THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602230150
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
For the world's particle physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists, the scientific studies being conducted in Antarctica could help solve some of the universe's most elusive riddles.
For Chesapeake engineering teacher Thomas C. Spencer, 28, they have helped sort out an even more mind-boggling dilemma: how to capture the imaginations of teenagers.
Spencer is among a select few science teachers nationwide who have been allowed to experience their fields firsthand on the frigid plains of the South Pole.
Through a National Science Foundation grant, Spencer made the trip to Antarctica in January, working with a team of scientists who were sinking telescopes deep into the glacial ice to observe subatomic particles traveling through the Earth.
All the while, he sent computer dispatches about his activities to students and teachers back in the United States, via the internet. He had developed lesson plans before he left for teachers who wanted to build on the experience.
``It was wonderful,'' he said. ``It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.''
Spencer, who teaches engineering and physics for technology in the school system's Center for Science and Technology, spent his three cold weeks on an Antarctic base overseen by the National Science Foundation. Scientists conduct all kinds of experiments at the base, such as the well-publicized efforts to measure ozone depletion and pollutants in the Earth's atmosphere.
Most scientists spend time in Antarctica during the ``summer,'' from approximately early November to the end of this month, Spencer said. During that period, sunlight lasts 24 hours a day and temperatures are in the range of 20-below zero.
A few scientists stay in Antarctica for the eight-month winters, with 24-hour darkness and temperatures that can drop to 100 degrees below zero, Spencer said.
Spencer's task, while he was there, was to help his colleagues use high-pressure, hot-water drills to open two-foot-wide holes in the ice. The holes would be two kilometers deep, or about a mile and a half.
It was tricky, Spencer said, to keep the expensive, high-tech drills operating properly so they didn't get stuck in the ice, where they would remain irretrievable for as long as the poles remain frozen.
Spencer monitored computer readings that kept track of the drills' progress.
Once the holes were dug, he also helped lower long cables with the telescopes attached. The telescopes would detect the tiny bits of radioactive blue light that follow moving subatomic particles, much like the tail of a comet.
The particles, called muons and neutrinos, are thought to play some role in the mass that makes up the universe, which is expanding now. Scientists are trying to find out more about the particles' behavior and where they come from.
``The question is, will the universe ever reverse?'' Spencer said. ``Will there not be enough mass in the universe for it to keep expanding? And will it then fold in on itself?''
Weighty questions for a guy who began his science teaching career just six years ago at Western Branch High School.
Spencer's determination to broaden his teaching beyond textbooks and classroom walls helped land him the opportunity to go to Antarctica.
He spent a summer in 1991 working for the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility on the Peninsula. CEBAF nominated him in 1994 to participate in the Antarctica program, but he was turned down.
The National Science Foundation invited him to reapply last spring, and he won.
Spencer came back from Antarctica with an album full of pictures, energized from his contact with international scientists, and from the possibility of passing that excitement on to his students.
``Every time I do something like this, I feel like I become a little bit more knowledgeable about what's out there in the world of science,'' he said. ``And kids can tell that. They can tell whether you're speaking from experience or speaking about something you've never done.'' MEMO: Information about the scientific activities in Antarctica is available
on the internet through a World Wide Web resource called The New South
Polar Times. The address is http://139.132.40.31/
NSPT/NSPThomepage.html.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Thomas C. Spencer helped sink telescopes into the glacial ice of
Antarctica to observe subatomic particles.
by CNB