Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Trapping Ions

My nephew Matt came from Rice
to BYU to give a physics presentation.
Becky and I went, thinking we'd be supportive.
I figured since I watch a lot of Star Trek,
that the science would be easy to understand.
This was a case of where I knew every word,
but I didn't understand one sentence.
Matt talked about Rydberg atoms.
They are big and like to donate electrons.
Matt traps the ions.
A professor listening to the lecture asked,
"When an atom dies, what becomes of it?"
I thought it was a religious question, but it wasn't.
Then the professor asked,
"How do you determine when an atom is dead?"
Becky and I tried not to laugh.
A physics professor from our stake saw me and said,
"Sister Markham, I didn't suspect
that you came to these types of lectures."

Afterwards we came back here for tikka masala.
Tom and Sally came, too.
Later in the evening I got a new grandson.
More on him when I get pictures.

Thank you, Julie. You're Welcome, Louie.

Did I really want to start this last post of Steve's visit with another picture of my groupies watching Star Trek?  I sure did.  We'...