Neutrino History - Gaps in your knowledge concerning neutrinos might be filled at this site authored by a member of a particle physics laboratory in France. The neutrino has been described as next to nothing. If you venture outside, you will be bombarded with billions of neutrinos from the sun, not counting the billions from the earth's radioactivity, and you won't feel a thing. Perhaps it is good that we cannot see them. Just sitting at your computer, you will emit roughly 340 million neutrinos each day from the potassium 40 in your body, and none of your coworkers will be aware of this, although if they were, at least one would complain. Those watching their weight might find comfort in knowing there are so many particles leaving their bodies at the speed of light. Discussions on a neutrino's possible mass, the difficulties involved in capturing one, and particulars of its spin and chirality are offered. Plus a page devoted to the major players in neutrino history. Rating: 10 out of 10. (16 September 2002) AD
http://wwwlapp.in2p3.fr/neutrinos/aneut.html
A Look Inside the Atom - The discovery of the electron at the end of the 19th century was in many ways a revolution that laid the groundwork for the coming field of quantum theory. But how was this achieved? This website, created by the American Institute of Physics, takes you through a brief spin of the discovery that the atom could be split. There were many theories around, but the man who managed to put it all together was J.J.Thomson, a British scientist who won the Nobel prize in 1906 for his many contributison to the study of electricity in gases. And it was the strange properties of gases in tubes or more specific, in cathode ray tubes that lead scientists to realize that the rays emitted from the gas had to represent a kind of energy, and that this energy came in the form of strange particle-like "corpuscles". These were later named electrons, and turned out to be the first evidence that atoms were not findamental particles. Although the history presented at this website is rather short, it is perfect for the medium: A true point-and-click walkthrough, it is an excellent example of how a website can be informative and edutaining, without as much as a single Flash movie. Yet you will find an audio clip featuring a 1933 recording of J.J.Thomson himself. Click on an image and you'll get a close-up, and sometimes you are offered "exit points" to other websites. It was created in 1997, and last updated that same year, which is reflected in the design. The outdated yet clean look (pink and grey!) is not exactly pleasing to the eye, but content-wise it is short and to the point. Great stuff. Rating 8: out of 10. (15 September 2002) TG
http://www.aip.org/history/electron/jjhome.htm
Atmospheric Optics - A website doesn't have to be huge to be beautiful and it doesn't have to be loaded with scientific articles to fall into the science category. This gem, as the name suggests, is a collection of images of atmospheric phenomena. Here are photographs of rainbows and clouds so pretty that you just have to see them all. The categories are intuitive, and include "Rays & Shadows", "Water Droplets" "Ice Halos" and more. The Rays section is by far the best, and also offers the most photos. If you have never heard of terms like "anti-crepuscular" and "opposition effect", you might even learn something. The Halos section has lots of illustrations which explain how some of the illusions of light scattering are created., and explains how the alignment of crystals in clouds affect the light. It doesn't get too technical, though, and it is easy to enjoy the tour. Designwise there is not much to say about this small website. There is a simple navigation menu which takes you through the site, and you can also click on left/right arrows on the top bar. The content is well-presented, well written and thought out, and the photographs are simply stunning. The site ends with a list of links to related sites with more in-depth information for research. Rating: 7 out of 10. (25 July 2002) TG
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/atoptics/phenom.htm
Particle Physics in the UK - Supported by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, this site claims to be for everyone who wants to know more about particle physics, the study of the fundamental constituents of everything in the universe. After looking at the information provided by the site itself, and the links from it, I can certainly say that it means what it says and is suitable for anybody from the interested lay person, through school and university students and teachers, to professional researchers and industry. From its own simply laid-out pages, the site provides links to detailed information about the theory of the subject, from the basics upwards, current research projects worldwide, up-to-date news, and historical and biographical background. For schools, it provides resources including arranging for experts in the field to give talks, and arranging visits to places such as CERN, where not only is some of the most advanced research in the field carried out but the Web itself was originally conceived. It even provides information about how to borrow small samples of moon rock and meteorites to examine for yourself. At university level, it provides details of both visiting speakers and seminars at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and there are course details and lecture notes from various UK universities. For industry, there is information about technological developments from research in the field which might be transferable. The navigation is easy and generally works well, and there is a very useful contents page, together with good search facilities. Rating: 9 out of 10. (12 July 2002) MDH
http://hepweb.rl.ac.uk/ppUK/
Levitation - I approached this site with a little trepidation. Were they about to reveal a new "natural law" that would allow me to take to the air, perhaps? Or, was it simply a scientific look at that story about the boy wizard? Thankfully, the site is neither. It's a great introduction to the properties of diamagnets from a physics team at the University of Nijmegen. Diamagnetic materials "exclude" a magnetic field and as such provide a repulsive force that can lift objects, such as a frog or a sumo wrestler standing on a slab of diamagnet, and all with no external power supply. The site ties in with superconductor research, superconductors being the archetypal diamagnetic materials, totally excluding a magnetic field at low temperature. The site's layout is rather old-school and they could do with bringing some of the material up to date - a bit of topical levitation news would not go amiss for instance. Rating 7 out of 10 (12 May 2002) DB
http://www-hfml.sci.kun.nl/levitate.html
