Protons for Breakfast 19 is about to begin…

The nineteenth presentation of Protons for Breakfast is imminent, and so a cascade of preparatory activity has begun.

• I have read through and responded to ‘questions’ and ‘reasons for attending’ from the 130 people who have signed up.
  • Reasons, Questions and Answers (30 page pdf)
• I have revised the PowerPoint files for Week 1 – somehow still finding things to improve.
  • Week 1 (Electricity) (7 Mb Powerpoint file)
• The NPL security staff have been notified
• The facilities team have been asked to makes sure the air conditioning stays active late on the relevant evening.
• And the biscuits have been ordered by the catering team.

So I guess that is about that. What can possibly go wrong?

There were a couple of amusing reasons for attending:

• Accompanying Grandmother
• Made to come by parent.

And quite a few insightful questions. Several people wanted to know either when we would have ‘proof’ that Global Warming had an anthropogenic origin, or when we would pass ‘the point of no return’, or why people weren’t ‘more concerned’. But a lot of questions were simple puzzles:

• How do we know there are more stars in the Universe than grains of sand upon the beaches of the Earth?
• Why do we feel colder when the wind blows?
• Why does hot water freeze faster than cold water?
• What is a HD Picture?
• How do quantum computers work?
• Can protons become neutrons?
• Why do our stomachs ‘rumble’?
• Will the universe ever be totally dark when all energy has been lost?

And many more. I love the diversity of these questions.

Having run these sessions for 10 years now I am constantly surprised at how each group has its own personality.

And I am very much looking forward to getting to know this group and the individuals within it.

By the way, while the course is on, the frequency of blog articles generally declines – sorry: it’s just all I can do.