Hi!

Hi!

Thanks guys!

I'll try to get those pictures on as soon as possible.......

Epilogue

Dear All,

Like all good adventures, there must be an end so that many more adventures can start.

I would like to close this Blog with a few thoughts.

It has been a fantastic and unique experience which i would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to do something similar.

I cannot say why, or how things worked out as well as they did, except that luck, enthusiasm and a desire to participate in as many things as possible helped. To this last bit of advice, i have to thank my kind American friend. I would also add that not giving up is also essential component for it to work.

More importantly, CERN has left a lasting impression on me, one which makes me wish to be as open, inclusive and sharing as possible when it comes to Physics and teaching Physics.

It is hard to put into words the feelings that can be experienced in knowing that you have been working as a tiny part of a diverse greater whole without losing your individuality. And for those who have been reading this Blog, I hope that you have felt some of the things which i have tried to elucidate in the above.

It has been pleasure and thanks for reading.

Think.

The End

Day 20 The End

I couldn't sleep a wink last night. It means i have been up +24hrs - give or take a couple of hours. I suspect it is the antibiotics which have been working really well so far. I feel much better already.

I was able to go supper in the restaurant yesterday!!! (Thursday night) It happened to be Gron's, (head of our Working Group) birthday too! Happy Birthday!!

I decided to get up and go to the Presentations of the working group regardless of how tired i felt as i knew it would be good to see everyone again and also to see the work that everyone has done.

I was not disappointed.

The volume of info and resources people have come up with was amazing!! We all did good presentations - including me as at the last minute i asked if i could play a small part in our group's presentation by doing the intro. The guys kindly let me do so so thank you!!!

It was really nerve wracking even though i was doing this in front of a group of people whom i knew really well and vice-versa. I was not alone however, as everyone was in the same situation.

My most memorable presentation Rolf's Working Group who did, '50 Mysteries of the Universe'. I will not be forgetting Bosons for a long time!!

Afterwards, we got to meet the two oldest couple who have retired from CERN but are still working there in a voluntary capacity. It was amazing to hear them talk about CERN and the experiments they did as they were both there from the very beginning to the present point. They have seen all the accelerators, big or small being built, tested and put through their paces.

This was then followed by a meeting with the Director General of CERN. It was quite humbling to see how enthusiastic and supportive this gentleman is of the HST programme and i was reminded again, how lucky i am to have to had this opportunity. It is amazing as well, for a guy with so much responsibility to still be so enthusiastic about Science and encouraging young people to take up Science. It is something which i will incorporate into my own ethos.

Later that evening, we had our farewell barbecue and it was lovely. Rolf did all the cooking and whilst he was eating.... i was able to get a spoiler on 'Angels and Demons' movie. I'm keeping quiet for the time being though!!!

It was a lovely way to end the programme and my only regret was that i had to leave early as i knew i had stillto pack and to get-up at 7am the following day.

I was able to say farewells to almost everyone, (apart from those who were having too good a time!!!)and at that point, i think i realised how well we all got along and how i would miss the times i had at CERN. But i left feeling that i would have loads of happy memories and photos to look back upon!!!!

Day 19 Feeling Better

Dear All,

Feeling a lot better now. It never ceases to amaze me, the power of Antibodies and how effective they are. I have something to be thankful to the Biologists for:-)

I'm not quite home and dry yet so hopefully i can get home and get a good couple of days rest before i head off again. (This time further afield to Hong Kong!)

Had a little bit of pasta for dinner but otherwise i have been surviving on ...... shortbread!!! (Or Elven 'lembas' as i will now call it as literally, two bits have kept me going for the better part of a day.) I'm not sure if i should be eating the shortbread as techinically it is made from butter or some diary products. (Which the doctor told me to avoid) Hopefully i don't suffer from averse effects later.

It has also been comforting to have had lots of good wishes from everyone on the course. Thanks guys!!

It is sad to think that my time on this adventure is almost at an end. I'm not sure if i will post tomorrow as it is the day of the Presentations and i have to hand this laptop back to Mick. (Thanks for the long loan of this MacBook, (yes that is how you spell it, it written right in fornt of me below my display!!)

What i will do is i will wait till i get home. I will then finish Day 20 and then also to a Summary.

Till then, lets hope my recovery continues apace and i have a quick and safe journey home.

Why cola is good for you

Dear All,

Have been going through a torrid three days where i was vomiting and my temperature was fluctuating between highs and lows.

Went to the doctor today who diagnosed me with food poisoning. I am currently on antibiotics and hopefully i will be able to fly home in a reasonable condition. Funnily enough, she also recommended that i take as many sips of cola as possible as for some unfathomable reason, it is good for you in these situations!

It is a little bit heartbreaking to have missed out on all of this week's activities but such is the life that we lead. But hey, i got a 4cm needle jabbed into me so that i could be connected to a saline drip!!!!!

The Days That Never Were.....

I have been ill the last two days and sleeping for the most part in my room.

Therefore they are the days that never were..........

Day 15 We Are Sailing, We are sailing...

Dear All,

Have just spent an exhausting day walking around Geneva and going for a sailing trip around the lake.

It has been another glorious day full of really hot sunshine. It is comparable to Hong Kong, without the humidty. I spent a good 5 hours in the sunshine which i regret now as it means my skin feels like it is on fire..... whoops, i guess i won't be venturing out without any sunscreen again:-) Something to pass onto when i return to my proper......

I went sailing today!!!! It was only a one hour cruise around the main parts of lake Geneva but it was fantastic!!!!! Nothing beats standing on deck with the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing through your hair...... it also means i've sailed around Hong Kong Harbour and Sydney Harbour..... the next one will be San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge!!!

Aferwards, we went for a walk along the quayside to the History of Science Museum. (I had Richard and Oceane with me) It was ineresting to see the old Astronomy equipment. I also so a cool experiment with Parabolic Reflectors which i want to repeat at home............

We then met up with Miguel and Agustin who drove us to a little down in France which is next ti Lake Geneva called Yvoire. It was a beautiful French town and the thing that made it beatiful for me was that there were so many flowers and plants growing around the town, on the walls of the houses and in hanging baskets. It made it look really rustic yet beautiful.

We had a quick wander around town before finding a nice restaurant for an evening meal. I had steak and chips, (it is weird but i seem to be eating a lot of that these days:-)) then had a really weird triple chocolate dessert. It was weird has it looked like ice cream but when you eat it, it melts in your mouth as if it had a lot of water in it...... not sure i really liked it.

Dinner conversation was interesting.... Big Brother and Reality TV programmes. I blame on the fact that we are forced to watch it to have something to wind Jedis up with. For hte millionth time.... Pop Idol, BIg Brother and all those other reality programmes are not quality entertainment!!!!

Back home just now and trying to cool down and do some washing.

It is the beginning of the last week of my stay and there is a lot of work still to be done!!!

Day 14 Bastille Day Celebrations

According to my timetable, it is Bastille Day in France today.

I think there are some celebrations planned in CERN altough i haven't seen anything advertised. Last night there were fireworks set off and i managed to hear them rather than see them.

It has been another glorious day with a clear blue sky and brilliant sunshine. It is really strange because the sun seems to get warmer and hotter the later it gets into the afternoon. I don't know why, but i kinda expect it to cool down a little by about 5ish in the afternoon. Consequently, i have spent all my time till 5pm outside getting as much sunshine as possible:-)

It's Saturday today which means i'm having a day off. I spent the day in Geneva doing some exploring as today has been the first day that i've had any time by myself!!!!

