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The CTC student magazine CTC’s student magazine

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Contents 4 Seamus Heaney A personal view of the Nobel Prize winning

poet from Mr Cutting

5 Try your hand at Volleyball Valeriya gives us the lowdown

on this fast growing sport

6 Greenwich The home of time and a whole lot more

8 Halloween Party

10 Poetry day water , water everywhere

12 Canada Christain gets to grips with this vast country

of contrasts

14 Once Upon a Time extracts from the English GCSE

group

15 Get Yourself Inspired with our page of quotes

16 Leonardo Da Vinc1 Pokua gives us some fascinating facts

18 Open House Tutor Judy Krey spends a day viewing

Llondon’s varied architecture

20 the day our visted ctc

22 higgs boson a beginners guide to the nobel prize winning

theory

Front Cover by Anatasia Kokoshynka Back Cover by Ruolan Zhou

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A message from the Magazine TeaM

Bla bla bla ggdfgdgdg

Turn here for more

Hello friends! Greetings from the Cambridge Tutors College Magazine

Team.

Having held fortnightly meetings and by working day and night for the

magazine, we were able to write articles on a variety of topics. We also

got some amazing pictures of the first term

In this Winter issue you will find articles on not only school events such as

Halloween, National Poetry Day and the school trip to Greenwich, but also

more academic articles on Leonardo Da Vinci and an introduction to some

cutting-edge Physics!

We hope that you enjoy reading the magazine as much as we enjoyed

creating it.

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Seamus Heaney, Irish poet (1939-2013)

A personal view from Mr Cutting

I first came across Seamus Heaney’s poetry when I was at school. I must have been about 13 or 14, sitting dreamily in my English lesson one afternoon, when our teacher read our class an early Heaney poem entitled Blackberry Picking. This is a poem about the loss of childhood innocence on one level, but at the time I remember how I was simply struck by the use of language. Like a shock, I was suddenly reminded of the power of words, and how the sound of them in the air could evoke immediate feelings. I think it was here that my love of language began:

“a glossy purple clot / Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. / You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet / Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it”

The short words and hard sounds bring to mind those small, hard blackberries. Another poem from the same collection, Death of a Naturalist, was equally chewy on the tongue:

“But best of all was the warm thick slobber / Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water / In the shade of the banks.”

When I was doing English at A-level the same teacher introduced us to later poems by Heaney. In the collection entitled ‘North’ I read remarkable pieces like Bog Queen and Punishment, about iron-aged people whose bodies had been preserved through the ages in peat bogs. Heaney describes them in rough-hewn, raw and precise language. As an illustration, here is the opening of The Grauballe Man:

“As if he had been poured / in tar, he lies / on a pillow of turf / and seems to weep // the black river of himself.”

We learn that these strange figures were victims of some ancient blood sacrifice, and it is here that Heaney draws subtle parallels with the Ireland of his own time; the “Troubles” of political and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. Some criticized Heaney for not taking sides in the 25 year conflict, yet he did address these issues, often in an attempt to place them in a wider historical context. In poems such as Requiem for the Croppies and Whatever You Say Say Nothing, for example, ‘name and school’ are used, along with ‘Subtle discrimination by addresses’, to identify Catholic from Protestant.

Later still, I read Heaney’s magical series of poems in the collection entitled ‘Seeing Things’, in which the poet invokes Dante’s Inferno and the Roman myths of Aeneas ‘the Trojan, son of Anchises’, entering the underworld and seeking the Golden Bough; perhaps an image of the poet as a fearless seeker of truth.

Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was also given to his great predecessor and fellow poet, W. B. Yeats. Yet Heaney was a very different man from his countryman. Although intensely aware of the problems that beset his country, Heaney was never a ‘political poet’. As well as defending the right of poets to be private, his poems seemed to question the idea that poetry can in fact influence the course of historical events. His writing did address the problems of Northern Ireland, where he was born, but was never limited by republican extremism. He described violence, but he never appeared to endorse it. On the other hand, he was a proud Catholic and nationalist:

"Be advised, my passport's green / No glass of ours was ever raised / To toast the Queen,"

He once wrote, objecting to his inclusion in an anthology of British poetry.

