First Friday at PENN

 Today was our very first Friday of the Summer Discovery program.  During the day we has our morning lecture of the topic of waves; a refreshing change of pace from optics.  The lecture was relatively simple in the beginning and rapidly escalated into an elaborate explanation on the properties of waves.  We used a machine to measure the wavelength and frequency of sound waves passing through a configuration of PVC pipe.  This was the easy part, but the hard part came into play when we discussed what waves do when there are multiple sources all producing waves at the same time.  I was a little confused on some of the behaviors, so Jun and I have scheduled to meet in the library this Sunday for some

review.  

Later in the day our class went to the Simeon Foundation Museum, which was an antique car museum.  There we performed some experiments using bowling balls and broom sticks to physically experience the properties of inertia. It involved using a broom to push a bowling ball around various paths, but the hard part was that we had to hold the broom directly in front of us with no side action allowed.  Basically, we had to become a vector which meant that we had to individually apply a force in one direction at a time which proved difficult.  It was a new and interesting hands on take on one of the most fundamental physical properties.  

After all the calamity of the experiment, we took a tour through the museum with Bill Burner leading us. I was surprised at how much he knew about every single car.  In fact, I'm sure that he'd give the real tour guides a run for their money. I really enjoyed all of the antique corvettes and odd-job cars.  We obviously took the opportunity to discuss the evolution of aerodynamics at this time.  It was interesting to say the least at how car companies gradually realized the importance of good aerodynamic design. In addition, these weren't just random car either; they were the finest of all racing cars that had real world experience and victories.  A few of these old racing cars had an auction price of over five million dollars.  I really enjoyed getting out of the lab for a day to do some real hands on experiments in a new environment.  Tomorrow it's back to New York, so stay tuned for another adventure.