Geneva is a really lovely town, (I'm not sure i would really call it a city as it is more like Edinburgh than Glasgow)to explore as the it so clean and friendly. Like most tourist towns, everything is located centrally and the public transport is excellent!!! Clean and punctual, it makes it really easy to navigate even if you happen to get on the wrong bus and get lost;-)

The fact that it has a massive lake next to it also means that despite the intense sunshine, there is always a nice cool breeze to keep you cool. It also gives it a really nice promenade to walk along. (Pictures are forthcoming as usual)

I went to two museums today. The Museum of Art and History and the Museum of the International Red Cross. Both had some really interesting exhibits, and it made me realise just how many naked ladies get drawn for the sake of 'Art'. I am in the wrong job. And no, i didn't take pictures either.

At the museum of the International Red Cross I got to see the original Geneva Covention!!!! Like most things of this ilk, (i.e. Declaration of Arbroath) it was very innocuous and if it had been pointed out to me i would never have given it a second glance.

I then went for a walk around the town of Geneva and it was wonderful. I have not felt such peac and calm for a long time. It was beautiful sitting at bench with an ice cream in hand watching the distant sailing post wander past and feeling the cool breeze brushing past. It is something i will always remember.

FAQ's

Before i forget, i should have the opportunity to speak to the people who gave me lectures on 'Cosmology' and 'What We Hope to Find from the LHC' sometime next week.

So you have one last chance i imagine to ask questions about Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Big Bang, Higgs, Standard Model etc!

Post them and i'll ask!!!!!!!!!!!

American Happy Hour and Spying Satellites

To finish a glorious day, the American contingent gave us an American Happy Hour!!!

It was great as since it was such a nice day, we were able to have an open air party outside the restaurant. It was just perfect.
Free Drink, free snacks and wonderful company. I'm not sure if it gets better than that.

It was also Ambrose's (teacher from S. Africa) birthday. Happy Birthday!!!! We all sang happy birthday to him and then each nationality also sang it to him in their own language. As this was happening, some random woman came up said it was her birthday as well so we did it all again!!!!

I spent most of my time mingling just eating, drinking, (orange juice and tea since i am a pillar of the community;-)and talking to people. We then had the ipod and speaker set up so i tried my best to play MUSE and some more 'recent' music. Unfortunately, i had to suffer 'Pink', 'U2' and oldies whom i've never even heard off :-)

Zeger, (Dutch teacher) then set-up a pair of binoculars and i got the chance to see Jupiter and it's first three moons!!!!!!! How cool!!!!!! I saw Jupiter with my own eyes. Admittedly it was no more than a bright star but it was still cool. I then stood for ages just staring up into the sky. This only works if the sky is clear without any clouds. I found the longer i looked the more my eyes became adjusted and the more stars that i could see. It was simply breathtaking to see the stars almost 'phase' into existence. (They were always there it was just that my eyes weren't accustomed to seeing them)

Then i saw this star that was moving at what seemed like at constant across the sky. I knew it wasn't a plane as planes have flashing lights..... i wondered if it was a UFO. Then it was pointed out to me that i was actually looking at a Satellite!!!!

A telecommunication satellite!!!!!!!!!! How cool. It's amazing what you can see when you look up at the night sky..........

'The Grid'

As promised from early on, I shall now tell you about 'the Grid'. In a way, i wish Physicists had a greater sense for melodrama and excitment. I would have called 'the Grid' 'The Matrix' instead. Just cause it sounds cooler and is linked with the film of the same name and all that that means:-)

Anyhow, 'the Grid' (TG from now on) isn't a new invention by CERN. You may already be familiar with it in the form of SETI@home. The project where information from SETI is processed on your home computer to help in the search of extraterrestials. 'Google' is also another example of TG although it is a bit difficult to explain. (It is 1am in the morning and coke just doesn't have enough caffeine to keep my mind working fully.)

The difference with TG is that instead of just sending information to individual computers, the aim is to share computing resources in a community. (i.e. It's a bit like a group of farmers sharing each other's tools rather than everyone getting one each of every tool). This should mean that the computing power available to Scientists will be much greater than even a single super computer! (i.e. The whole world will be a massive processor... a bit like Skynet from the Terminator movies:-))

So why the need for incredible computing power? The reason is that the LHC is going to need a lot of processing power to handle and anlayse all the information it is going to receive. It has been estimated that 1% of the whole world's data production in one year will be produced at the LHC.

Another way to say this is that one year's worth of data from the LHC would have to be stored on 20 000 000 CDs. It would require 100,000 of today's PC's to satisfy the CPU power required!

To make TG possible, we must be able to send information from one place to another quickly. Research and developments has meant it is now possible for CERN to send information at speeds of 10 Gigabytes/s!!!! This means it is quicker to send 10 gigabyte of information from CERN to Vancouer quicker than it takes to write it to a hard drive!!! Talk about the world getting smaller.

Of course all of this is still in the theory stages. There has been steps to connect Universities in the same countries together. Links have also been made with computing centres from different continents. However world-wide TG connection is still a while away!!!!!

For more information check these out:-

www.gridcafe.org

www.LHC@home (not sure if this one works... Google it!)

Day 13 The Future's Bright, the Future's Dark Matter....

Dear All,

We had our final lectures on 'Antimatter' and 'What the LHC Will Find'.

In the Antimatter lecture we were given a simplified explanation of how to trap antimatter particles and the experiments that were being done. The one i find interesting is trying to measure the effect of Gravity on Antimatter Hydrogen! I will need to read over the lecture presentation to remind myself of how these things work out.

I was very tired today as i stayed up late after Harry Potter to do a bit of work so my attention span has been very short:-) I don't mind as i'm more of a night person.... unfortunately the rest of the world isn't!!!!!

From the Antimatter lecture we did a quick calculation to show that unfortunately, as the current knowledge levels, Antimatter bombs and Warp drives are theoretically pointless - there is not enough energy released to make it worthwhile, assuming we had easy access to the stuff!

The second lecture has been interesting as it has really convinced me that CERN will find the Higgs particle within the next 3- 4 years! Firstly, the amount of work in terms of calculations and simulations done to find the Higgs particle is startling. If the Standard Model is correct then the calculations based upon the theory has given Particle Physicists a pretty good idea of what to look for to find the Higgs particle.

If the Higgs isn't found there are two possibilities. One could be that the products of a Higgs particle decaying could be a neutral particle, (i.e. a Neutrino) which means it doesn't interact with anything. Therefore they are very nearly undetectable. (These particles are detected indirectly through their decay products)

The second reason is that it doens't exist!!!! If this is the case then there is something fundamentally wrong with the Standard Model and all the work on fundamental particles of the last 50 years will have to be revised!!!!!! We would have to go back to Quantum Mechanics and Relativity to see if we missed something.

However, Michelangelo said that this is highly unlikely as historically, Science hasn't progressed through major collapses in Theory. (i.e. The advent of Relativity and Quantum Mechnics didn't necessarily mean that Netwonian Mechanics is wrong and should be thrown out. We still use Newtonian mechanics) So the signs are good and the next 10 - 20 years will be very exciting for Physics ...... we will hopefully be finding out more about Antimatter, Dark Matter and the Fundamental answers to Nature!

And Before I Go to Bed.......

It was Borough night tonight!!!!

Cheers to all the regulars and have a nice weekend!!!

I hope America and Mexico are proving to be a good holiday. I will demand to see pictures when I get back!!!!!

Harry Potter

I have to give him a mention as who hasn't tapped into the whole Harry Potter phenomenon?

