From a Certain Point of View

I have long known that the way I learned about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is, in principle, not correct.  Namely, I was taught (or I came the think about it) as a kind of experimental limitation:  You want to know *exactly* where something is?  You must hit with a very short-wavelength of light to be very precise in its location.  But, short wavelength light packs a heavier punch (more momentum in a photon as the wavelength decreases) and that will, in turn,  mess with the velocity the particle used to have.  

Turns out, that although the above it true, quantum uncertainty is more fundamental than that.  It is simply a property of all things that can be described as waves.  I have had it explained to me in terms of Fourier series and I felt I did understand that to be true.  But then, just this week, I saw a graphic in a book I was reading and I was like "oh!".  It was like magic.

This is the job:  as a physics teacher I'm always looking for a different vantage from which to view the body of knowledge that is simplifying and clarifying.  It is rewarding work and it's a privilege to share it with students.  Sometimes they even appreciate it and it becomes even more rewarding! 

Here's why all waves have an uncertainty problem when measured:

from "The One" by Heinrich Päs

Bespoke Nerd

 What happens when you find out during the Slow Fashion Modeling Gig that one of the French teachers (thanks you, SL!!) is a seamstress of high caliber and then you praise her for the shirt she made for her husband that she lent you for the show and then you drop your usual Chess Rap that same week?  Well, you wind up with your own bespoke nerd shirt for future performances of course!

Novelty Greeting Cards, Dr. Demento, and Haircuts

When I was in middle school, we had a teacher who was into teaching creativity (Mrs. Millirons?) and she would have kinds of interesting, out of the box things for us to do.  I remember one time I convinced her to let me work on designing my latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure.  She said "What exactly would that entail?" and I impassionately explained how I would be using graph paper to lay-out the dungeon my friends' characters would explore and then populate it with monsters to fight and treasure to find.  She reluctantly replied "I'm okay with that"...  Not sure what happened to that work of art but I remember being proud of coming up with this one room in which there were these statues that came to life after the characters passed them and would then fight the characters unless they retreated.

Anyway, what I really wanted to share was a strong memory of a different day when she asked the class to come up with novelty greeting cards.  Like a card for an occasion that is interesting but not usually celebrated or commemorated formally.  I came up with "Congratulations on the First Day you Shave" (Gee, I wonder why a 6th grade boy would think of such a thing?).  So I drew a couple of pictures of shaving cream, razors, etc.  and on the inside I quoted from a song I had heard on the Dr. Demento show: "Shaving Cream, be nice and clean, shave every day and you'll always look keen".  I remember Mrs. Millirons laughing out loud at that and I could tell she thought I was being clever and then I felt guilty because it wasn't my original composition.

AI generated art from my prompt "Boy creating novelty greeting cards"

Fast forward to a few days ago when Irene got her hair cut.  Oddly enough my first thought was how cool it'd be if there was a Hallmark card that said "First time you get a haircut after having all your hair fall out during chemo." (Don't worry, I didn't just blurt this thought out without context (classic Rideout move).  I told her the full sequence of events (well, minus the Dungeons and Dragons part) to her the next day). 

Strange and cool how a memory laid down in 6th grade can be the seed for thoughts 40 years later, huh?

Postcard to myself

Special Instruction to the Postmaster:  Please go back some 40 years and deliver the following to a Kenny Rideout who is about to enter high school and might be worried about what the future will bring.

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Happy Easter, Kenny.  Don't worry - we don't become religious over the years.  However, we do find the pleasure and satisfaction of marking the special days that connect us with family and connect us over time with tradition.  The smell of the home cooked meal in your future will remind you of the meal your own mother is cooking you right now.  It won't be identical but it will be a variation on a theme.  Just as your own family in which you are the Dad is not the same as the one you have right now where you are one of two kids.  Once again, it will be a variation on a theme.  Even though it is only the four of you this year, you will crowd around the small kitchen table and eat the food that connects us over time.  You have a lovely wife and two wonderful children (both slightly older than you are now!).  The life you have is not one you would have ever imagined.  Right now, you think living in the suburbs with a home and a yard to take care of is lame.   You think reveling in your role as husband and father is so quotidian as to be 'cringe' (even though that's not a thing to say in the 80's, trust me, it's totally hip in the 2020's).  Most surprising of all, you are a high school teacher.  You, who imaged changing the world and living a life most unconventional, will enjoy an immense satisfaction is fulfilling a role in society that has almost no down side.  Your morals are uncompromised: you are not making money by fulfilling a corporate directive or serving some vague, fadish mission.  Instead, you try (and sometimes succeed) in introducing the beauty of science to the youth of today so as to impact the tomorrow in an unknown but positive way.

Happy Easter, Kenny - your future is grand!  Tell your parents and your little brother you love them and I will do the same to your wife and kids in the future.

Sincerely,

Future You

What happens when...

 ...astronomy students visit the Museum of Science on an AP Bio field trip:

Apparently they had to cut in front of some little kids to get this photo op in this rocket capsule mock-up.  When they sent me the pic, they said they deserved extra credit...  I dunno, RK and SX, you want that extra credit in AP Bio or Astronomy?

Later that same day (last block on a Friday), they had to take an Astronomy test and *someone* drew this on the board:

Why I'm caricatured as a chicken is still not clear, but that extra credit is probably not going their way...

The Digital Classroom

 Rather than pontificate upon the slippery slope that is the modern technology-infused classroom, I will simply share a screenshot of this morning's College Physics digital assignment from our googleclassroom:

TL;DR:  the digital classroom, it ain't all bad...