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)