I went to see the film with a small group and it was really good! I enjoyed it more than i thought i would, (The last one didn't really hold my attention and i haven't watched it through to the end.) The best bit was when Charlotte, (Teacher from America) screamed out load when the Dementors appeared first time on screen! It took my by surprise but luckily i didn't spill any popcorn!

This was good a movie although it was a bit odd as i didn't think it had a twist like the the previous ones i have seen.

I loved the themes of Friendships and Familial Love too.

'Rock On' as a friend of mines would say.

:-)

Super Massive Computer Geek!

In the afternoon we were given a tour of the CERN computing services. This was the first time i've actually seen how they store and manage a network server.

It was mega cool!!!!!!!!!!! (Okay, I'm a nerd and i'm proud to admit i get excited by looking at computer hard drives;-))

The key thing about any server is cooling. For CERN, the power needed is between 25 -30 Mega Watts of power! That's like switching on 10,000 light bulbs of a rating of 100W at the same time!
So in this big massive factory room, they have massive fans which help cool the server down. It is pretty noticeable too as when we went to the main Server area, it was really cool. (It has been incredibly hot and sunny today.)

So why all this fuss about computers? Well, to sort through the millions of collisions that they are going to do with the LHC and analyse the results to try and find the Higgs particle, they need - computers! and lots of them.
In fact, they need approximately 1,000,000 times more computing power than they did for their old colliders.

This is where i get a little bit geeky...... i had always thought that a Server was some big network that was controlled by a 'Mother Computer' or 'Mainframe'. Apparently this isn't very efficient and for the new server system they are connecting computers in parallel in 'computer farms'. I'll post some pictures to show you what they are like.

The coolest thing about CERN is that they are a 'Open Lab'. This means they are a bit like the SETI program. Any data they collect from their particle accelerators are passed onto other institutions who do the data processing. They are also quite happy to do research for both Science and Industry. As a result, companies like 'Intel' will give them their latest prototypes - 2 to 3 years before they come onto the market!!!!!! And there is a guy who actually gets to play with them all day and get paid for it!!!!!

At the time of press of this blog, CERN also holds the fastest data transfer from 1 disc to another disc record. The write speed from CERN to a computer in San Jose, California, America, (I hope i got that right!) is 895Mb/s. Um, my hard drive is less than 10% of that! And it takes me a couple of minutes to burn any music CDs. However, I'm not a true computer geek so i'm sure some of you guys will help me put this into context.......

Anyhoots, there is one particular fact that i found interesting, especially for all the Standard Grade pupils. As i mentioned earlier, CERN generates lots of Data which they then pass onto other people to work on. I have mentioned in previous posts that this is done through the Internet. Well, it turns out that all this data transfer is done by.... copper wires!!!! And not optical fibres!!! The reasons are the following, (apologises if i have not got all the technical stuff correct....)

(i) Optical fibres require booster units which effectively slow down the signal and cause the speed of the connection to slow down. (Bear in mind we are talking about 100s of Mb/s!
(ii) Copper wires have a bigger range of frequencies which means you can multipex (I think that means sending lots of different bits of information down the same line) more than optical fibres

This is kinda wierd as i've always told pupils in my Standard Grade course that, 'optical fibres' are the way forward for Telecommunications.....

The other thing is that CERN is one of 24 sites which host a major server for the 'Worldwide Web'. What this means is that if i were to accidently pull some wires out... i could have knocked out the entire internet service for most of Eastern Europe and Russia for half minute before it could be re-routed through other Servers!!!! World domination here i come! The funny thing is that the Server responsible for this is just one tiny cabinent compared to the rows and rows of hard disks used by CERN. ( I have the pictures to prove it too!)

Finally, i was told on our tour that GPS is not really as accurate as it is made out to be. This is because the Military can fiddle with it to mask the true positions of their units. Of course, when they do this, they blame it on a 'software error' or something similar. So if you find you GPS is faulty, this might not be your fault entirely!

The answer to this lies in the European 'Galileo' GPS system. This should not suffer from the same nterference from the military as i believe they don't have any control of it like the current GPS system.

Day 12 Ron Howard and the Antimatter Machine

Phew!

It has been another busy day and there are just not enough hours in the day..... I've had to borrow a couple of hours from Friday to do this! If only i could be a quantum particle.......(Hint look at Quantum tunneling....)

We had a really funny and interesting Lecture by Rolf Landua on Antimatter at CERN. It was really interesting and worth the early start. I'm looking forward to his lecture at 9.15 this morning. (It is Friday!) I won't go into the details except from the following:-

(i) Unfortunately there is no warp drive being developed here
(ii) Research has resulted in the production of Anti-Hydrogen particle
(iii) Ron Howard visited CERN in preparation for the new 'Angels and Demons' movie!!!!

If you go to YouTube and search for, 'Ron Howard at Cern' you will see a clip of him and Rolf, (the guy in the black shirt) being shown around the Antimatter Decelerator lab. Go check it out! Especially the last 20 seconds of the clip!

I also had a another lecture by Michelangelo Mangano about what scientists hope to find using the LHC. This was particularly interesting as it brought together a lot of the things which we have done so far and things started to fall into place. Again, some of the theory was above my understanding but i liked his elucidation of how as scientists, we can ask 'How' questions that are 'easy' to answer, (How does a light bulb work, how do we cool things down) and 'Why' questions which fundamentally we cannot answer unless we truly understand things within a frame work at a fundamental level. (i.e. Why are there two types of electric charge? Why do quarks have three generations of particles)

In the afternoon, i was given a tour of the factory where they produce antimatter! For those who do not know, antimatter is the opposite of matter. The best way is to think of it as matter being an object and antimatter the reflection of that object in a mirror.

When these two collide, they can release immense amounts of energy. (As mentioned in Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' and it is also the power source of the Warp Drive in Star Trek!) Now, unfortunately, we are only able to currently produce a small amount of this antimatter. There is still a lot of research to be done which i will hopefully be able to talk more about after the second Antimatter lecture.

However, they are experiments currently set-up to test the application of anti-protons in medical physics to kill cancer cells more effectively....... i may perhaps mention more of this later on.

Did you know?

Did you know that in Brasil they call Limes Lemons????!?!?! I'm going to double check this with Eduardo.....

Here's a funny joke that Thomas, (A teacher from Sweden told me)

What do you get when you have a million, million microphones?

A megaphone - think about it nerdlingers!!!!!!!!! Hahahah!

I managed to catch the end of Gron's lecture on Western Scientific lectures, (I was busy finishing some work for my Working Group) and found his summary fascinating.

From what i could gather he had gone through the development of Western Scientific thought starting from the Greeks who espoused a world view that the world was like an Organism to the Enlightment period which saw the world as Mechanistic - like a mechincal clock to the present day Science which is Complementary. (My apologises if this has come out a bit messy. I will try to get the link from Gron has he has transcripts of his lectures)

My understanding of the last 10 minutes of the lecture is that with the development of Quantum Mechanics in the early 20th Century, the way we should view 'Nature' or the world around us should not be the Enlightment method of logical, deductions or arguments which derive from the idea that the universe is empirical.

We should consider the Quantum Mechanic perspective which says the answer depends on the questions we ask. (i.e. Electron interference - when is an electron a particle or a wave? It depends on how we measure it. - Again i apologise if my arguments are really poor. I refer you to the Feynman's lectures as he gives a brillaint explanation of how electrons can/cannot interfere with each other!)

I think the important thing is that it has given me some food for thought and i will investigate this more...............

Day 11 The Mid-Point

Dear All,

It is unreal to think that this is the mid-point already!!!!