When my English teacher died suddenly of a heart attack just a few years after I had left school, I thought about all the young boys at the school who learned from him, and, I am sure, were inspired by his enthusiasm for language. I hope that that can be part of his legacy.

‘By another way, by other harbours

You shall reach a different shore and pass over.’

In memoriam

Barry Duesbury

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New at CTC? Why not have a go at playing volleyball? A volleyball club has recently opened and welcomes everyone who wants to practise volleyball skills or learn how to play it. Although volleyball is not particularly popular in Britain, it is wide spread and popular in Russia "Don't forget a ball"-you can hear it almost every time we go on a picnic or BBQ. Volleyball is an important pastime in my country. It gained even more popularity after Russia won gold at the Olympic Games in

London last year.

So what is volleyball?

It is enormous fun! Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of 6 players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organised rules. In contrast to basketball or handball, you can play volleyball wherever you wish-on the beach, on the grass, over the clothesline! The location and surroundings don't matter. All you have to have are your friends, a ball and desire to have fun! Now when you have learnt a little of theory,it's time to try it in practice at the gym! So come and bring your friends along with you. I’ll wait for you there!

Volleyball facts

Fact 1: The game of volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan.

Fact 2: Fact 3: Volleyball were first introduced as an Olympic sport in 1964.

Fact 3: Most volleyball players jump about 300 times a match.

Fact 4: : Volleyball is the second most popular sport in the world today, exceeded only by football.

Fact 5: The longest recorded volleyball game was in Kingston, North Carolina.

It took 75 hours and 30 minutes!

By Valeriya Pankova

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Here we all are outside Greenwich Park

Having a Really Mean Time in Greenwich

Fascinating architecture of the Royal Naval College

On Saturday 12th October Head of Physics Dr Farrelly took a

group of students to the World Heritage site of Greenwich.

Here’s what they got up to

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The Painted Hall at the Old

Royal Naval College

We got a really great view of London from Greewich Park

Photographs by Yulia Promskaya

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Spooky happenings one night in Croydon

The Halloween Party was a blast for our

CTC students with more than 40 people

attending!

The hall was decorated to fit the holiday

mood and there were people dressed up as

various types of characters.

We played games like whack-o, invaders

and toilet paper mummifying.These games

were chosen because of their interactive and

ridiculous game-play so that everyone would

have a laugh and join the atmosphere. We

also had pizzas -which were served by our

dear Mrs Brown, Mr Cook & Mr Richards

for dinner in between the games which

everyone happily munched while chatting

with their friends.

At the end of the party we announced the

best dressed male and female in the room

by asking people to vote during the break.

When everything was over, people took

their last photos with their friends and new

friends they had made and headed home. It

was truly a memorable event to look back

on.

Samson Piong Student Committee

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The theme of National Poetry Day 2013 was ‘Water’. This was a suitably broad theme, open to a variety of interpretations. Water is something that is universal, and that is essential, yet also something that can be manifest in a variety of forms.

The session was attended by Mrs. Das Gupta and myself, along with Dr. Farrelly, Dr. Oliphant, and Ms. Semple.

Students from Mrs. Das Gupta’s GCSE English and her AS and A2 level English Literature groups had written poems on the topic. It was very interesting to hear so many different approaches and styles of poetry, united by the same overarching theme. The writers had clearly thought a lot about how to do justice to their imaginations. Other students who were studying in the library were seen to prick up their ears and listen, as many individual authors read their own poetry aloud.

Some of the poets considered the water as an element, and of our relationship with it, while others interpreted the theme by evoking the sound of water in different forms. Anastasia Kokoshynska wrote her poem, ‘Rain’, originally in Russian, and provided her own translation, while Fatimah Iman Mullah considered water in its constituent parts – “Two moles of Hydrogen / and a mole of Oxygen” – but then went on to personify water in terms of falling from the sky “as if wanting to cleanse the earth of all evil”.

