Five States of Matter

In my science curriculum, I teach students there are five states of matter. I find that most of them are familiar with four - solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. However, none are aware of a recent state of matter discovery - B.E.C., the Bose-Einstein condensate.

A Bose–Einstein condensate (B.E.C.) is a state of matter formed by particles cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero(0 kelvin or -273.15 °C). Under such supercooled conditions, a large fraction of the atoms collapse into the lowest quantum state, at which point quantum effects become apparent on a macroscopic scale.

This state of matter was first predicted by Albert Einstein, building upon the work of Satyendra Bose in 1925, hence the name. Seventy years later, the first such condensate was produced by Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman in 1995 at the University of Colorado at Boulder NIST-JILA lab, using a gas of rubidium atoms cooled to 170 nanokelvin (nK). Cornell, Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle at MIT were awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics in Stockholm, Sweden.

Space Camp for Educators

I just finished an outstanding week at the NASA Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. It was funded by a grant from the University of Alabama at Huntsville and was focused on educators. To sum it up, 'it was awesome' !. The week is filled with workshops, simulations, and other activities to enable teachers to take back learnings to the classroom, all focused around our space industry.

Everyday started at 7:00 a.m. and ended around 9:00 p.m., but it was worth it.

You can see a Photo Story replay of my week by clicking on the link below:

http://www.trussvillecityschools.com/Teachers/Larry.Jones/Pictures/Forms/AllItems.aspx

Sound to heat converted to electricity

This is a most interesting article explaining a experimental process of energy being recycled by using sound to convert heat into electricity.

You can read it here - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19034341/