Today has been a bit special as we started work on our working group. It has been a very busy day.

My choice of working group is the 'Bubble chamber' and i have chosen to work on updating the lesson plans and creating worksheets for the lessons. It is proving slower than i thought as there are lots of different perspectives and angles to approach the problem from. It is easy to do what i want but the prespectives offered by my team mates is refreshing and highlight to me the difference in focus that their curriculum has.

In my opinion, i feel that they seem to teach Physics at a much more technical level, although this might be because most of their pupils tend to be from 17 - 19 years old. But the interesting point is that the Physics is the same regardless of the language we speak!

I went to the Microcosm shop today and bought lots of goodies.... for myself. I was going to go the whole hog and kit myself out in all the CERN merchandise that i could find...... but i think the t-shirt, sweater and playing cards are quite enough! I did also buy something else which i will present as a present to my best performing pupil.......maybe:-)

It's funny but it never occurred to me before i left that i might need to cut my fingernails. Consequently i have been walking around like Wolverine..... nice white long fingernails:-) Luckily Eduardo has given me a loan of his very expensive 'Victorix', (the Swiss people who make Swiss Army Knives) nail cutter so i am back to normal now!!!!!!

Tonight will be a long night as i am hoping to do as much of my Lesson Plans as possible. If things go to plan, it should makes things much easier next week. Especially as i want to attend some optional lectures on Astroparticle Physics.

As Bruce Lee once said to me ;-)), 'Be like a sponge! Absorb everything! And throw away what you don't need!'

It's true i tell you.........

Tommorrow will be lectures on Antimatter..... let's hope i learn the secret to Warp Drive technology and Antimatter bombs!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs V!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are the proud parents of baby Dominic Michael!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Dominic arrived at 9.02am (BST) on 10th July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Mr and Mrs V!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will go to bed now:-)

Muse are Brilliant! WooHoo!!!!

Woo Hooo!!!! Muse are brilliant!!!!!!

Have a look at their website which has all their songs and some of their best videos too!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.muse.mu/index.php

I Want a White Vest! (Spoiler alert!)

I went to see Diehard 4.0 tonight. I will not name my accomplices for fear of embarassing them. Ach ,what the hell, it was Eduardi and Sam who tempted me to miss one of Gron's lectures. (Sorry Gron!!!) It was only an optional lecture:-)

It was a nice treat and it felt good to go out of CERN for a couple of hours. As much as i enjoy being here and being exposed to all the different Physics, it is good to remember that there is more to the world.

Diehard 4.0 was completely bonkers and a brilliant laugh!!! I think John McClane must be the world's greatest Physicist, (Had to slip that in) as he can fire police cars and hit helicopters!!!!!!! I want to be able to do that..... maybe i can try that with my Intermediate 1 class?!?!?! There were so many stupid stunts in it though that it was pure fantasy cinema. (I mean, shooting a bullet through yourself? Dodging missiles from a fighter jet?)

The funniest part was that when we left we forgot where our car was parked!!! As we started looking for it we bumped into one of the lecturers who gave us a lecture on Particle Detectors this morning!!!! She was very nice and helped us look for our car, so thanks Silvia!!!!

Day 10 Bubble, bubble.....

Dear All,

Today we had a couple more lectures on Particle Accelerators, Detectors and Cosmology.

They were all very interesting although i have to admit i was lost a couple of times as some of the things we were introduced to were very complex. Again, the complexity of particle accelerators are astounding and it is no wonder that it takes at least 5 -10 years to design and build!!! I am comforted to know though, that there is a big red button which they can press to stop everything if there are any problems..... it will be interesting to see how Hollywood interprets this for hte Dan Brown, 'Angels and Demons' movie;-)

I still have an opportunity to ask some questions so if there is anything you ish to know, this is your chance. In particular, if you want to know more about Dark Matter and Dark Energy then go for it!!!!

It is weird because before i arrived, i was pretty sceptical about the whole, Higgs Boson and Dark Matter concepts. But having heard some of the evidence for these things i am more willing to accept it. I think the thing which changed my mind most was when Frank Close, said that just because you cannot see something doesn't necessary mean it is not real. We can't see atoms, gravity or the static electrcity but we know they are all there. (I know these arguments can be used for other things but we will not diverge to those places!)

This afternoon we had our first Working Group meeting. I found it useful and it was goodto finally get started on some work which i will hopefully be able to use in my classroom. It is a bit daunting, especially as we have about a week to develop materials. But the fact that i am in a group means that i know there will be good colleagues to back me up.

For information, i chose to work on the Bubble Chamber section of the website. It would be great if people, (you know who you are Jedi!) could look at the website and give me some of their thoughts. Especially as i'm hoping you guys will be using it sometime after the holidays! ;-)) You can find it by doing the following: -

http://teachers.web.cern.ch/teachers/archiv/HST2005/bubble_chambers/BCwebsite/index.htm

Beofre i finish, i feel i should point out that Gron, (who is advising us for our Working Group) gave me a lift to the supermarket in France. This was very kind of him as he still had to prepare some materials for his lecture later this evening.

Thank you Gron!!!!

Of Belgium Beer and Drinking Songs...

Hey.

Just returned from our Belgium beer tasting night. I'm not a big fan of alcohol as I've never seen the attractions of it.
However, i went along tonight as i believe the our European cousins have a more cultured enjoyment of wine and beer.

I wasn't disappointed. The varieties of beer that Sam brought, (A teacher from Belgium) was pretty special.

Thank you Sam!!!!

We had some Kriek Boon, (cherry beer that was really fruity) Leffe and Chimal. (I have probably spelt that wrong not to mention forgotten some of the names of the beer too! But that's alcohol for you....) It was nice sampling the different beers and i think i can understand why some people really like beers. (Not only for getting wasted on a saturday night)

As part of the drinking, we also have to learn this drinking song which i will put on the web so that those who feel inclined may join me a song next time they are drinking. (And i shall teach you the moves when i get back!!!)


Ik heb de zon zien zakken in de zee x2
Ik heb de zon zien zakken, de zon zien zakken, de zon zien zakken in de zee

Ik heb de zee zien zakken in de zon x2
Ik heb de zee zien zakken, de zee zien zakken, de zee zien zakken in de zon.

Ik heb de zak zien zonnen in de zee x2
Ik heb de zak zien zonnen, de zak zien zonnen, de zak zien zonnen in de zee.

Ik heb de zee zien zonnen in de zak x2
Ik heb de zee zien zonnen, de zee zien zonnen, de zee zien zonnen in de zak.

The tune is the same as the song that goes, 'She'll be coming down the mountains when she comes....'


Feel free to post your own drinking songs!!!!!!!!

Detectors and Moodles

Hey all.

To finish the blog for today i'll summarise some of the other lectures that we had today.

We had two further lectures for Particle Accelerators and Detection. Both of these were interesting although also very difficult to understand as the pace of the lectures were really quick.

The interesting thing is that the basic principles are very simple and i look forward to discussing them with the Advanced Higher class. (Mwa hah ha) The overall conclusion though is that to build a particle accelerator and detector is a very complex process and a very challenging technical/engineering endeavour.

There are so many corrections, effects to take into account it is amazing that in a short 50 years we have found so much about the fundamental particles that i am willing them to find the Higgs Boson to complete the picture. (As i understand it from this point.)

This is really strange. As i sit here writing this, there has been a sudden 'squall' of heavy wind. It's almost as if a mini tornado swept through to try and uproot the buildings and tree. I fel a heavy storm coming on later tonight - lightning storms hopefully!!!!!

