January Post: The Birth of a Black Hole

    This month was full of presentations and college applications, but that did not stop me from learning. I found an awesome video that explained how exactly a black hole is formed, starting from when the star dies. Essentially, black holes are created when a large star collapses under the force of gravity having run out of nuclear fuel, collapsed core of a giant star forms a black hole. Stars have to be at least 10 times larger than our sun for their own gravity to crush them creating super-nova. Some stars are even bigger than that, causing the birth of black holes. The spectacular scenes of a this birth have been observed many times through telescopes.

I currently am still searching and emailing prospective mentors. Wish me luck :)

Lesson 2 Reflection

1.) What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?
 - I am most proud of the fact that everyone understood my presentation and that I explained it to them in simple terms. Usually people would get turned off by the mention of astrophysics, but I feel that I was able to engage and interest the audience.

2.) a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE P AP CR NC

b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
- I covered all the P requirements, met the 10 minute minimum, and I worked very hard to simplify such a hard topic. Based on the contract, since I met every requirement, I believe I deserve an AE because I went above and beyond. Everyone enjoyed my hook activity and was fascinated of falling into a black hole.

3.) What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
- During my Lesson 2, I was so engrossed in my topic and I got feedback that everyone understand my points even though it is an esoteric topic. I covered all the points I had to speak about as well as make it funny and interesting for the audience.

4.) What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
- If I had a time machine, I would install flash on the laptops. This would be so my activity could be in groups of 2 rather than 5-6 people.

5.) What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?
- Based on my research so far, another answer to my EQ (detecting gravitational waves) would be Weber Bars.

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 Hours Check

Content:

1.)   Where are you doing your mentorship?

- I currently do not have a mentor, and I have been very active in emailing and finding prospective ones. However, I have done 29 hours of mentorship at Caltech's Cahill Building for Astrophysics earlier this semester.

2.)   Who is your contact?

- My mentor when I had one was Dr. Bela Szilagyi, a Caltech researcher who studies gravitational waves and simulates black hole collisions. 

3.)   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

- In total, I have done 29 hours and 20 minutes of mentorship this semester. They were all in September and October. (My mentorship log is up-to-date)

4.)   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

- I continued my work when I was there in the summer, which was creating simulations of binary black holes. I basically had to change the variables in the algorithm so that the computer cluster would compile the data and give us a simulation. This semester I had done 2 such simulations (2 only because they take very long to render). I was also working on editing the website for the cluster wiki. I also used Paraview to use the data compiled by the cluster to create some kind of animations that illustrate the collisions.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

Content:

1.)  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over the break with your senior project?- Since I currently do not have a mentor and consequently work on mentorship hours, this winter break was primarily spent on my independent component. I talked to Ms. Yelverton and she approved of my plan to create a interferometer. So, I have started to assemble the frame and am currently obtaining all the required materials.

2.) What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?- The most important thing I learned from working on the interferometer is that the scientific journey and experimentation can be more important in self- development than what the result would do. The source of this is illustrated by the fact that I learned how to assemble the interferometer by looking it up online and through videos. This has helped me alot and boosted my confidence in independent work.

3.)  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

- I would talk to one of my mentor (not anymore)'s colleagues. They are authorities on gravitational waves and they could surely answer any of my questions.