First Taste of Real Scientific Research

Okay, TMA02 for my current course Astrophysics, was successfully completed and pinged to my tutor via the enigma, that is, the electronic TMA service with the Open University.

Actually, I like the fact that I can just upload my coursework as an electronic file and send it, without having the last-minute scramble to the post office, several days before the cut off date.  Life is difficult enough, without having to give up 48-72hrs of prep time to the damn, inefficient and utterly unreliable Royal Mail service; so sending my work as 'naughts and ones', via the phone-line is much easier and a lot less stressful.

I think that one of my better decisions in the recent-past, was to anticipate having to send in TMA's as an electronic document, by starting to learn and use Latex in my coursework.  I started doing so as early as my first level 1 maths course MST121, Using Mathematics.  It wasn't necessarily needed; and I believe that I was in a minority, doing so.  However, taking so much time to write out my answers using LaTex, at such an early stages, allowed me to practice and become adept at using the system; thus, writing level 3 physics TMA's and research or post graduate  mathematics scripts, has not become prohibitively slow and cumbersome.

It's worked fairly well, as I've now committed many of the keyboard short-cuts to long term memory, and I can 'knock out' an in-line formula in seconds, rather than tens of minutes or hours.  Any advantage at this level, needs to be grasped firmly, as the study material is difficult enough!

I say LaTex; but actually, I cheat by using Mathtype which is a 'what you see is what you get' equation editor; but it is fantastic and does a really professional job.  I can't recommend it highly enough.

Anyway, having completed TMA02, I now have my sights rising to meet the next important step in my scientific journey this year.  I am due to complete my first piece of real research within astrophysics.

I don't know all of the details yet; but I do know that I will be crunching large amounts of astrophysical data that have been collected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) archive.  I will then use this data and proceed to devise a project concerning the optical spectroscopy of previously unstudied quasars; a prospect that will make my recent hard slog and study  of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis, well worth the effort.

Been Sick, But Back on Track

I'm a month or two older, since my last blog post and my daughter tells me that I have 6 new grey hairs too.  Well, I've had one of those times in the last couple of months, where a lingering winter virus has caused me to spend several weeks with a headache and not much motivation.

Having said that, I have continued with my S382 Astrophysics studies with the OU.

Chapter one was a challenge for me because I haven't done any University level 'sciency-stuff' for a long time and because my recent background has been firmly planted in pure mathematics, I have struggled with silly things, such as working out what units go with what quantities.  Is it banana-lengths per second, or Joules per gnats-whisker?  Who knows?

Anyway, In this last month, I have had one computer marked assignment and one TMA to write.  I managed 83% on the TMA, which was mainly based around working out energies involved in hydrogen burning stars, and the like.

The maths was very straight forward, but I did struggle with the descriptive essay style questions.  I stuck to what I knew and used as many formulas as I could find, to pad out my answers, which worked okay.  I didn't finish the last question due to time constraints, so I think I would have been on track for a +85%, had I finished it.

But, I didn't. However,I'm glad of a solid start.  I have finished 3/4 of the CMA, but I am struggling with it a little, as it is testing my non-existent basic science knowledge, which I am trying to dredge from my memory banks formed in the 1980's.  If only I had been more attentive in school!  But I wasn't.

Anyhow, this morning, I am working steadily on TMA02.  This is a liberal artists dream; lots of paragraphs, with the odd formula for decoration.  It is a very different TMA to the first one.  Verbose, yet devilishly difficult, in places.

I am about a week behind on reading the chapters, but I have a week to catch up over Easter, with ten days off work, so I am confident of keeping on track.

With regards to the debate that I was having with Duncan about 'why stars are hot'; I didn't manage to speak with a tutor about this matter; however, having studied the material, I can see that the stars get hot because they contract under gravity, which raises the pressure / kinetic energy of the stellar material, until it is hot enough to ignite hydrogen fusion.  Once the fusion begins, it acts to maintain that heat over the required lifetime of the star, until around 10% of the hydrogen has been burnt.  It then evolves into a different form, depending on its original starting mass.

So, I agree with Duncan, that the book was rather misleading as it didn't seem to put enough daylight between the terms 'hot enough to initiate fusion' and the subsequent maintenance of that heat/fusion over the lifetime of the star.

Astrophysics is difficult enough, without such supereminent elements of knowledge being shrouded in mild confusion by set texts.

I'll let you know how TMA2 goes.

Time Dilation

A quick update.  Due to some horrible time constraints caused by work; I have had to ditch S383 and just study S382 until October.

It's one of those risks that you tend to run, as a full time employee and a part-time student.  It is a transient situation, which I hope will be sorted out before October comes, as I am planning in two modules then.

I decided to stick with the Astrophysics over the Cosmology, simply because it appears to me, to hold the best hope of obtaining a grade 1 pass overall.  Also, it looks so damn interesting!

The only way that I could have held on to two modules this summer, would have been for me to find a way to make the rest of the world move at a velocity that was near to the speed of light, relative to my house.  I might then have stood a chance of finding the time.

If anyone reading this, doesn't understand the last paragraph; I now have a book for sale, that will bring you right up to speed.

Checking with the OU

In the interests of good scholarship, I will remove the previous post and ask an ou tutor to check through the points made, before re-posting it with any updates.

I think that as Duncan and I have begun to debate this subject, that we may have strayed from the original premise of 'why the sun is hot' and entered into a broader discussion of how that heat is sustained over a long period.

A discussion that has opened up complexities that depend on many different factors such as mass, temperature, luminosity, etc... and one in which I am not yet qualified to argue successfully.

Anyway, I will post any update, as soon as I have approached one of the course academics.