Ms. Semple chose three outstanding entries: ‘Life or Water?’ by Rebecca Tuttle, ‘Water’ by Darius Tarbiat, and ‘Dear Ophelia’ by A. Leppik. Rebecca was praised for the way that she was able to reveal ‘two contrasting characteristics of water’, in Ms. Semple’s words, while Darius’s poem was considered ‘very original in its treatment of the topic’, particularly how it ‘cleverly unites and juxtaposes water and humanity’. Amii’s poem, ‘Dear Ophelia’, won the A-level prize for its ‘beautiful…use of language’ and for the way that images and sound sense combined ‘to create a feeling…[of] longing for the world of “secret soundless gods” where one can be “so Free”’. Special commendation was also due for the poem ‘Caligula’, by Aneeka Yar, for her very ‘original treatment of the topic’.

It was fascinating to hear so many original poems, and to hear our student poets discuss the origins and inspiration for their work on a ‘watery’ theme fitting for our rainy autumn term.

Dear Ophelia,

there's rue for you,

and here's some for me.

If I could climb up with you

there

on the willow tree then maybe

the maidens or secret soundless gods of

the brook

could treat me everlastingly

if I'm lucky

whisper sweet murmurs

till I pass this dark and restful water

ever

and forever so Free.

Ami Leppik

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I travel the world daily I’ve seen every inch of

this planet

I am most of it and most of you

Yet it is me you devour in your greed

contaminate with your laziness

And hate your experiments, your waste

It’s me you deny to your own people whilst you

could help them all.

You destroy me, and the whole planet will tag

along into the abyss,

Created by man. In a way, it’s me who’s

destroying myself, as

You are part of me….

Have I become a smoker, drinker, drug

abuser?

No, I simply created my murderers,

Et tu Brute

Darius Tarbiat

Life or Water?

Lying on the beach,

the silky sand against my feet.

The gleaming sun,

bouncing off the sea.

How much better could life be?

Water on my body.

Water on my hands…

Time ticking as fast as it can.

Water is pure.

Water can gleam, glow.

Water can save lives.

Water can go.

But the question is,

who will save me,

when I am alone?

Water is death,

the sea is taking hold of me,

taking me away.

Can someone help me…

Before I am stranded distantly, far away?

I am feeling my breath go.

My lungs are becoming weaker too.

I am floating downwards.

There is no time…

For no one can see me.

I will rest peacefully,

at the bottom of the sea.

Rebecca Tuttle

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My summer in canada

Surely, most of the students in A2 will have applied already for their universities of choice. But many may have considered, “Having only five choices seems rather limiting, doesn’t it?” So what stops you from applying to more universities of the same standard as some of the UK’s best? Canada is the place.

With great universities such as McGill and Concordia, as high as the top 10 in courses like Medicine and Engineering, huge employment potential (the advantage of having a barely populated country- bigger than China but only 35 million people) in fields from the oil industry to its booming banking sector or hospitals, Canada is ideal for students looking for a university. But enough of the cheap publicity. Let me tell you about what it was like for me to spend two weeks there.

I arrived in Montreal, in the French-speaking Quebec province, on the 16th of August. The weather was fantastic! No rain nor clouds, just clear sky for four days straight. Twenty degrees all day long during the summer was just perfect. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, was where I went the second day that I was there. The Parliament reminds you of London, but the skyscrapers quickly bring you back to the New World. At night, they had a lights and sounds show, projected right onto the face of

the parliament. It explained the history of Canada and its peoples in beautiful colours. The Natural History Museum is another attraction in Ottawa, because it is one of the largest museums in North America and also houses exhibits ranging from dinosaurs and turtle shells to a huge blue whale replica. I was amazed at how much they had put in the museum.

The War Museum was yet another surprise, since they had Hitler’s Mercedes and airplanes from the Battle of Britain (some of the few surviving ones). Ottawa was definitely one of a kind, especially with more Tim Horton’s (Canadian equivalent of Starbucks) than people.