In the afternoon we had a presentation from Karl Sarnow who is working for the EU on developing e-resources for European countries. He is amazingly enthusiastic about it and there was a lot that he showed me that i would to implement in lessons.

There are two things which interested me -
(1) Moodle - which is an online/server type teaching resource that allows teachers to design online lessons which record pupils' classwork. I can see many possibilites for this, especially if i can tie it in with SMART board software. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the Will will be there from the school.

I mean this in the sense that it is something which is pretty left-field to what we are currently doing and secondly, it will require a lot of work to develop materials/implement it - not to mention we need more computers for pupils to make it work!
It will be interesting when i get back to school;-)

(2) There is a Maple -like program included in the software. For those who don't know what it is, 'Maple' is a program that lets you do all sorts of Mathematical operations such as Differentiation, integration, functions, graphs etc!!! Woohoo!

I'm just a maths geek when it comes to it:-)

Day 9 Random Talks and Why the Internet was Invented

Slept in today as my alarm clock failed to go off! Or maybe i was so tired i just didn't hear it.

I was really tempted to skip the first lecture but it was Cosmology which i am really interested in. In particular we were given some arguments as to why Dark Matter and Dark Energy exists. There was some good thecnical data and evidence to back up the arguments. I won't go into the details of it as they are quite technical and i'm not sure i understand them fully either.

They also rely on some graphs and pictures which of course, by now, you know i cannot as yet put on the this blog. However, i will endeavour to download the powerpoints so that i can go over them and maybe redigest for pupil consumption. In summary though, the reason why Dark Matter/Energy has been postulated as they are required to explain certain phenomena that has been observed.

in many ways this is how Science can sometimes work - theoreticians come up with ideas to try and explain the things they see and they check their ideas are correct by testing them in experiments. If they don't match or are wrong, they go back and revise their ideas until they come to something which works.

A quick observation. I noticed our lecturer Jonathan Ellis had a very messy desktop as he was trying to set-up his presentation. I wonder if his virtual desktop is messy, what would his real one be like? (For those who have seen my desk they will know that if you ever need to find anything - just dig!!!! It will be under a pile of something!)

As i was having my lunch today i struck up a conversation with one of the CERN staff. It was pretty random but that is one of the things i like about this place. Quite often you can be sitting beside or talking to a Nobel Prize winner and be not even realise it!!! ( I haven't gone to the stage of asking for autographs yet........)

Anyhow, i was speaking this guy, (I never found out his name) who works on the accelerator and i was asking him what does CERN actually do. It is strange but CERN doesn't really do research as such. They are like a big Hire Shop. They provide the equipment and expertise to do experiments with subatomic particles and collect the data as well. This is then passed onto other Institutions which to the analysis or 'real science'.

To pass this data on quickly and efficiently, they do this mainly through the Internet. This in my opinion is why the internet was invented! I was told that if all the data was collected in one year's worth of experiment was to be burned onto CD and stacked together, it would reach 8km high!!!!

I Rule The World!!!!!

I Rule the World!!!!

I worked out how to get clean clothes after only 3 hours 57min 30s!!!!!!

Return of the Clean Underpants

I'm afraid i must go back to my underpants.

I hope you don't think i have some kind of underpants fetish. I just like to know that if i was to meet my Maker i am wearing clean underpants.

I put my washing in at 7.30pm. Checked it at 8pm after lunch and found that the washing machince hadn't even started with any water!!!!! So i came back about 20 mins later and Francisco, (A teacher from America) told me that my clothes have been washing for 3 cycles?!?!??!

It seems the machines automatically start again when the timer reaches 0. I suppose it means i will have really, really, clean clothes to wear!!! (Or really small ones depending on the water temperature!!!)

So i have just returned after putting the wet clothes into the dryer which apparently also does the same thing if i am not there to empty the clothes.

I wait with baited breath to see if i can escape the gravitational pull of the washing machine. (One guy waited for one and a half hour for his clothes to finish drying from a half hour program.)

Apparently, it took two German Physicists who workon the Particle Accelerators 45mins to figure out what was happening.......

Day 8 The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music.......

Hey all.

Today was an early start - 7.30am as we were setting off for Chamonix to see Mt Blanc. It was a two hour journey from Geneva to our destination in France. We had a very able driver Gilles 'Radar' and his trusty steed, a Renault Megane. (The old version)

We got there first and decided to look for a baker to buy some bread. To our great misfortune it was raining!!!! Pouring with rain! As a result the cable car service was cancelled temporarily due to rain and thunder storms!!!

Luckily, we found out that the there was a tram service that could take us to the Mer de Glace.... which is a glacier that sits in front of Mt. Blanc.

It was fantastic!!!! It was the first time that i've seen a Glacier and it is a wonder to behold. The whole area was filled with a solitude and ambiance of serenity that i could live there if it wasn't so difficult to get too and from. (Which is an advantage in itself i suppose) The funny thing is that on first glance, you don't realise how far the ice from the glacier stretches.

I was staring at it for a long time and thought i saw lots of little rocks on the surface of the glacier. Eduardo, (a Brazilian teacher) then pointed out that the little rocks were people climbing over it! I looked again and realised he was correct.

I've taken some pictures but i guarantee when you see it, you will not believe the little blakc dots as being people!!

It started to rain and the whole area was getting very wet. But undaunted and inspired by the surrounding scenery, we had nice picnic with the food we had brought with us. It was a very nice meal in an excellent surrounding.

As the rain preceded to get worse, we went down to see more of the glacier. The only similar experience I can refer to is that it is like walking down Arthur's Seat, (the hard way, not along the road) when it is pouring down with rain. It was very exhausting.

But it was worth it.

Again i was taken by surprise as they had cut into the glacier to make an 'ice cave'. Inside there was a variety of ice scuplture. It was really strange as it felt like stepping into a ...... freezer where the walls really are made of ice. I was tempted to bottle some of it and sell it as a miracle cure!

Afterwards, we took a cable car back up to the main observation platform from which we took the tram back to Chamonix. By that point we were happy and tired for the short respite on the tram.

We had a quick wander of the town Chaminox and there was a part of me that was thinking how cool would it be to bring my family and friends along to experience what i had experienced... the hills, mountains, glaciers and ambience. I cannot believe how lucky i am to have had this chance to experience this. All of this despite the pouring rain that soaked my super duper mountain survival raincoat to the core!

We then droe back to Geneva but along the way, 'Radar' and the rest of our party got tired so we had a quick nap by the layby before heading back into town.

Phew! It has been a long day!

Day 7 Return of the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Dear All,

It's been another fun-filled and tiring day out in Geneva. We started our treasure hunt at 1pm and i've only just got back at 10.30pm. (I haven't changed the time of my blog in case you haven't noticed!)

It really was a one day tour of most of the major sites of Geneva. To list a few of the things i've seen, I've met the busts of 'the Piaget', (yes, the one that our tutors always referred to in Teacher educatonal theory!!!) whom i was almost tempted to bow before, the founder of the international Red Cross, the four major architects of the Reformation in Europe, the oldest house in Geneva, went for a boat ride along the river, played 'big' chess in the park, walked under the big water jet, walked past a big dance parade, visited the United Nations building then finished with a lovely steak dinner. (It would have been fondue but i hate cheese - the smell of it makes me physically sick!) Though not entirely in that order.

I apologise to my more culturally proficient friends but i can't remember the exact names of all the people and places i met. (It was a one day tour remember!) I won't try to describe any of the things either as my humble words would do little justice to what i saw. You will just have to wait till i get the pictures online!!!!!

