SU Physics Dept Holds 1st Christmas-Costume Party

The Silliman University Physics Department engaged in the department's 1st Christmas-Costume party held last Dec 17, Thursday at SC 346. The Physics students and faculty dressed up in their Christmas attires as they began the party.


Rosette as Lady Gaga/Daughter of Santa Claus


Dr. Hope Bandal as a Christmas clown


Sir Nelvs as King Herod


Ma'am Blessy


Ma'am Giselle


From left: Yasi as a priest, Louie, Niña as an angel, Zyriel as one of the 3 kings, Louis and Carl as shepherds


Ma'am Atillo as a 'modern Santa Claus' as she puts it


Louis as Rudolf?


Jhunace as a gift


Gifts under a Christmas tree - Gerald, Jhunace and Ma'am Puracan


The second years as elves plus Miss Universe


The 1st years in their costumes: Jhunace, Rosette, Menneth, Jomar

Public Observation of Geminids Meteor Shower

On December 13, Sunday, the Junior Philippine Physics Society along with the Sidlakan Negros Photographers will be having a public observation of the Geminids Meteor Shower. The event will be held at the Astro-Meteo Observation Deck of the Physics Department of Silliman University, from 8pm - 12am.

Meteor shower data:
Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR)=100 per hour
Parent comet: 3200 Phaeton
Constellation: Gemini, Eastern horizon
Remarks:New moon, so view will be good and faint meteors will be visible.

JPPS to go to Science on the Move

Tuesday, November 24, 2009, the Junior Philippine Physics Society visited a traveling science exhibit called SCIENCE ON THE MOVE.

The exhibit is held at the Negros Oriental Convention Center in Dumaguete. The exhibit is a joint effort of the DOST, the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology, and the Confederation of Scientific and Professional Organizations.

This is one of the few steps the JPPS is taking to be involved in the scientific community, and to support scientific education.

The Scope of Physics

A lot of people don’t have a grasp of the scope of physics, even some physics students themselves; don’t quite grasp the reach of physics. Most students associate physics with teaching. There’s actually a large array of possibilities for physics graduates. Physics branches out in almost all scientific fields.

To give you an idea here are some branches/extensions to physics that physics majors can associate to or proceed into:

PURE PHYSICS [formation of the body of physics through facts]:
1. Astrophysics – physical nature of stars, galaxies and the universe. It branches into fields such as:
....i. Cosmology
....ii. Cosmogony
....iii. Astronautics
....iv. Astrodynamics
........1. Celestial Mechanics
....v. Radar & Radio Astronomy
2. Biophysics – study of energy in living things
3. Cryogenics – energy of substances at very low temperatures
4. Electricity & Magnetism – effects of electromagnetic fields
5. Electronics – the flow of electrons and electronic circuits
6. Geophysics – physics in the earth, which branches out further into:
....i. Cosmic physics
....ii. Geodesy
....iii. Geomagnetology
....iv. Glaciology
....v. Isostasy
7. Mathematical Physics – the use of math to explain phenomena, which branches further into:
....i. Computational physics
....ii. Chaos theory
....iii. Relativistic physics
8. Mechanics – interaction of forces and energy on bodies/fluids at rest or in motion. Mechanics branches out to:
....i. Dynamics
....ii. Aerodynamics
....iii. Hydrodynamics
....iv. Fluid dynamics
9. Nuclear Physics – nuclear reactions
10. Optics – light and electromagnetic spectrum just above x-rays to just below microwaves
11. Particle Physics – behavior and properties of elementary particles
12. Plasma Physics – ionized particles and study of their properties
13. Quantum Physics – quantum theory of matter – electromagnetic wave interaction
14. Solid State Physics – condensed matter physics, branches to crystallography
15. Sound – properties of sound waves, which branches further into:
i. Acoustics
ii. Ultrasonics
16. Statistical mechanics – statistical relationship between macroscopic and microscopic physics
17. Thermodynamics – heat in terms of molecular motion

APPLIED PHYSICS [putting knowledge of physics to use, to help mankind]:
1. Engineering – harnessing materials, forces, and energy so they can be of use to man. It branches to:
....i. Engineering
....ii. Electronics
....iii. Metallurgical engineering
2. Optometry – knowledge of optics as applied to vision, whether for living things or instruments



Furthermore, you could also classify Physics into two:
CLASSICAL PHYSICS:
Mechanics, Heat & Thermodynamics, Electricity & Magnetism, Sound & Acoustics, Light & Optics;

MODERN PHYSICS:
Atomic Physics, Plasma Physics, Molecular Physics, Solid-State Physics, Nuclear Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Cryogenics/Low Temperature Physics, Relativistic Mechanics, Particle Physics.

Also, physics graduate are also in demand in other lines of work because of their high-level math skills.

Exploring the Hidden Wonders of the Night Sky

2009 is the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, which is officially participated by the Philippines through President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's proclamation 1630.

In line with the IYA2009 celebration, the JPPS began a stargazing series entitled

Exploring the Hidden Wonders of the Night Sky.

The idea is taken from IYA's theme "The Universe, Yours to Discover," in which the JPPS will allow first time telescope users to see what they usually don't see at night.