Other sights are the Niagara Falls and

Canada is a must to visit, really one of the countries that you have to see at least once in

your life

By Cristian Urigiuc

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Toronto. They are in the English speaking part of Canada, but you can hear so many languages at Niagara Falls because it’s so frequently visited. You can hear French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and even Hindi around the waterfalls. They send water particles up to a 100 km distance and it feels as if it’s raining in the whole Niagara Falls town. On the other side of the falls you can see the US, but the larger Horseshoe Fall is on the Canadian side. Interestingly enough, because of erosion, it shifts north one km per millennium.

Toronto boasts the sixth tallest building in the world, the 553m tall CN Tower. It is Canada’s largest city (over 5 million people) and a great place to visit. It is surprisingly similar to American cities, like New York or Chicago and its lakeside position is amazing.

Quebec City is more European, with the Chateau Frontenac, the oldest surviving fortification north of Mexico, built on a cliff and with a breath-taking view of the St. Lawrence River. Nearby are the Montmorency Falls, not quite as impressive as Niagara, but the climb to reach the top of the Falls is painfully

long. Over one thousand stairs until you reach the top, where the rope bridge cutting across the Falls overlooks the surroundings and you can even see all of Quebec City on a clear day. Its narrow streets and endless stairs throughout the city make it a truly a unique place to visit.

Canada is a must to visit, really one of the countries that you have to see at least once in your life. Home to a diversity of animals, plants and terrain, Canada is a great place, whether you want to visit, live or study there.

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Once upon a time … (Extracts from GCSE group’s short stories which were inspired by

‘Hawk Roosting’ by Ted Hughes and ‘Out of the Blue’ by Simon Armitage)

‘The allotment of death is mine: the fields I own – no one can say otherwise. My path of flight is

direct, straight through the bones of the living …’

Timothy Dickens

“Ah! “ Colin was screaming. Everything looked so small! He deployed the parachute and slowly,

agonisingly slowly, landed. The sky dive was the best thing he’d ever done!

James Dehaney

‘Blue and red lights were flashing towards me. I sighed with relief. My husband!

My children! Just as this thought was going through my weary brain, I saw a wall!

He had steered my car into an anonymous, merciless, concrete wall…

Rebecca Tuttle

‘The self-appointed ‘master’ was enraged when he heard those words from his lowly ‘servant’.

Without a thought, he punched him viciously, unremittingly…

Pavel Novitskiy

‘Daniel tried to force himself to move. Helplessly he struggled to open his eyes. As good as dead,

all he could do was breathe and hear. Hear those interminable voices…

Alexandra Onyebuchi

‘Andrew threw the essence as hard and accurately as he could at the orb. He heard a deafening

sound, which could only be described as a sonic boom, just as he averted his gaze. The goddess let

out a horrific, anguish-filled screech before he looked back again to where a mountain of dirt

stood, an upturned tree jutting out from the top!’

Aneeka Yar

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Get yourself inspired

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a

way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Nelson Mandela

Quotes compiled by Soehartien Koalitas and Thu Binh Pham

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Leonardo was born on 15th April 1452 in the town of Vinci in Italy.

He was the illegitimate son of the notary (lawyer) Ser Piero da Vinci and a peasant girl called Caterina.

His grandfather raised him.

Leonardo’s illegitimacy meant that he could not follow his father into the legal profession, although he learnt to read and write and acquired basic arithmetic skills.

By 1472 Leonardo joined the brotherhood of Florentine artists and he remained in Florence for the next ten years.

In 1483 Leonardo decided that Milan would offer more opportunities. Not long after he arrived a confraternity (a religious brotherhood) commissioned an altarpiece and this lead to Leonardo creating one of his more famous works ,‘The Virgin of the Rocks.’

However, the confraternity refused to pay what Leonardo considered a fair price so he sold it to someone else.

Many years later the confraternity persuaded him to paint a second version which now hangs in the National Gallery.

By Pokua Addei

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Leonardo’s ultimate aim was to produce pieces of art that were ‘true to nature’.

In 1489 Leonardo drafted a treatise (a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject).