All in all, thank you to Mick and Gron for organising this fun activity and to the members of team Meson! who made the experience so enjoyable and memorable. I'm tired now so will shower, have a bite to eat and sleep.

Tomorrow i am going for a cable ride and hill walking.......

Indiana Jones and the HST treasure

Had my first lie in this morning and it was great!

When i drew my curtains and saw the glorious sunshine it just made me think, 'Yeah, i'm on holiday'.

It's funny as I keep trying to think of a good way to describe the view from CERN and i think i have finally got it. I may have written this already but here goes: -

It reminds me of the mountains of Mordor from LOTR!!!!!!!! (Minus the spewng ash and lava!) Just now as i look out from room window, it is a beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds drifting slowly over the Jura mountains. All i need now is a cool can of coke and some music to complete the scene:-)

I'm going on a organised Treasure Hunt later this afternoon around Geneva so it shall be exciting. I'm hoping to find out more about the place and pick out a couple of museums and tourists spots to go visit again next weekend. The important thing is that the weather stays nice!!!!

Day 6 Physics is Hard Work

Dear All,

I just realised that some of you have put comments on my older posts which is why i haven't replied to any of them. Apologies!!! If you look at them, you will see i have answered them as best as i could.

Thanks to Sean for all the comments so far. If there is anything else of interest then ask!

Today, i am reminded why PHYSICS IS HARD and DONE BY THE CLEVEREST of people;-)

We had our final two lectures on Particle Physics and my head was in a 'spin' by the end. Admittedly, Frank Close was covering the whole of Particle Physics in about two hours so he had to make quite a few leaps and skip some of the details. Nonetheless, it reminded me how subtle, deep and complicated describing nature can be.

(My Lecture at CERN.......)

(....and my captive Audience!)

To summarise his lecture briefly, I've learnt a lot more about the fundamental particles which make up the structure or atoms and the evidence which lead Physicists to believe they exist. I have a 'working knowledge' of how Quarks work and the oddest thing is that they work in groups of '3's' rather than twos as in Electromagnetism. We touched briefly upon the ideas of Supersymmetry and Dark Matter so there will be lots to discuss when i get back. I may even set some homework for certain people too so if you are reading this... consider looking up Wikipedia about Quarks, Dark Matter, Leptons, Baryons and Hadrons:-)

To show that it hasn't all been fun and games, i decided after the intensive week i would take tonight off to do a bit of study. There's been so much covered over the last couple of days and so little time to review the material that a 'night-in' is crucial. Not to mention that the weekend is coming up and it promises to be a busy one!

Before i went for dinner this evening, I had a walk for about an hour around the CERN site. I've taken loads of pictures of the street names as they are named after all the famous Physicists. Plus i took one of myself half in France and half in Switzerland.... for a brief moment, i had the super power to bridge two countries:-)

(Recognise this name?)

Highlight of the day was that I got my hands on some Quarks!!!! Well, Hungarian chocolate bars that are called Quarks. I'm sure there must be some UK products that are also called that. Anyhow, pictures were taken and will be put on as per usual.

(A Mysterious Quark [Sweet from Hungary])

I'm off to do some studying so good night from Geneva!

p.s. I have just discovered why i love the internet... not only has it allowed me to keep in contact with family and friends who are hundreds of miles away..... it has also allowed me to listen BBC Radio!!!!! Now all i need is for them to start broadcasting TV on the internet and it will be as if i haven't left home! Hooray for the Internet and Hooray! for the people at CERN who invented it!(The Computer which gave 'birth' to the WWW)

Day 5 Up-to-Date At Last!!! or Borough Nite

We are up-to-date at last!!!!!

I should really call this post, 'Borough Night' as really, as everyone who knows me will tell you, this is the night i go out to Borough for a bit of Borough Banter. (You know who you are!)

Since we are all over the world - America, Mexico, Switzerland and Britain I will give a virtual toast to everyone and hope that you guys are all having an excellent time!!!!!!!!!! To the Borough Banter!!!!!!

Anyhow, had two lectures on Particle Physics by Frank Close who did a really good job of making it come alive.... there's going to be a lot of examples i'll be copying from him!!!

I spent the rest of the day building a Cloud chamber, playing with approximately 9,000 Swiss Francs worth of Physics equipment and visiting the Visitor centre called 'Microcosm'.

The Cloud Chamber is incredibly easy to build and again, when i get back i will try it out with as many classes as possible. I'm real chuffed with how many ideas i've been able to take away with me and use to improve my lessons.

(The Cloud Chamber)

Playing around with expensive Physics equipment was next and i won't moan about the lack of funding that we receive to teach Physics, but these were really cool. One set of equipment we were told could be turned into a model of a mini-particle accelerator. How could would it be to have to demonstrate to pupils!!! Unfortunately, they cost over 1,ooo pounds!!!! Ho-hum.

(The Cathode Ray Tube which can also be used as a Particle Accelerator)

I also had the chance to try out a nice Millikan's Oil drop experiment. If only i could take this home with me. But dear Jedi Knights, we will make do with the bits of wood and glass we've got in the department. (Failing that, there are some good applets online!)

(Millikan's Oil Drop Experiment)

I also saw a nice set-up using Einstein's photoelectric effect to measure the value of 'h'. I'll need to think about it and see if i can set-up something similar at school. I will ask Thomas who does at school with LEDs. (The Spectrometer)

The best piece of kit was an electron scattering experiment. This was a cathode ray tube which showed the diffraction pattern when an electron beam is scattered. Until now, i have only seen pictures of this in textbooks. But to see this in real -life really makes the idea of wave-particle duality concrete - if only i could borrow the equipment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Electron Scattering - Wave/Particle Duality!)

Day 4 Why I Missed the American Day Explosions

After going to the Welcome Drink session i went back to my room and bumped into Sam who is a fellow HST colleague.

He offered me some port which i foolishly accepted. (It must be all this clean Swiss air) I say foolishly as i believe that as a fine teacher, I have standards to adhere to and must be a role model for the pupils i teach. I am after all, an upstanding member of the community......anyhow what this means is that since i have started teaching i have also abstained from drinking alcohol. :-)

So i drank the port wine which has 18% alcohol and within minutes I knew the alcohol had gone to my head.

I went back to my room and fell asleep more less immediately. I slept for 2 hours and almost missed the evening dinner which we had arranged...... and also the American Day explosions!!!!!

At least i made it for dinner which was a fantastic evening. I decided when i arrived i would try to eat as much of the local cuisine as possible, (apart from cheese which makes me sick) otherwise what's the point of visiting another country?

Sam and a couple of other teachers drove us out to France and we ate at a very nice Turkish restaurant. We had salad and steak all for the price of 15 Euros..... I'm not sure we could have eaten that much for that price in Britain. Then at the end, the waiter brought the bill to us.... in a shoe!!!!

(Given the Boot)

Charles made the neat observation that we were kindly given the boot...........

Day 4 America Day!!!!

Hi!

I'm still writing this in retrospect as i'm about a day behind. Hopefully i will catch up by the end of this week as it's getting difficult trying to write down everything i've done.

We had a late start this morning due to the late evening we had eating pizza. We had a lecture on accelerators and detectors and it was interesting to find out how CERN scientists go about detecting different particles. Bear in mind that these are incredily small particles which have a half life, (sell by date) of less than millisceonds. On top of that, there are millions of these recorded over several experiments.

When the accelerator is working, experiments are done continuously for about 10 hours. This is done for about nine months and then the accelerators are closed during winter for maintenance. (And also because electricity is more expensive during the winter!)

