[Mar 4 2006] Ways to popularize HEP (particle physics)..

I wrote this to some Slac folks listing some of the useful sources for HEP
(= high energy physics, generally a synonym for particle physics, and an
acronym that is widely used), and ways it connects with our "everyday
life"..

-M

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 18:39:38 -0800 (PST)
From: MSSG
To: Luke A. Corwin
Resent-Subject: Re: Outreach opportunity

hi there Luke-

i'm currently down at Caltech, far from Slac, so can't help you in person,
but as for some pointers for you to prepare a presentation, i would say
the following:

- it would be useful for you to read the book The Physics of Star Trek.
i haven't yet, but the author, Lawrence Krauss, is a good communicator
(who spoke btw some months ago at Slac on science and creationism, and how
though *those* are incompatible, science and religion aren't) and i have
heard good things about the book.

- yes, it is possible to build a cloud chamber; i haven't done it, but in
i believe Scientific American (or possibly Physics Today) within the last
few years they had a column on how to do it. actually, a quick websearch
showed plenty of sites on how to do it, here's one:

http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/~adf4/cloud.html

i think this is a great idea, as probably nothing is as visceral as this
for showing people that particles are always raining down on us (they have
a large and excellent one at the Exploratorium btw, that's wonderful to
watch in action).

there used to be a coincidence counter in the little visitor center next
to the auditorium, don't know if it's still there; that's useful too, but
a cloud chamber is i think the best, for the visual effect.

oh, maybe downloading simulations of collisions also -- there are some
really nice ones on the LHC webpages at CERN, probably the coolest and
most well done ones i've seen. pretty easy to find in searches..

- might be worth reading this article, about how our world would be dif.
if the 18 params of the SM were dif. from what they are (very
hypothetical, but it gives some feeling for how these params affect our
lives), by Bob Cahn:

http://www.hep.yorku.ca/menary/misc/eighteen_parameters_of_sm.ps

- you could also review some of the medical technologies that came out of
particle physics (PET and MRI scans, beam therapies for cancer etc.), and
the history of the development of the Web, and how SLAC was the first
website in the Western Hemisphere, and note all of this to the students,
who all of course use the web daily likely, and who've also probably known
someone with cancer already..

anyway, hope these are some helpful tips for you..?

cheers,
-M