In this treatise he listed the topics he planned to cover. These included:

‘Describe the form of the womb and how the child lives in it... and in what way it is given life from food… and what interval there is between one stage of growth and another.’’

‘Describe the grown man and woman and their measurements and the nature of their constitution.’

‘Describe how they are composed of veins, nerves, muscles and bones.’

‘In four drawings you will depict the four universal conditions of man, that is: joy... weeping…fighting and fear.’

‘Describe attitudes and movement.’

Despite his intentions, Leonardo was unable to make significant progress in many of these aims.

Although the Church or state did not forbid dissection, they were infrequent ashuman material for dissection was difficult to find.

This forced Leonardo to base most of his early anatomical observations on a combination of animal dissection and speculation.

In 1489 Leonardo obtained a human skull.

He decided to saw it in different sections to study the relationship between its internal and external appearances.

Leonardo’s observations of the skull were ‘the cavity of the eye socket, and the cavity in the bone that supports the cheek, and that of the nose and mouth, are of equal depth… and each is as deep as the third part of a man’s face, from the chin to the hairline.’

The image above is the first accurate depiction of the spine in history!

In ‘Leonardo da Vinci, The Mechanics of Man’ Martin Clayton and Ron Philo argue that since the 500 years of its existence no artist or anatomical illustrator has been able to produce a version superior to Leonardo’s.

Leonardo’s version is so perfect and superior that the only error of Leonardo showing 12 vertebral bodies correctly but with 13 spines between thoracic vertebrate 2 and 3 that is regularly missed by anatomists.

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Open House London

2014

I managed to go along to four viewings but I could have visited more. I wanted to see at least one of Richard Rogers’s iconic building designs, and I earmarked Channel 4 Headquarters for this purpose. Just as well – I had considered viewing Lloyds building in the city of London but that, as well as the building affectionately-titled ‘The Gherkin’ (30 St. Mary Axe), had queues of 4-5 hours’ duration snaking around the pavements and cobbled stone of the EC postcode. However, two aspiring architectural CTC students managed to visit these two iconic London structures – Gaoqian Jiang saw ‘The Lloyds Building’; Linh Tran gained entry to ‘The Gherkin’.

The Channel 4 building was an excellent viewing, allowing our tour group great vantage points inside the building and explaining the build brief and the subsequent use of the building. It displays many of Rogers’s familiar features, such as use of glass facades, exposed structural steelwork and general hi-tech feel. I would highly recommend visiting this building sometime, with the central Atrium being a must-see – especially gorgeous, I would imagine, at a nighttime viewing.

Nearby I visited ‘The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom’ in Parliament Square.

Many foreign tourists had also joined the various queues to sample some of what London’s buildings – such as Westminster Abbey, HM Treasury and the Houses of Parliament – had to offer. The Supreme Court building is Grade II* listed and is indeed a grand structure. What struck me most were the many large portrait paintings of previous, no doubt very important people lining the walls.

Open House London’ is the name of a wonderful programme of events whereby members of the public can visit great architecture for free on one weekend in September. ‘Open House London’ is a flagship event every year for Open-City, a leading London independent non-profit organization, who champion the notion that everyone should have the opportunity to learn more about London’s built environment. Started in 1992, this architecture education charity offered over 800 buildings, construction and engineering sites for viewing on 21-22 September of 2013.

The Channel 4 Building

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I then took a short tube ride to Holborn to visit one of LSE’s (the London School of Economics) buildings at 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. While the original building was designed in a neo-Jacobean style in the early 1900s, today there is a marriage of the modern with the old on view at various points around the building. LSE has invested heavily in restoration and refurbishment, including decorative cornicing parquet and terrazzo flooring. But my passion is for the modern, and there were elements of

this on offer also to the fortunate few who will get to study here.

Again, there was a great building tour by the ‘Estate’ staff, the highpoint of which was a viewing from the rooftop of the building.

