about it that way it then gets you thinking that waves must be everywhere!
My practical this week has consisted of making a pendulum and testing for simple harmonic motion and then using maths to calculate how long it will take that pendulum to oscillate!
I have also learnt about diffraction and how by using a diffraction grating and observing the resultant diffraction pattern you can determine what the object the wave is passing through looks like.
Finally this evening I have been looking at earthquakes and the types of waves that are produced from these, who knew that from measuring the P Waves using seismometers you can determine how far away that earthquake.
This topic has involved a fair amount of physics which again I have surprisingly enjoyed, although not much space related study in the last two topics I can see how these can be linked to astronomy.
With studying being a bit of a struggle this week I am looking forward to two events in the next few days!
The Women In Physics Conference in London is being held this Saturday and I shall be there!
https://www.kclwomeninphysics.com/events/women-in-physics-london-2018-conference
It will be a key event to network and listen to women in the STEM industry, I will write a review on this next weekend :)
This week also sees me make my film debut! Intrigued?
A few weeks back I was contacted by The Open University as they had seen my blog, I have been asked to be part of two short films all about my student life, my blog and why I have chosen to study with them. I am now frantically trying to find something suitable to wear that makes me look taller and slimmer! lol So watch this space for more info!
On a final few notes I received my official email from The Institute of Physics to say I am now an Associate Member! Now that does make me feel more professional :)
And if you follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/EmmaLBoland and you are looking for some new space people to follow, why not check out https://twitter.com/NorwichAS a great page that is always more than willing to answer questions :)
Wish me luck readers!
Em
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