Meeting with tutor

Met with my tutor today to discuss my progress of the project. I would have hoped to have done a bit more work on the writing side of things, but had trouble during my note taking due to a lot of the information being very technical and not relevant. I will stop the project for now and focus on my exams in January.

Draft

Just finished a very rough draft which acts as a base for my report. It has come up to around 2,800 words.

Structuring notes

I've begun structuring my notes into sections so that when I start writing my draft it will be much easier to locate the information which is relevant to the part of the report I am writing.

Structuring report

I've started structuring my report so that when I start writing my draft it will be more "fluid". It will also help me take any extra notes that are necessary whilst I do extra reading.

Talks by leading physicists

Found some talks by leading physicists online and thought these would be nice sources to use. At times they can be very technical but if I just listen and take notes of what I can understand and what is relevant for my report then they turn out to be rather useful. It also means they are trusted sources because some of the physicists have worked at the Large Hadron Collider or on the various detector groups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7YRDE4IG6w

Standard Model research troubles

Ran into a bit of trouble whilst researching the Standard Model. The Standard Model is an understanding of how fundamental particles and forces interact, but it is based upon a set of mathematical formulas known as a Lagrangian. This makes it slightly more difficult to explain why some of the inconsistencies exist in the Standard Model because I would like to avoid mentioning the Lagrangian in my report. It is very complex with many mathematical terms which I can not understand, which defeats the objective of my report which is to convey basic understanding of the work at the Large Hadron Collider and its significance in fairly basic terms.

50 Physics Ideas You Really Need To Know by Joanne Baker

Collected the book from college the other day and managed to finish it by the end of the week. Only had two short essays to read from the book, regarding the Higgs boson and the Standard Model. I felt that the information was easy to comprehend but was also quite brief.

Standard Model Research

There are many sources I can use to collect notes for the Standard Model. This may because it is a widely accepted theory and its inconsistencies lead to the prediction of the existence of the Higs boson.

Broader focus of report

After reviewing some of the notes I have collected, it seems as though there is lack of information to be able to write a Higgs boson specific report. Even though the Higgs boson has been found, scientists are unable to study its properties properly. I have decided to cover a broader range of material such as the Standard Model and the machine used to find the Higgs boson, the Large Hadron Collider. This is still relevant to the Higgs boson and will help convey the importance of the Higgs boson discovery in particle physics.

Book reservation...

Made a book reservation today for '50 physics ideas you really need to know' has a very brief short essay on the Higgs boson.

BBC Horizon 'Hunt for Higgs'

Watched a documentary today on the Higgs, I found it whilst researching the Higgs online. It was an hour long but gave me a lot of information although it did stray into symmetry and super-symmetry for 20 minutes or so. Was hoping it would elaborate more on the Higgs field and the theoretical properties the Higgs has, but the documentary was mainly focused on the work at CERN and only briefly touched on the theory behind it all. It did however cover the implied significance of the discovery I found very interesting.
 I was also happy to see that it was a BBC production as this makes the information more reliable since it is from a very trusted source.

Link to the documentary I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZ1P_yRzm4

"Why does E=mc^2?" by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Took out a book from the local library called "Why does E=mc^2?". By the title you wouldn't think it would be very useful, but it does have various chapters where it talks about the standard model and the higgs boson. Its provided the most concise explanation of the standard model I've seen so far and is a very trusted source because it is written by two high profile physicists.

Massive: The hunt for the God Particle, by Ian Sample

Picked this book up from the library today. Because its supposedly Higgs boson specific this may take me awhile to scour through and collect relevant notes. Scanned through some of the contents, and most of the book seems to cover the background of the theory and its history, which isn't how i want to direct my report. There is still a lot of relevant information, but not as much as was indicated from the blurb of the book.

Getting started

Went to scour the local library for research material last week. My initial hopes were not very high seeing as though it is quite a specific subject area but there was an abundance of material. Found 3 books and one other which incorporates how relativity is applied in the hunt for the Higgs' boson. I will probably start reading through and making notes sometime this week, starting with "Why does E=mc^2?: (And why should we care?)", by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, since it is a bit more 'user friendly' in its approach to explaining scientific concepts and also that it is not 'Higgs' specific but only provides a basic understanding and shows how relativity is applied to the research at CERN.

Project proposal approved

At last, I have received confirmation that my project proposal has been approved which means I will be able to get started on my extended project. Initially before the start of the term I had wanted to do my project on obesity in the UK but reconsidered so that I could find a project that had a bit more relevance to the subjects I am current undergoing for A2.
 I decided that I would like to do my extended project on the Higg's Boson because this would be a topic I would enjoy researching and also that the scientists working with particle accelerators around the world are at a pinnacle stage of their work, where the Higgs boson is believed to have been discovered in the summer of 2012, and the properties of the particle can be explored in the near future. Due to the current status of what would seem to be the greatest scientific breakthrough in the century, I feel that there would be plenty of sources where I could find relevant information for my projec.
 A problem which I expect to run into during my project would be that different sources would provide contradicting information due to the advancements of the understanding of the Higg's Boson. A piece of information from several years ago may have unintended errors from being slightly outdated in the approach of the topic.

Second thoughts

Having second thoughts on my initial project idea of obesity in the UK, this is because this doesnt have much relevance to my courses and I also feel I would struggle to research this topic as there are many factors to take into account such as the average age of the population. It is also hard to write an essay that would relate to the general population due to differences in diets, body sizes, geographical factors, and how much households earn. I find that it is too broad a topic for me to research for my extended project.

First blog entry

My name is Richard Voong and I have created this blog to document my progress for the AQA Extended Project