Number 248, November 10, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein
A BOSE EINSTEIN CONDENSATE (BEC) OF SODIUM ATOMS has been observed by
Wolfgang Ketterle and his colleagues at MIT (617-253-6815). Their condensate
consisted of about a half million sodium atoms, compared to the 2000 rubidium
atoms in the case of the BEC observed in the previous NIST/Colorado demonstration
(Update 233) and the 100,000 lithium atoms at Rice (Update 237). The greater
number of atoms (with a density of 10**14 cm**-3) and the much faster condensation
rate (some 10,000 times faster at MIT than for NIST/Colorado) will aid
the actual study of (and not merely the demonstration) of this new state
of matter, whose properties are still unknown. Recall that the BEC state
is not a condensation of atoms in the ordinary sense of clumping together,
but rather a single coherent atomic entity. (K.B. Davis et al., upcoming
article in the 27 November 1995 Physical Review Letters; journalists can
obtain a copy by contacting physnews@aip.org)
CHEMISTRY CAN CHANGE UNEXPECTEDLY AT HIGH PRESSURES. Oxygen and hydrogen
usually react explosively to form water in a process that helps to put
astronauts in orbit. But at a pressure of 7.6 GPa (76,000 atm), a H2-O2
mixture in a diamond anvil press (at room temperature) was found to remain
stable in experiments carried out at the University of Paris. The researchers,
whose lab sustained a damaging explosion in one test, believe the high-pressure
alloy might lead to a new form of energy storage (one example: a new rocket
fuel) and could serve as a model for the interiors of Jupiter-like planets.
(Paul Loubeyre and Rene LeToullec, Nature, 2 November 1995.)
EVAPORATING GASEOUS GLOBULES (EGGs) are dense clouds of gas in which
stars are being formed. At a NASA press conference last week Jeff Hester
of Arizona State released dramatic pictures of such stellar nurseries in
the M16 Nebula. In the pictures, the pillar-shaped clouds, which are being
etched away by the UV radiation from nearby hot stars, possess an almost
sculptured look with crevices and deep shadows up and down their length.
(By the way, this picture and other figures associated with various Update
items will soon be available for viewing on the AIP homepage.)
ARE PHYSICISTS IN IT FOR THE MONEY? A new study, "1994 Salaries:
Society Membership Survey," released by the American Institute of
Physics shows that the median annual salary for a full-time physicist in
the U.S. is $60,000. Among the different employment sectors, physicists
(actually, some of the society members surveyed were non-physicists, such
as engineers) in a medical/hospital setting make the most, $77,000 and
those at four-year colleges the least, $45,000. Geographically, the Pacific
states pay the most, $66,000, and the West North Central states the least,
$50,000. Adjusting for the cost of living, Houston has the highest physicist
salaries among selected cities and San Diego and Boston the lowest. Comparing
the salaries of male and female physics PhDs is complicated by the fact
that median female age is invariably lower. Factoring in the lower earning
power that comes with fewer years of experience, females still earn less
than their male counterparts in all categories. The adjusted male/female
salaries (in thousands of dollars) in selected job areas are as follows:
78.1/68.4 for those working in industry; 67.6/59.4 in government; 67.9/61.5
for full professors (9-10 month salaries), 48.5/46.2 for associate professors,
and 42.6/42.0 for assistant professors. (Contact Raymond Chu, 301-209-3069.)
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