Oftentimes called “ghost particles,” neutrinos can travel through nearly everything (the sun, the earth, you!) undetected. Because they are nearly massless, gravitational fields do not affect neutrinos; Similarly, because they are chargeless, electric and magnetic fields do not con affect neutrinos. This lack of interaction is advantageous for IceCube researchers – when they detect a neutrino, it is a
In this lesson, students will be introduced to the Standard Model, learning key vocabulary such as Fermions, Hadrons, Mesons, Baryons, Quarks, Leptons, particles, and anti-particles. In particular, students will come to understand what a neutrino is and why it is such a unique particle. This understanding connects to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory’s search for neutrinos in an effort to
My high school has a Science Club whose members visit local elementary schools and run various “stations” that (elementary) students visit for 10-15 minutes before rotating to a different one. This lesson is designed to be one those – a quick hitting, but engaging look into polar science that will stir the kids’ inherent curiosity and get them
One of the most important indicators of our warming climate is the extent and thickness of polar sea ice. Currently satellites measure the extent of polar sea ice but it takes more sophisticated equipment aboard a low-flying plane to actually measure the thickness of sea ice. This lesson will show students how this is done.
The website, Ice Stories, features short interviews and other interesting content live from the polar regions. This weblink has a short video interview of PolarTREC teacher, Craig Beals, while taking part in a PolarTREC expedition with Barry Lefer at Summit, Greenland.