All this data then has to be analyzed to see what particles can be detected. This is usually done by computers which sift out the majority of 'non-interesting' results, (which narrows down the data from 100s million to 1000s) so that the remainder can be analyzed in greater detail. (Most likely by Phd students.)


This brings me to a crucial point. Obviously this blog is about my experiences at CERN but i don't wish this to become are record of information and more information...... suggestions as to how i should proceed regarding the things i've learnt would be greatly apreciated!!! Otherwise the arrow button to skip paragraphs will be essential for your enjoyment!

Anyhow, it is the 4th of July today which i have named American day since i can't really remember what it is called. (Apologies to the Americans) Usually there are big celebrations in Geneva but because of the AWFUL weather they have been cancelled!!! :-(

Charlotte, one of the American teachers decided to celebrate by doing the mentos and cola experiment. I missed it, (more later on why later) but was told that it didn't work - her plan to blow up something didn't work!!!!! So she went to the supermarket and by 6 litres of cola to try again;-)

Today's highlight was learning more about the Bubble Chamber. I find it really interesting that these were some of the first particle experiments done and i'm hoping i can use this in class when i get back!!!

We also had a welcome drink to welcome some of the summer students who spend 3 months here. We also had the arrival of some British students who participated in the British Physics Olympiad. I managed to speak to one British guy but the place was so busy and all the food was gone so i left early. It was good to speak to another British voice though!

Interim

Just got my Expenses from CERN - I'm a rich man!

(I'm Rich)

I don't think i've had so much money in my pocket at any one time... shame it goes back to them as i have to pay for the hostel.

Easy come, easy go as they say.

Day 3 Homework for the Insomniac

We went out as a group for an evening meal. (Pizza) It was a really good social ocassion which let us all get to know each other better. We walked from CERN for about half and hour to the restaurant and on our way, Mick pointed out some historic sites out to us. Once again it was raining.

This included the lab where the first Bosons were discovered in 1983 and also the first living quarters of the original builders of CERN. I forgot my camera but have some pictures from my phone which i'll publish when i get home.

(The Old Hostel)

Afterwards a small group of us, (including me) decided to walk back home in the pouring rain... it was fun - nothing beats dancing in the rain! I then finished the night in the restaurant talking to some teachers about all things ........ to do with alcohol! I'm sure it would have been more fun drinking it..........

(The Sphere -A New Visitor Attraction as Seen at Night)

And to show that it wasn't all fun and games, i then spent the next hour before going to bed doing some homework on Bubble Chambers!!!! Not to worry, when i get back to school i will be sure to pass this experience on:-) (The homework that is)

Day 3 The Work Begins

Hey.

Today we had our first lectures on Cosmology and Bubble Chambers. They were both incredibly interesting and when i get back i'll be implementing some of the things i've done back at school. I won't give anything away but lets just say it will be worth the effort and wait........

However, if anyone has any questions now would be the time to ask. I'll have more lectures during this and next week and bear in mind i am speaking to some of the foremost experts on the subject so now is the time to ask questions you've always wanted to know the answers too. (i.e. Dark matter, why is the night sky dark etc...)

I got my ID card today as well which is pretty neat. I now have 24 hour access to the CERN site. The incredible thing that strikes me about this place is how open and friendly everyone is. I only speak English but everyone seems multilingual....French, German, Italian, Spanish... there is probably at least one person from each of the major developed countries who also speak more than one language. It puts me to shame as they are all very good at communicating in English... especially my fellow HST colleagues.

When i said this place was open, I was serious and meant that every building is open access. (Except from the accelerators as there is obviously a health and safety aspect.) The unusual thing about this is practically all the buildings, (And there a hundreds) are all linked together. If not above ground then underground. So it's quite possible to go from one part of the site to the other side without seeing sunlight, (Well it doesn't matter just now as it is still raining!) if you know your underground entrances.

The other aspect is that they are really happy for us to take pictures of anything and everything. They really have no secrets here... well at least that is until i try to something incredibly stupid at which point i'm sure the specially trained ninjas will appear out of nowhere and incapacitate me with the Vulcan grip. Hey, this is CERN we're talking about it here!

They must have ninjas here if they can break apart subatomic particles. I will have to ask Mick about this.

Day 2 ATLAS - Particle Accelerator

It is raining in Switzerland and France! I say this as CERN is located slap bang on the border between France and Switzerland.

So very day i wake up in Switzerland and walk ten minutes to France where i have my lectures and courses. Before i leave i will take a between of me half in France and half in Switzerland!

Today we had a visit of ATLAS. This is one of the big particle accelerator which is being built at CERN. It is part of the LHC network. We were given a tour of the site and i got to go underground to see it being all put together!!!!!!!

It is absolutely huge! To give you an idea, the accelerator is about the same height as my school or Borough for those in the know ;-) For those not, think of at least 3 double decker buses stacked on top of each other and you have a rough idea how tall this thing is.The end caps of the accelerator weigh 280 tonnes by themselves! Length wise, it's big enough to at least 5- 6 buses nose to tail. And all to collide to beams of particles which will be no bigger than human hair!!!

(End Cap of ATLAS Experiment)

There's lots more i could say but I think the best way would be for anyone with questions to post them here and i'll try to answer them... or better yet get someone from the site to answer them for you!

The only other thing i'll say is that it again it was another surreal moment. I've seen lots of pictures of accelerators, especially ones with people standing inside them to show how big they are. But to see one in the flesh it takes your breath away.

The sheer gargantuan size of one with it's ordered tangle of wires sticking out around it. You look it at and think, 'How can they put this thing together and make it work?' . 'What happens if one wire goes loose?' It would take them months to find out the slightest problem before being able to sort it out. ( I have been told that to fix any part of the accelerator, it has to be dismantled bit by bit, moved by cranes to the surface, fixed then reassembled again. At the best estimate, this should take at least 5 months!) So who says Physics experiments don't work!!!

Near the entrance tunnel to ATLAS , they have time capsule which consists of a plaque and two CDs with current information about the project and other miscellaneous information. This is not to be opened until 2100. Above it, is a an international warning sign. it's hard to describe so you'll have to wait for the pictures. But my group was asked, 'What does it mean?' The best we could come up with is beware of left luggage... (you'll see what i mean when you see the photos!) apparently, it's to warn of oxygen depletion in the tunnel! (Well at least i know now..... I wonder why they don't do what the old miners do and use budgies.....)

This can happen as the Helium used to cool the accelerator can escape and 'push out' the oxygen. If this happens, we were told to crawl hand and feet to the elevator, (which takes about a minute to reach the surface) as the helium should rise and the oxygen should be at the bottom.

Later on, I had my first trip into town. It was pouring with rain which made it a bit of damp experience:-) It was an interesting experience walking around a city which was totally unfamiliar. There is something exciting about seeing a street for the first or not knowing where to go. At the same time, it was nice to see some familiar shops, (pharmacies, clothes shops and McDonalds! No i haven't succumbed to eating out on McDonald's yet!)

Anyhow, the main reason for me going out was to buy some washing powder. (Underpants must be kept clean if nothing else!) So i walked around for a good hour with no supermarket or any shop in sight which sold washing powder. Eventually i ended spending 13 Swiss Francs on a small box of 'Econowash' .

I later thought to myself... that's about six pounds!!!! Six pounds!!!! My clothes better smell of roses and sunshine afterwards!!!!!

Day 1 HST Meet and Greet

After unpacking and having a quick bite to eat at the restaurant, (I had been on my feet since 6am with no food apart from breakfast) I wandered round the site to find the meeting place for the HST participants.