It was a spectacular scene – I was able to see right across the top of London’s roofs on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Last stop for me was the Royal College of Physicians, near Regents Park. I chose it from its photo of the outside of the building, but it was a bit of a disappointment really. However, in the library

were many very old texts; one I noted had 1791 embossed on it by Darwin (though not by the Darwin).

Overall, ‘Open House London’ is a marvellous viewing event – so much to see, so little time. I wish it was every weekend.

By Judy Krey

Nov 2013

32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields

The Royal College of Physicians

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What motivated you to become an MP?

I’d been a local councillor before and I’d found that a

very rewarding experience in terms of being able to help

people with problems, and I’ve lived in Croydon all my

life so I am very passionate about getting a better deal

for Croydon from national government. I also feel that

Croydon in some way gets the raw deal at the moment

and I want to try and change that.

What do you like most about your job?

Occasionally you can really help someone who is in a

very difficult situation and that’s very rewarding. I enjoy

meeting all the people around Croydon. You get lots of

invitations to come to schools and colleges or charity

groups and just meeting all the incredible range of

people in Croydon is extremely rewarding. I also like

speaking in the House of Commons.

MP visits CTC On Thursday 14th November, Mr. Gavin Barwell, MP (Member of Parliament) for

Croydon Central, and

Assistant Government

Whip since October of this

year, visited CTC.

Mr. Barwell first visited an AS/A2 Politics class, taught by Mr.

O’Dwyer. He talked about his background, the route that led him to be a politician, and his election in 2010 as a Conservative MP for

Croydon Central. Before being elected, Mr Barwell himself worked for an MP, as well as in

the role of Special Advisor within the civil service. Mr Barwell talked about the UK Independence Party,

and whether it represents a threat to the Coalition and to the Conservative party. Questions were also asked about immigration to the UK, and the current UK

membership of the European Union. Mr. Barwell stated that he believes in the right for people to choose, and that national attitudes are shaped by history and geography, leading to the conclusion that he doesn’t believe that the UK should join the common currency in Europe.

The MP then sat in on the first fifteen minutes of a meeting of the Debating Club. He listened to the opening

of a debate; ‘This house believes that the UK should limit immigration.’ He heard two speakers; speaking in favour of the motion was Eduard Gomberg, and speaking against the motion was Cristian Urugiuc. Ed made a convincing case with judicious use of a range of data to support his arguments, while Chris spoke at length

on the topic without the use of notes, which Mr. Barwell singled out for particular praise.

After a quick break for lunch Mr Barwell was interviewed by AS-level student Hajani Santhirasegar, who asked him a range of in-depth questions on topics such as the most important concerns of Croydon residents, and some more personal questions about Mr. Barwell’s beliefs and current duties.

Mr Barwell gets a grilling from our political correspondent Hajani Santhirasegar

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What do you find most challenging about being an

MP?

The hours are hard. I think it’s a difficult job to balance

with family life. It’s sort of a double-edged sword. You

get recognised a lot. It’s nice in a way because people

know who you are, which must mean they have some

idea of what you are doing. But it does mean you don’t

have a lot of privacy. For example, I was once taking out

my wife for dinner, to apologise for not being around a

lot and someone just pulled up a chair while we were

having dinner and started talking about how they needed

help, so you can’t really get away from the job! If you’re

in Croydon, you’re on duty basically. That takes a bit of

getting used to really, but I wouldn’t complain - it’s a

great job.

What are the main issues Croydon is facing at the

moment?

I would say that the number one issue is Croydon’s

economic decline. For the last 20-30 years Croydon has

been in relative decline in comparison to other parts of

London. So turning that around and bringing more jobs

here, that’s the number one priority. I think that there’s a

wider reputation shift that we need to achieve. So if you

say you are from Croydon, people don’t say ‘Oh my

God, what’s that like?’ . People have a negative view of

the place so we have to change that perception. I would

say that crime is an issue, not universally – lots of the

bits of the borough are safe – but there are areas where

there is a crime problem. And getting on top of that is

important.

Some of our students and residents are worried about

the crime problems in Croydon, so how can people be

assured that they are safe?

