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Physics & Astronomy Seminar
Fall 2000

Seminars are held on Tuesdays, 3:45-4:45pm in SB 101, unless otherwise noted.
Meet at 3:30 in SB 157 (formerly known as SB 153) for refreshments.
See Calvin's Visitor Resources for maps and directions to the Science Building.
If you would like to receive regular email announcements for each week's seminar, or have other questions or comments, contact seminar chair Deborah Haarsma.

Previous semesters: Fall 1999, Spring 2000
Next semester: Spring 2001

Date	Title	Speaker
September 5	Refreshments and Conversation in SB157
September 12	Summer Research: High-Resolution Laser Spectroscopy at Calvin Summer Research: Lightcurve of Gravitational Lens 2016+112	Prof. Dave Van Baak Klaas Hoekema (junior)
September 19 12:30pm in NH 159	Joint Seminar with GGES: Pulling Back the Curtain: Recollections of Pre-Apollo Lunar Science	Dr. Ralph Baldwin, lunar astronomer and geologist
September 26	Summer Research: Developing the Ability to Test Hypotheses: An Excerpt from Physics 113 Summer Research: A Reprise of the "Argument From Design"	Prof. Jim Jadrich Prof. Steve Steenwyk
October 3	Joint Seminar with GGES: Snowball Earth: Fact or Fiction	Prof. Larry Molnar and Prof. Ralph Stearley
October 10	Summer Research: Double Ionization of Helium by High-Intensity Lasers: Identifying the Mechanism	Prof. Stan Haan and Scott Wheeler (senior)
October 17	Summer Research: Atomic Lifetime Measurements in Magneto-Optically Trapped Krypton Summer Research: Time-Resolved Imaging of 1D Patterns in a Dielectric-Barrier Discharge	Nathan Miller (senior) Mason Klein (junior)
October 24	Advising Recess
October 31	The Clarinet, the Washtub, and the Musical Nails: How Musical Instruments Work	videotaped lecture by Robert Greenler
November 7	Summer Research: Modeling of Radio Emission from Saturn's Rings Including Wakes	Prof. Larry Molnar, Clark Cully (sophomore), and David Young (junior)
November 14	Refreshments only
November 21	Red Giants to White Dwarfs: Studying the Transitional Objects	Prof. Bruce Hrivnak, Valparaiso University
November 28	Quasars: Beacons of Cosmic Evolution	Prof. Kirk Korista, Western Michigan University
December 5	Demonstration of "TheSky" and "CCDSoft" Astronomy Software

October 31: The Clarinet, the Washtub, and the Musical Nails: How Musical Instruments Work
In this videotaped lecture, Robert Greenler explains the physics of vibrations, traveling waves, and standing waves. He goes on to demonstrate how these physical principles are at work in musical instruments we're all familiar with, including the violin (vibration of a string), the flute (vibration of an enclosed column of air), and the xylophone (vibration of a rod). No prior knowledge of physics is required to enjoy this video!

November 21: Red Giants to White Dwarfs: Studying the Transitional Objects
While stars appear to be unchanging, they do change and evolve over long periods of time. Stars like our Sun eventually expand to become red giants, lose their outer gaseous atmospheres revealing their cores, and then gradually cool to become white dwarfs, the final "death" of most stars. I will report on my study of stars in the transitional phase between red giants and white dwarfs, which I have carried out using telescopes on mountain tops and from space. This has revealed new information about how stars lose mass and the chemistry of the gas.

November 28: Quasars: Beacons of Cosmic Evolution
Since their discovery in 1963, quasars have held the distinction in being the most distant, most luminous, and most mysterious objects in the universe. Though progress has been slow, observations of these objects are beginning to yield to us their story -- their place in the universe. No longer are they thought of as rare exotica (or just curious lighthouses of the intergalactic medium), but rather are likely important links to massive galaxy formation and evolution, and their illumination likely played a role in guiding large scale structure formation. In this talk I will give a non-exhaustive overview of what we know of quasars, plus I'll discuss some of my spectroscopic research.