Assistant Professor Zack Hutchens connects physics to the national parks
Assistant Professor Zack Hutchens took a six-thousand mile road trip this summer to a series of national parks in the northwestern United States. In a recent Physics & Astro Tea, he shared with the audience a series of interesting physics insights inspired by the journey.
At Grand Teton National Park, the Rocky Mountains loom large. The rocks themselves are much older than the rock formations; this is paralleled in galaxy clusters, where the individual galaxies are typically much older than the clusters.
At Wind Cave National Park, so-called breathing caves have been used to predict the weather as the flow in or out of the caves depends on atmospheric pressure.
And at Yellowstone, the prevalence of thermophiles near hot springs gives rise to pools of colored water. In particular, the Grand Prismatic Spring is blue in the center where it is warmest, but transitions to yellows and reds at the border where the temperatures are lower. The order of colors is similar for stars, whose surfaces appear blue for the hottest stars and red for the coolest stars.
Hosted weekly by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Physics & Astro Tea promises engaging discussions, thought-provoking ideas and a delightful spread of refreshments. Open to all students, faculty and staff, this gathering is the perfect opportunity to connect with fellow physics aficionados in a relaxed and informal setting. Meetings take place in the third-floor lounge of Innovation Hall at 3:20 p.m. on Wednesdays.