Physics Blog

My name is Collin Hendershot. For my Junior Independent Study project I observed the effect of concavity on the aerodynamics of high speed automobiles. The two important aerodynamic characteristics of automobiles are downforce and drag. Downforce is the force of air pushing a car toward the road and drag is…

A picture and diagram of the experimental method used. The mirrors reflect the light back and forth through the sample multiple times. Absorption spectroscopy is popular form of chemical identification and characterization. Typically, light is passed through a sample once and the intensity of the light after passing through the…

When we say that two particles are quantumly entangled, we mean that the particles cannot be looked at independently even when separated by great distances. This means that if we measure one particle, we will automatically get the measurements of the other. This concept is spooky, and can be useful…

The night sky is full of wonder and splendor. Stars, many more than one can count by themselves, and what a great expanse it truly is, reaching beyond our visible universe. In the vast nothingness, there are things that we can still learn through observation. The first step to learning…

Last weekend we had another excellent picnic and pie festival at my house. This event has been a tradition since my first summer in our REU program back in 2004. We have outdoor games, eat grilled veggie quesadillas and a variety of sides, and then we have the celebration of…

Greetings Everyone! Last month, I accompanied recent graduate Michael Wolff ’17 to Okinawa, Japan, where Michael presented his senior independent study work as part of an international workshop-style conference for specialists in the field of optical nanofibers. Optical nanofibers are essentially very thin cylindrical glass tubes– so thin, in fact,…

Congratulations to the class of 2017! We caught up with a number of our senior physics majors for a group picture in the “organized chaos” following the commencement ceremony. Best wishes to all our graduates in your future endeavours, and be sure to keep in touch!

Robin Morillo presented his I.S. research at Posters on the Hill The Council on Undergraduate Research chose Robin’s poster A Hill on fire: Using matches, 3D printing, and code as a forest fire analog to represent Ohio at the 21st Annual Posters on the Hill on April 26, 2017 in the…

April is a busy month for STEM majors, starting off with Science Day , and ending right before exams. The weekend of April 22 was busy as well, as the College hosted the Wooster community Expanding Your Horizons workshop for fifth and sixth grade girls, run entirely by local women in STEM, including many CoW faculty and…

As promised, I’m posting a bit more about my trip to Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general.  I was able to work a little sight-seeing in during the working part of my visit.  And, I was able to time my visit with my children’s spring break, so my family were able…

As regular blog readers know, I am currently on a research leave for the year.  A good part of my leave has been spent in Wooster, but I believe it is important to spend a significant time outside of Wooster as well in order to get fresh ideas and perspectives…

As regular blog readers know, I am currently on a research leave for the year.  A good part of my leave has been spent in Wooster, but I believe it is important to spend a significant time outside of Wooster as well in order to get fresh ideas and perspectives…

Robin missed his Thermal exam – because he presented his research on ‘Posters on the Hill’ in Washington, DC. But Wooster offers exceptional experiences as, for example, taking your make-up exam on the plane back from DC to Cleveland.

March Meeting 2017 — New Orleans! The hotel lobby. Quoting Jackie here, “Not a dump.” When we arrived at the hotel I had a mini scream-out-of-excitement inside. Yes, because it was fancy and was my first time seeing a bathtub since winter break, but mostly because there was a sign for…

Physics Students Design and Construct a Novel Type of Wind-Powered Mechanical Clock WOOSTER, Ohio – Two Independent Study’s (I.S.), one National Science Foundation grant, and five years of intermittent research by College of Wooster students under the guidance of John Linder, chair of the department of physics, have resulted in…

Being an undergraduate presenter in a room full of research faculty Guest Blog by Zane Thornburg ’18For this year’s APS March Meeting, I decided that it would be a great idea to give an oral presentation on my summer REU research with Dr. Paul Bonvallet on Osorb from this past…

Guest Blog by Zane Thornburg ’18 I think besides my presentation, my favorite experience from this year’s APS March Meeting was my interaction with the wonderful scientists from TeachSpin. They had a booth in the Exhibit Hall that was open the whole week. I remember walking up to it on Monday simply…

Last week I had a wonderful trip to the University of Oregon in Eugene to give a colloquium for the Department of Physics.  This was my first visit to the university, and actually my first visit to Oregon at all! Wooster Physics and Oregon Physics are connected in a number of…

When I began studying physics, I had no idea that scientists travel so much. In the fall of 2016, I attended the Quadrennial Physics Congress, PhysCon. Before I get to talking about the conference itself, I think it is worth mentioning that this was the farthest I have ever traveled, so…

Wooster Professor Devises Way to Harvest Wind Energy to Detect Faint Signals WOOSTER, Ohio – John Lindner, chair of the department of physics at The College of Wooster, has conceived a new use for one of our natural resources – the wind. By harvesting its clean energy, one can detect…