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PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

W. G. SCOTT RAL/PPD 24 Jan 2006. PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE.

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PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

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  1. W. G. SCOTT RAL/PPD 24 Jan 2006 PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE PPARC encourages us to spend 1% of our research grant funding on “outreach” activities, promoting understanding, appreciation and awareness of our science to the general public: Targeting 11-16 yr olds in schools etc. can help attract more young people into a scientific career. (e.g. RAL MasterClass 14-16 Mar 2007). Helps produce highly qualified researchers with advanced skills needed by academia, industry and commerce. Helps ensure that the UKs front line contribution in this science is recognised by opinion formers, decision-takers/politicians. Taxpayers can have an appreciation and awareness of the research being funded on their behalf.

  2. THE STANDARD MODEL: (schematic) higgs kinetic term yukawa term fermion kinetic term gauge “kinetic” term where: “higgs potential” field-strength tensor “covariant derivative” vector potential

  3. THE HIGGS FIELD: quarks leptons W,Z etc. gives masses to the pointlike particles : refraction?.

  4. …but not to the neutron/proton! PROTON NEUTRON u=“UP” (+2/3) QUARKS d=“DOWN” (-1/3)

  5. ELECTRO-MAGNETIC INTERACTION see “QED: the strange theory of light and matter” A FEYNMAN DIAGRAM

  6. QUARK CONFINEMENT The “Strong” Force Quark Antiquark

  7. “CHROMOSTATICS”

  8. “CHROMOSTATICS” THE “COLOUR” FORCE

  9. QCD quarks 3 colours gluons 8 colours

  10. WEAK INTERACTION u e- W+ d

  11. NEUTRAL CURRENTS (1973)

  12. ELECTRO-WEAK

  13. THE “FORCE” PARTICLES g1 g2 g3 g4 g5 g6 g7 g8W- Z0 W+γ

  14. CERN

  15. THE “MATTER” PARTICLES Q -1 0 -1/3 +2/3

  16. ELECTROWEAK TGCs w+ w- z0 e+ e-

  17. see M. Gardner “The Ambidextrous Universe” The Left-Right Problem

  18. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEFT AND A RIGHT HABD? • RH IS BIGGER THAN LH ???

  19. His right hand IS much bigger!

  20. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEFT AND A RIGHT HAND? • RH IS BIGGER THAN LH ???. • THUMBS ON OPPOSITE EDGES ? • OR PALMS ON OPPOSITE SIDES ? LH AND RH ARE MIRROR REFLECTNS!!

  21. WHY DOES A MIRRORREVERSE LEFT AND RIGHT BUT NOT UP AND DOWN? • A CONFUSING QUESTION !!! • SURELY IT REVERSES FRONT AND BACK ? • BUT IT DOES SEEM TO CHANGE RH TO LH!

  22. CLOSE TO THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM:How would you communicate left and right over the phone?

  23. IT’S A RIGHT-HANDER’S WORLD SPIRAL STAIRCASE BUILT FOR DEFENDER WIELDING SWORD IN RIGHT HAND IN THE POPULATION AT LARGE: APPROX. 90% RIGHT-HANDED APPROX. 10% LEFT- HANDED LATIN: DEXTRA = RIGHT (cf “DEXTROUS”) SINISTRA = LEFT (cf “SINISTER”)

  24. Mirror Twins

  25. z z y x x y MORE ABSTRACTLY LEFT HANDED COORDINATE SYSTEM RIGHT HANDED COORDINATE SYSTEM

  26. z z y x x y MORE ABSTRACTLY LEFT HANDED COORDINATE SYSTEM RIGHT HANDED COORDINATE SYSTEM z y x Left Right

  27. A molecule that, like your hands, cannot be made to look like its mirror-image by rotating it or displacing it, is called chiral. This group of atoms is IN FRONT here, but goes BEHIND in the rotating reflection

  28. OPTICAL ACTIVITY OPTICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES ROTATE THE PLANE OF POLARISATION OF POLARISED LIGHT

  29. Double Refraction(in a Calcite Crystal)

  30. Louis Pasteur Pateur felt that handedness could only be distinguished/separated by living things.

  31. The DNA structure is a double helix looking something like a twisted ladder. The two cross-linked helices are always right-handed, twisting in the same direction as a normal screw. Names for clockwise and anticlockwise helices: Away from your eye Away from your eye

  32. “Perhaps looking glass milk isn’t good to drink” - Lewis Carroll, Alice through the looking glass ALICE WAS RIGHT !!!

  33. Fleming’s Left Hand Motor Rule: NOW FOR SOME A/S PHYSICS IS THE PROBLEM SOLVED ?

  34. We DO know the direction of the curremt + The positive terminal is connected to the central carbon rod The negative terminal is connected to the zinc casing - Conventional Current flows from positive to negative (opposite to electron flow)

  35. But do we REALLY know the Magnetic Field Direction? Yes, here on Earth the North Pole of a magnet points North! Problem Solved !? But you can’t be sure it is the same on another planet? Even the Earth’s field reverses sometimes

  36. How would you radio our left/right convention to an alien living on a distant galaxy?

  37. We could set up our magneticfield using a current? Current RIGHT HAND GRIP RULE: But applying a right hand rule followed by a left hand rule is equivalent to no handed rule at all. i.e. The wrong hand used for the grip rule followed by the wrong hand used for the motor rule produces the same predicted motion Magnetic field

  38. DEFINING LEFT AND RIGHT ABSOLUTELY WITH ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FORCES IS IMPOSSIBLE !! FLEMINGS LEFT-HAND RULE MERELY SWAPS THE LEFT/RIGHT PROBLEM FOR A NORTH/SOUTH PROBLEM WITH MAGNETS !

  39. DEFINING LEFT AND RIGHT ASOLUTELY WITH ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FORCES IS IMPOSSIBLE !! MOST PHYSICISTS ASSUMED THAT AN ABSOLUTE DEFINITION OF LEFT AND RIGHT WAS COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE !! FLEMINGS LEFT-HAND RULE MERELY SWAPS THE LEFT/RIGHT PROBLEM FOR A NORTH/SOUTH PROBLEM WITH MAGNETS ! BUT IN 1956 THERE WAS THE SHOCKING DISCOVERY OF `PARITY VIOLATION’ BY THE `WEAK FORCE’ IN NUCLEAR BETA DECAY:

  40. Beta Decay neutron

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