The Wheaton Impulsive Reconnection Experiment (WIRX) is a new plasma physics experiment which aims to study magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection is a mechanism for converting energy stored in magnetic fields to thermal or kinetic energy. It occurs in plasmas (hot ionized gases) and is important in the solar conoar, the earth's magnetosphere, and in magnetic confinement devices developed to harness the power of controlled thermonuclear fusion. Construction of the WIRX experiment began this summer and is about halfway completed thanks to the efforts of Physics majors Jim Schroeder and Ryan Stegink.
Dr. Stewart DeSoto uses his solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) lab to study both highly abstract physics ideas and also concrete practical engineering issues. The nuclear spins deep inside all materials can act like quantum mechanical bits (1's or 0's) to become the basic operating elements of a "quantum computer" which is exponentially more powerful than an ordinary digital computer. Physics majors Ben Kietzman and Andrew Golter have assisted Dr. DeSoto in the early stages of these experiments. A more practical application of NMR technology is to study a class of man-made materials called Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), which have metallic vertices and organic polymer linkers very much like a tinkertoy creation. Molecular hydrogen can diffuse deep inside these materials and attach weakly to the insides of giant pores. In this way, lots of hydrogen can be stored in a safe and efficient manner- to date, this has been one of the major obstacles to the "hydrogen economy" proposed by President Bush. Recent physics graduates Karen Kihlstrom and David Felker have helped Dr. DeSoto begin these experiments.
