This is a slightly different post to what I usually do, but I thought it would be nice to give you a rough idea what I get up to as a student - in term time. It would also be nice to take a break from all that Science on my page which can be a bit overwhelming at times, and get a little more personal! Let’s dive right into it.
Studying Physics at University
Physics, in my opinion, is an incredible subject. It teaches you about everything. Its broadness means you are never limited; and although it does get tough, the challenge is mentally stimulating and thrilling. Since I do a lot of different things in the week – I’m going to talk about the day where I carry out an experiment in the lab.
The Morning
On this type of day, I wake up at 8 in the morning. As soon as I get out of bed, I hop into the bath to a have a cold shower, which let me tell you, wakes you up real good. Having done that I have a quick breakfast; usually some cereal, and head out. The start of labs is 9 o’clock in the morning and I am usually a bit late, but that’s not a problem… on most occasions.
The lab
If you’re reading this you’re probably thinking of a Scientist in a white lab coat; holding a few test tubes containing different coloured liquids, right? Wrong. Luckily for us, we can wear what we want to labs – I turn up in a cap to not have to do my hair in the morning, every single time!
I do many experiments throughout the year – the one that I am going to talk about is the famous Millikan Oil Drop Experiment:
Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment
This experiment is an incredibly famous one that was conducted to work out the charge of an electron. It was done by stopping droplets of oil from falling due to Gravity, in mid-air. This experiment was carried out in 1909 [1], showing you just how clever the man who did it was (Robert A. Millikan).
The Experiment
This experiment is incredibly clever. I am going to summarise how it works so you know what I did throughout the day. It is done by creating an electric field in a chamber. Oil is then squirted into the hole leading to the chamber (please note, it is squirted so that the droplets are very tiny otherwise the experiment wouldn’t work).
Since electric fields are the flow of charge from positive to negative, and electron charge is negative; we take advantage of this as the electron will be attracted to the positive side of the electric field (this is because opposite charges attract).
By looking through the microscope, into the chamber, we can alter the electric field strength so that it combats gravity and suspends the droplet in the air. Once we achieve this suspension; we know the electric field is equal to the force pulling the oil drop down (which is just F = mg). A lot of complicated maths is then done to work out the charge of the electron. Crazy, right?
The Afternoon
Every lab session lasts for 7 hours; so undoubtedly, halfway into the experiment, the whole group goes out and has lunch together. I particularly enjoyed treating myself to a Subway on these days since doing Experimental Physics takes a large chunk out of your day and can be tiring at times!
I’m not sure if you all know what Subway is, but if you ever see one; I strongly recommend you get a big beef melt on hearty Italian bread! This bread is key for a good tasting sandwich.
After having lunch, I go straight back into the labs to finish off the experiment - then straight home. Although labs is very time consuming, a lot of fun is had within the group (I usually crack the best jokes). At the end of the article I have attached a video I recorded.
The Evening
You’d like to think it’s all over from there on, but unfortunately it’s not. I dedicate the evening of this day to do my Theoretical Physics coursework! Coursework is simply homework given by the University, and is marked so that it counts towards my degree (this means I cannot skip it – sad news). At times though it can be interesting!
Physics coursework
One of the questions I had in my second week of University is as follows: The dominant wavelength of light from the Sun is 500nm – estimate the equilibrium temperature on Earth. I will never forget how I felt when I saw that being new to University. I knew I was in for a tough time. Nevertheless, the answer turned out to be 2-3 pages of working!
The coursework done this year was related to Quantum Mechanics, Condensed Matter and Nuclear/ Particle Physics. I wish I could tell you more about them but this post would be too long!
Has enough work been done?
Certainly. This is when I have something to eat – chill out with my housemates, maybe play Fifa and/ or end up going out!
I hope you enjoyed this article. I am open to feedback and would love to hear what you guys have to say! Thank you.
Here is the video of me playing around! I hope you get the Arctic Monkeys reference. If you don’t get it – watch the video for ‘Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know’.
If you are interested in the experiment done in the video – it was determining the speed of sound in different gases, but for me it was creating a music video!
If you have any questions, leave them below and until next time, take care.
~ Mystifact
References:
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_drop_experiment
Please note; no copyright infringement is intended. All images used have been labelled for re-use on Google Images. If any artist or designer has any issues with any of the content used in this article, please don’t hesitate to contact me to correct the issue.
Previous articles:
How does Virtual Reality work?
The Dark Side of Nature #1 - How are Scary Sinkholes formed?
Why Can We See Through Glass?
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@mystifact
Great writeup!
Keep sharing great content.
THanks!!
Thank you! I appreciate your kind comment :)
Cool, now a biology student gets to know how a physics student's life is like haha, but i still got no clue on how to calculate the charge of electrons >.<
I would have loved to include it, but it is very difficult! A lot of time was spent just calculating it. If you are interested - check this video out.
Thanks for your comment :)
wishing you good luck for the challenge :)
Thank you, much appreciated!