See the Sun like never before! Incredible photos and videos

Check out the 'first light' images from the new Inouye Solar Telescope. Insane resolution of the surface of the Sun is now possible, and who knows what discoveries will be made by astronomers as they analyze the structure and dynamics of the surface of a star.

Carbon nanotube structure now the blackest material ever created

Thanks to Mayher for finding this one:
Using carbon nanotubes, MIT researchers have created a material that absorbs 99.995% of the light emitted into it, making it the "blackest black" material ever made. One interesting possible application is to use this material to help block out light to help astronomers search for and detect exoplanets. Cool!

Ambitious project to figure out projections for thermofrost thawing and climate consequences

My alma mater, the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is home to one of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). NCSA is a major collaborator for a global effort to understand what is happening with the thaw rates of thermofrost, and its effects on climate. It is important to understand why this is a big deal - there are 9 million square miles of thermofrost, with nearly twice the carbon stored in it compared to what is presently in the atmosphere! And so much of this is believed to be methane, which is more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide by an order of magnitude. Check out an article with some more details about this large, important research effort.

Video capturing a molecular bond breaking and re-forming!

Check out this article and video of a rhenium molecule moving around two carbon nanotubes. You can see the two atoms move far apart, when the bond breaks, and then re-bonds back into the molecule. VERY COOL!!

Good news for climate change in US: More Americans are alarmed by climate change

In just the last 5 years, the percentage of Americans who are 'alarmed' by climate change and its consequences has been increasing at the fastest rate compared to other categories of concern. In 2014, only 11% of Americans surveyed were 'alarmed.' In 2019, this is up to over 31% or nearly one-third, who are 'alarmed.' Another 26% are 'concerned' by climate change, so the US now has a majority of the country worried about climate change.

This is significant politically, and perhaps some progress will be made in key leadership positions and policy-making in the government and in certain industries. This is a good thing for those who believe in the (overwhelming) scientific evidence that it is not in the human race's best interests, or any other species of life, to not try and do something to fight climate change.

For Tuesday, Jan 7

Today you'll have a chance to start bringing back some of the basics of momentum, p = mv. Keep in mind that it is a vector, so direction matters - it is positive if something is moving to the right, and negative if it is moving to the left, for example.

Momentum is conserved, so for a vector this means that x-momentum before and after a collision is the same for a system, and the y-momentum before and after a collision is the same for a system.

The change in momentum for an individual object is its impulse, delta(p). We can find impulse a few ways: delta(p) = mv_f - mv_o = F*delta(t).  Delta(t) is the time of contact between the object and whatever it is colliding with.

Please watch a short video on why momentum is conserved, which is due to Newton's 3rd law. To start getting some practice, please start trying:
   Chapter 8, Questions #8, 19 and Exercises #5, 7, 9.  These are all on page 3 of your packet. If you want to get a head start on the AP problem on page 8, go for it since we will eventually do it.

With any remaining time, you can be sure to complete the reflection and article summary if you need to. Feel free to use the Scientific Americans in the back of the room. You should also be sure to go through and understand anything you missed on the free response from the final - solutions are on the 3 Chem-Phys page of our school site.

Hopeful Solar Projects around the world

Major solar projects in India, China and outside Dubai show some promising in-steps to non-carbon energy commitments. The one being built in Dubai, for example, is a $13.5 BILLION complex that will eventually be some 80 square miles and the most energetic in the world.  It is good to see these types of commitments around the world, and because costs are coming down on solar systems while efficiencies and energy production are increasing, the hope is these large-scale examples become inspirational for other countries, states, and large corporations for their facilities.

Don't forget that the solar energy the earth receives in one hour could power the entire world for one year! If you are interested in material science, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, industrial engineering, physics, and other areas of STEM, all of these will be important in the future of the global solar energy sector.