Re: The color of snow

[cliff parker <cparker@CHARTER.NET>]

Leigh, I was inspired by your description of the wonders of physics to be
found in a new environment.  It represented to me my goal as a high
school physics teacher.  More than any other goal, I want to produce
students who, after exiting my class, notice things like those you
describe in the world around them.  Then if they are lucky and properly
inspired I hope they will wonder about the cause of such things.  Finally
if I have done my job perhaps they will have the tools to actually begin
to understand the workings of nature.  I am not trying to train future
scientists and engineers.  I am trying to teach people how to live well.
Your description below represents an important ingredient in a life well
lived.

Leigh Palmer wrote:

> Winter was a marvelous
> new world for this lifetime Californian when I emigrated from
> Berkeley to British Columbia at the age of 31. There is all sorts
> of new physics to be experienced! Ice worms extruded from the soil.
> Spikes growing out of tubs of water. The chirp of the hockey stick
> slapped on the ice 100 meters away on the lake. The anechoic nature
> of a fluffy snowfall. The fairyland of iced trees in the morning
> light. Many colorful atmospheric halo displays. The aurora. Etc.

Cliff Parker

Never express yourself more clearly than you can think.  --  Niels Bohr