There’s a whole range of things we can do. We’ve

actually had a very good year, in that we have been

allocated 120 [more] police officers, which is a very

significant step up in the police force. It’s one of the

things I’ve been working on for a number of years. So

that helps. I think seeing more police on the streets

reassures people. The council is currently engaged in a

project; it’s about a year and a half in to a 5 year project

to replace all the street lighting across the borough to

make it much better lit. Higher lampposts that better

illuminate the roads and the pavements. If you are

walking from Croydon at night you are going to feel

better lit and more secure.

You’ve been appointed as assistant government whip.

Could you please briefly explain your role and duties?

A whip is a junior minister; but whereas most ministers

have responsibility for a particular area of policy, a whip

a minister who is basically in charge of trying to get the

government’s proposals through the House of Commons.

That’s your fundamental job. You will be given

responsibility for one or two government departments. In

my case the department for education and the foreign

office.

I’ve heard that you organised some litter picking

excursions. Is this true, and if so, could you tell us

something about that?

There are many community projects that I have set up as

an MP, and one is a group of people that gather in local

parks, to try and help the council to keep the place clean

up. So, if there are people in the college who want to

help out with that, they can just tweet me, email me or

whatever and I’ll send you the details.

Mr Barwell (left) pictured with Hajani Santhirasegar and Tutor

Jonathan Cutting

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A Beginners Guide

Introduction by CTC’s very own Dr Farrelly

If you have a group of physicists in a room, then if a really famous physicist such as Peter Higgs, comes in to the room, people all start to move towards him. Because of that , his progress through the room is slowed down, and that is effectively like having extra mass.

Now in terms of particle physics, what happened was there is a system called standard model, which is a way of putting all the particles of unknown, including some that were being looked for, into a symmetrical group of categories; and according to where it (particle that is being looked for) was in this pattern, physicists will reckon that if they find this particle it should have certain properties. Then they started discovering these particles particularly in 1970s and 1980s, and there was a problem that when they looked into the theory of standard model, they could not explain why two types of particle (W and Z) had mass, so Peter Higgs and three other physicists came up with a theory of why particles should have mass, and that theory is called the Higgs field. The idea was particles that are within this Higgs field will acquire mass, and the max of mass they acquire dependence on a whole load of properties, like spin.... In physics, a field is something that transmits the force, like magnetic field, electric field. In each field there should be a certain type of particle that is transmitted by the force in the field, or in other words, mediate the field. So in the Higgs Field, there must be a certain kind of particle in the Higgs Field that transmits the idea of keeping mass.

A research was made for finding the Higgs Boson: there is a very big accelerator that smash particles together, and when you smash particle at really high energy, you can see what is inside the particle, and physicists were looking for properties that they thought Higgs Boson should have, and at first they could not find the particle, but after many many months, they found a particle that they think will fit the properties of Higgs Boson. At this moment, most physicists believe that they have found the Higgs Boson.

Article by Li Quien and Hongquio Chen. Drawings by Lingyun Quian

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Chemistry has periodic table. Particle physics also has a

similar table. Its name is standard model. Physicists can

use this model to predict new particles. In fact it is the last

particle in standard model. It gives other particles mass

Imagine there is a field in the whole universe. Every

particle can feel the strength of this field but they

have different responses to the field Large mass:

some particles are dragged by this field apparently

Small mass: some particles are not affected by the

field The respondents of particles in the Higgs field

affect one of the most important characters of

particles –mass ,Higgs Boson is the evidence for the

existence of this field. That’s why people call it “the

god particle”

So, where can we find the Higgs as predicted?

We can use a particle collider.

If we let two beams of particles collide, we are likely to get

brand new particles, as long as it obeys the law of

conservation of energy.

And the bigger the speed of collision is, the more new particles we can get. So a massive particle collider is built. Unfortunately, Higgs Boson only exists for a very short period of time. So a large amount of data is needed. In order to provide the data, the particle collider works 24 hours a day with 40,000,000 collisions per second. Finally, after numerous of experiments, CERN announced that they had found the Higgs Boson.

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