Most of the first time users have not even seen the milky way on a clear dark night, nor have they seen the satellites of planets, the galaxies and nebulae.

The first session was welcomed with scattered rain showers and technical problems, but this did not discourage the JPPS from pushing through with the activity. After a few hours,we were graced to observe Jupiter and its moons.

2009-SU FOUNDER'S DAY

IYA 2009 Philippine Olympiad

The IYA2009 National organizing committee, in cooperation with UP NISMED, is inviting participants from the collegiate and secondary level to participate in the IYA2009 Philippine Olympiad.

Form details click here

Venue for regional competition of region 7 is in Cebu, at San Jose Recoletos.

27th SPP Physics Congress

The Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas is inviting participants to join its 27th Physics Congress in Tagaytay City. The activity will be from October 28-30 at the Development Academy of the Philippine Convention Center of Tagaytay.

Deadline for the registration is on Sep 29.

For more information, visit:
http://www.spp-online.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=84

We Came, We Saw, and once again WE CONQUERED

The Junior Philippine Physics Society once again bagged the major awards for this years Hibalag booth festival. This has been the third year since the JPPS joined the booth competition of the Founders day and this is the second time we won as over-all champion. The first time was in 2007, in 2008 we failed to get the over-all champion, however this year we regain our title!





Our awards include the Over-all Booth Champion, Over-all Best Exhibit, Over-all Best Gimmick, the Best Academic Exhibit and the Best Academic Gimmick.


This year we explored the world of optics, included new tricks, confused and amazed people with logic, and revived the virtual astronomy tour with Celestia. Also we recognized the observance of the International Year of Astronomy.

Despite the disorganized beginning, we were able to get back on our feet and emerged champions.





In behalf of the JPPS, we would like to thank all those who supported and visited us.
See you guys next year!

Chaos and Entropy

Chaos and Entropy: Lectures by Prof. Alfonso Albano

Last Thursday, July 30, 2009, Silliman University was graced with the opportunity to listen to two lectures by Professor Alfonso M. Albano. Prof. Albano is among the balik professor lecturers of the DOST. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics from UP, and his Masters in Physics from the University of Iowa. His current study is focused on nonlinear dynamics and Chaos.

Professor Alfonso M. Albano's lectures were entitled:

THREE DECADES OF CHAOS:
Nonlinear dynamics, time series analysis, & applications to medicine & biology
and
ENTROPY IS WHAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER


The lectures were held at the Silliman Hall from 10am-12pm, and from 2pm-4pm. The lectures were attended by the faculty, staff and students of the Physics department; Dr. Gerardo Maxino and his students from Maxino college; SU president, Dr. Malayang; faculty and students from philosophy, biology, mathematics, chemistry, political science and engineering.

In his 1st lecture, he discussed about chaos theory, its background and uses. He discussed the three-body problem of Henri Poincare, Edward Lorenz' theories - model atmosphere, Lorenz attractor, Lorenz butterfly (butterfly effect). He discussed how a chaotic system can manifest order; an order which provides information that other techniques may not give. This order in a chaotic system is applied to medical uses such as electroconvulsive therapy, electromyography, and electroencephalogram. However, he also pointed out that these information provided by nonlinear dynamics is not enough.

In his 2nd lecture, Prof. Albano described entropy in terms of missing information. He presented the views of Shannon, Boltzmann & Landuer. He also discussed about Maxwell's demon and it's violation to the 2nd law of thermodynamics. He described how forgetting or destroying information could increase the entropy of the universe.

His lectures were respectively followed by an open-forum in which students from different disciplines actively asked questions. The number of questions asked even surprised Prof. Albano since he usually has trouble making his students ask questions after a lecture.

Physics Students Observe Partial Solar Eclipse

The Physics majors along with the Physics students and faculty gathered together at the Astro-Meteo Observation Deck to observe the Partial Lunar Eclipse.

IYA Awareness-Chalk Drawing Competition

The Physics 25 classes, headed by Sir Karpov Buss, along with the psychology students, will be having a chalk drawing competition today at 10:00am at the Luce sidewalk. This is part of the awareness for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. The theme of the said event will be the same for IYA, which is,

"The Universe, Yours to Discover"

This is in fulfillment of one of the IYA's major goals, which is to increase scientific awareness.

Batch 2009 (PHOTOS)

As requested, I have uploaded photos of the physics peeps which are available on my computer.

Most of these files have a password.
The password hint: "What apparatus did Kenny make for this thesis?"

Filesizes of the zipped file (containing many photos) may range from 2MB - 21MB. For full quality photos, please send me an email so I can send you the original file (around 3MB per photo).

Enjoy! (right-click, SaveAs)

(NOTE: If you go to a page which says, session expired, just wait to be redirected to a new page.)

• PPS Photos 2008
• Kay Birthday
• JPPS @ Science High

• Physics Orientation 2008
• Gawad Kalinga II
• Physics Olympics 2008
• Torch Parade
• Founder's Week 2008
• Beach with Dr. Bandal
• Farewell Party 2009
• Graduation pics

• Miscellaneous Photos
  

Part II might come. I'll see if I have more photos. Again, please send me photos if you have any.