....
..
..
For a detailed lesson template with learning outcomes, keywords etc. click here.
........
Bose-Einstein condensates are a weird state of matter predicted by quantum physics. The two-slit experiment is weird because it shows that a particle can be in more than one place at a time. Bose-Einstein condensates are the reverse. They are weird because millions of atoms are in the same place at the same time! This state was predicted in 1924, was successfully produced in 1995 and resulted in a Nobel Prize in 2001. In order to produce it, the matter had to be cooled to less than a billionth of a degree K.
Small Group Work at Computers (60 minutes)
The Physics
2000 site takes this very difficult concept and makes it completely understandable.
Students learn the material deeply because of the seven interactive simulations
that are provided. It addition to Bose-Einstein condensates it explains and
uses the following concepts: temperature, absolute zero, Big Bang, atomic
spectra, lasers, Doppler shift, magnetic fields and Heisenberg’s
Uncertainty Principle. This is a great way to tie together many standard
concepts covered in your curriculum, while having your students learn some truly
modern physics.
The lesson on the site is completely self-explanatory and can be used as is. I have put together a worksheet, that follows the lesson and has the students work with their new knowledge. Most of the questions, lend themselves to small group discussions with whiteboards. Questions 6, 9 and especially 13, lend themselves well to competitions using the simulations. The answers to the questions are provided in the teacher's notes.
Last updated Feb. 2009