I went to a place called van Hove square which is distinctive as they've set-up some old particle accelerators for display. There I met Miguel from Spain who is the first person i met who is also on the course. We sat and talked for a while and it is an old cliche, but his command of English is excellent. ( I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, but he is also a spitting image of Martin O'neill, the ex-Celtic football manager!) (Bubble Chamber in Van Hove Square)

As we sat and talked more people came along, including Mick and Rolf who is the 'Course organiser' for HST. We then moved into the Microcosm centre, (sort of the visitor centre) where we had our 'Meet and Greet'

It went really well and it was interesting meeting and talking to all the different teachers. My first impression is that it is a truly international event as we have teachers from all over Europe, America, Latin America, Singapore and one from South Africa too!

The best part is that despite our cultural and linguistic differences, we are all mad about teaching and Physics!

Shortly afterwards, we were given a brief introductory lecture and a tour of the site where i got to see the BIRTHPLACE OF THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Birth Certificate of the WWW)

It's funny as the room where it all started looks just like any other office. If there wasn't a plaque commemorating this event, i would have walked right past without a second glance!

Day 1 First Impression of CERN

CERN is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On my arrival, i was given my room keys and a white, A5 envelope.

On opening it, i found a necklace for hanging my ID card, (kind of like the ones you get for school ID badges) and a map of the place! A map! CERN is so big that they give you a proper map to navigate around with!

(My Room)

The coolest part is that all the roads on the site are named after famous Physicists. I will have to take pictures before i leave.

CERN is a really beautiful place. There are lots of tree lined avenues and open green spaces for you to look at. There is also the imposing spectacle of Mount Blanc which I can see from the room. (At least i think it is Mt Blanc) It also has a wonderful calm atmosphere despite the fact that it looks like some kind of industrial site. It is strange as looking at it, you would not think that underground there are big massive particle accelerators being assembled/used.

(The View From My Room)

It's neat too as there are lots of people moving round using bikes as there are so many buildings on the site.

It is really hard to describe this place using words. Sometimes i look at it and it reminds me of an old industrial site that is still in use because of the warehouse and almost identikit huts. But other times i look at the trees, the mixture of old and new buildings and get a sense of the history and collection of unique individuals who work here.

Day 1 Arrival

I am here! (Although obviously not quite as this has been posted later)

My first impression is that it is so humid! My only other experience is that of Hong Kong. Stepping of the plane the heat hits you as if you were next to an open oven door. There's also a lot of glass in the airport - glass doors, glass walls - like a green house. (At the least the arrival bit is anyway) So much glass that a little 4 year boy tried to walk through it! Ha! Ha! (I shouldn't laugh but when you think about it it is kinda funny)

Apparently, i have also arrived at the same time as Batman. I say this because as i entered the main greeting hall for arrivals, (I kid you not about this) there was guy dressed in a black suit, with a moustache holding up a sign saying, 'Batman'. I regret not asking if he was called 'Albert' .(Batman's butler/sidekick)

My first task was to find the bus that would take me to CERN. After much wandering, (lugging around a big suitcase) I eventually found the bus stop on the top level of the airport. Unfortunately i didn't have any change!

Luckily, (it always amazes me how generous and helpful human beings can be) I asked an old Swiss later for help and not only did she help me buy a ticket, she also gave me the change and made sure i knew exactly how many stops i had to go to reach CERN!

Thank you kind Swiss lady! You got my HST Adventure off to a happy start!

Day 1

The flight was delayed due to the cabin crew arriving late. So sitting in the airport was quite surreal.

I think it is because I've been up far earlier than I usually get up and still feel half asleep.

I was sitting having some breakfast and watching the news about the recent attack on Glasgow airport. It was pretty surreal as always, with incidents like these, they are never really felt until it happens close to you. It's an old cliche, but it felt like being at the start of some bad action movie. (It's just a shame i can't have a 'Die hard' six-pack like Bruce Willis:-)

But I am going to Geneva! I will be in CERN!

Interim

Hey guys!

Sorry for the lateness of the posts. I've only just got access to a computer just now. Mick the 'course organiser' has very kindly given me his MAC for the duration of my stay - thank you!

So the following next posts will be updates over the last couple of days.

But in the interim, here's a few quick answers for you guys out there!

(i) Warp drives ..... I will find out for you when I see their antimatter device;-)
(ii) A lot of data is collected in a single particle accelerator experiment. (Something in the order of millions) Storage isn't too much of a problem, (but i will ask to check) the difficulty is processing all of this. So I will say two words :- 'The Grid'
(iii) Thanks for the comments Solo! Unfortunately i haven't been able to escape the rain! Plus it is also incredibly humid as well.

That's all for just now. I'll try and post later tonight to fill you guys in!

P.S.

I have been wondering, 'What questions should I ask whilst I'm at CERN?'.

Bearing in mind that I will have access to some of the greatest minds on planet Earth I should make the most of this opportunity.

I am open to suggestions! So post them! (Drama Queen, Borough Banter, Solo, Mcleod, Skywalker, Jenson and Tribbles I am watching out for your posts!)

So far I've had the following: -

• What's the situation with Fermi Lab rumours discovering the Higgs Boson first?
  
• If the LHC does its job what is the next step for the Standard Model?
  
• Are there any off-shoot technologies from the LHC which may become useful for society?
  
• How would you explain the importance of Particle Research to the Public in general?
  

T - 1

Swiss Money - How Much Is That?

My nerves are really start to build-up now. It hasn't been helped by the security scare which has happened at Glasgow airport. My sister phoned me to get me to double check that the flight is still on. Luckily it is which is a relief!

The strangest thing is that I keep reminding myself that, 'This time tomorrow you are going to be in foreign country'

I've packed and organised all my travel documents so that I can have easy access to anything I need. (Took me half an hour as my friend suggested!)

Packing the suitcase was easy although I did have to leave a couple of things out which I'm sure I will wish I had with me but what the hey. (This was why I bought a Nintendo DS. So it could sit at home whilst I travelled halfway across Europe.) But in case you're wondering, here's what I consider to be essential for any international traveller: -

• Passport and tickets. (Otherwise you might as well stay at home!)
• Wallet with Credit cards, so you can buy stuff if your luggage doesn't arrive. I bought my tyres for my Ferrari on credit.
• Ipod + Charger for those long 'terminal waits'
• Enough clean underwear for at least half the number of days I'm at CERN. (If the washing machine breaks it means I only need to turn the pants inside out once)
  
• Same applies to socks:-)
• Crisps and chocolates to keep the energy up

It will be an early start tomorrow so here's to a safe and quick journey and hope to post soon!

T - 2

Just another day to go before I head off to destroy the universe..... well, maybe put a spanner into the Large Hadron Collider. (LHC for short - just think of the headlines!)

Still haven't packed my suitcase although my mum bought me some new underpants which I was told to put into the wash in case they were 'dusty'. (?!?!?!?)

At least I know if I get searched the underpants will get a clean bill of health:-)

It still hasn't sunk in though, that I'm going to be visiting one of the most advanced research centres on planet Earth at what could be possibly an historic beginning. (For the non-physicists out there, the aim of the LHC is to collide particles at never before attempted energies in the hope of finding something called the 'Higgs Boson' - check out Wikipedia for more info!)

Hello World!

Hello World!

Welcome to the HST Adventure blog.

The aim of this Blog is to document my adventure on the HST programme run by CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

I'll try to post daily, include pictures, (at some point!) and if there are any questions feel free to post and I'll answer asap. (Although not always with a sensible answer)