By Shruti Gautam
Nick Waters aspires to be a high school physics teacher. So, obviously he made us sniff each others’ shoes (don’t worry, only people who volunteered did). But, this was the beginning of an experiment to find the best possible way to get rid of the stink from shoes. After putting shoes under different forms of concentrated light, there was a significant change in the smell of the shoe placed under UV light. Bacteria which causes odor are expunged when high energy light, such as UV, is introduced. With a discussion fostering from this discovery, the phrase “the Sun is the best disinfectant” garnered some merit. Then, the lecture moved on to skin cancer.
Light as powerful as UV can disrupt DNA, leading to pyrimidine dimers forming and formation of carbon-carbon double bonds. The rays also damage collagen, a protein responsible for the tightness of skin and the stretching of fibroblasts in our skin. These fibroblasts produce collagen, but only when the cells are stretched. This leads to substantially less collagen in our skin overall and, thus, saggier skin. Even in the car we are not safe from these problematic rays, with UVA (longer wavelength UV rays) penetrating through the glass. Along with damage, UV rays can also result in breakage of bonds between O2 molecules and the subsequent creation of ozone.
With all this new information about skin safety and bacteria-deterrents, inquisition proliferated. However, at this point we still had plenty of time left. The lab was made for a 9th grade physics class, so the rising juniors, who are supposedly Missouri’s best and brightest, flew through it. Waters started answering any questions, with topics ranging from space objects to quantum theory. He covered blackbody spectrums, black holes, distortion of gravity, quantum entanglement, quantum tunneling, probability density functions, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, and the duality of light (proven with interference patterns and the double-slit theory). Everyone left the lecture more curious, intelligent, and confused than when they entered the room, even Waters. However, this smorgasboard activity was a perfect example of the type of remarkable energy MSA has, one that invites everyone to go above and beyond.
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