Friday, July 9, 2010

Two Shows in a Day


Today instead of starting the day with a lab experiment like we normally do, we were taken to the physical chemistry lab and shown demonstrations of various pieces of equipment. Although all of the devices were impressive the most memorable to me was the scanning tunneling microscope which uses piezoelectric effects to move a tip that reaches an atom seized point on an incredibly small scale and can actually observe individual atoms.

I took advantage of the lunch period to take a small nap before heading off back to class. We received a lecture from Professor Ged Parkin although I would describe it as not so much a lecture, but a show. Although Professor Parkin did discuss some characteristics of basic elements, he has a flair for the theatrical and most of his time was devoted to dramatic chemical reactions and even sleight of hand.

After dinner I went to see the Phantom of the Opera with Winston, Yueming, Jamie, and Ms. Ishmael and her husband. I really enjoyed the musical especially given that this was the first time I’d ever seen a production of this caliber first hand. Even though I forgot my glasses and sat towards the back I could still see fairly well and the score was fantastic. 

We need to leave by 6:30 in the morning tomorrow so I should get to bed so that I can at least get four and a half hours of sleep which is a little above average for me right now.

1 comment:

  1. Michael,

    I'm glad you mentioned that scanning tunneling microscope. I have one in my garage just gathering dust. I hardly ever use it anymore and was thinking of offloading it on eBay. Just kidding. I actually got rid of mine a long time ago. It sucked up too much electricity and I couldn't afford the PG&E bills anymore.

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