Ocean – Alice in Science Education

Graduation Towers and saline solutions

What does evaporation have to do with spa towns?

As you might have noticed by the lack of an experiment last week, I’ve been on a vacation and enjoyed some time away from work, Instagram and my blog. But I can tell you – my mind never wanders far from fascinating physical phenomena and so when I went on a stroll in the region I grew up with, I came across the graduation towers and enjoyed the fresh breeze filled with salty smell just like the ocean. We used to go there often when I was a kid and I really enjoyed talking a walk there. They don’t have anything to do with a school graduation but are used for increasing the concentration of saline solutions. And that’s exactly what I want to talk about today, so this will be a more theoretical blogpost with a little chemistry and physics backgrounds. Enjoy.

Seaside physics teaching: Looking at water to understand optics

Guest post by Mirjam

Since I am currently on vacation, I asked my dear friend Mirjam for help with this weeks experimental friday. And I can tell you, you’re in for a treat. She is deeply into oceanography and especially wavewatching, which, as you can probably tell, go very well together. And what makes her thoughts and ideas so outstanding is how she manages to see waves and patterns every time she looks upon water. I truly admire that. So let’s see what she can teach us about optics by looking at water.

Optics on surface waves – Caustics in the deep blue sea

On my trip to Cyprus for our project meeting, we got the chance to make a trip to the sear and network with members of a different project while spending some time on a boat. I noticed some very interesting and fascinating patterns on the sandy floor beneath and besides feeling the urge of jumping in and enjoying the sea, I obviously almost instantly started thinking about the physics behind the phenomenon. And realized once more how much awe the physics behind nature inspires in me.

Scientific reasons why the ocean boosts mental health

Originally written as a guest post on the amazing Blog of my dear friend Mirjam. She’s a very talented oceanographer and science communicator, always curious, engaged in science and its communication and supportive of others. Her passion about oceanography is infectious, especially since her formats kitchen oceanography or wave watching are so comprehensively and considerately written. Check our her Blog, Instagram or Twitter if you like!