1.18 Answers (Assignment 3) and Assignment (4)
QUESTION 1:
Try to find out what it wrong with the article.
You can find the answer by looking at the following material:
original press release by EurekAlert [ http://www.wfsj.org/course/en/L1/micro.html ]
Original paper in the journal "Science" [ http://www.wfsj.org/course/docs/Cloack_Schurig-10-20-06.pdf ]
and a related news story in the same magazine. [ http://www.wfsj.org/course/docs/cloack_cho.pdf ]
Here is also a good story on this written by the BBC [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6064620.stm ]
Answer:
The article gets several things completely wrong:
- It was not John Pendry who created the cloak but his American colleagues – Pendry just developed the mathematical theory to it.
- The objects hidden by the cloak are not invisible to radar.
- In fact, the cloak does not really work well at all. It works for a limited band of microwave-frequencies only which is like a specific colour in the visible spectrum. And it only works in 2 dimensions. Even then only some of the rays are guided around the cloaked object. So all it does is prove that Pendry’s mathematical methods are correct and that it is useful for future research projects.
- It is not at all easy to extend this cloaking method to the visible spectrum.
- Even if this cloak does not completely hide things the technology may one day still be useful for the military. They are funding this research.
What was the research sentence of the article in “The Sun”?
Answer:
Having done my journalistic research I look at it this way: A British scientist has managed to build a cloak that can hide things from microwaves and radar.
QUESTION 3:
What could be a better one?
Answer: Having done my journalistic research I look at it this way: American and British scientists have developed a cloaking device that is rather imperfect but with it they have managed to show a proof of principle.
QUESTION 4:
Can you think of a storytelling sentence to cover this topic?
Answer:
Here are two possible ideas:
i) Today I am going to tell you the story of the physicists who are unable to use magic for making things invisible and who need to obey to the rules of nature. They have a new idea on how to achieve this, but they encounter many difficulties. In the end they produce something very modest.
ii) Today I am going to tell you the story of a fictitious character: a secret service agent who has heard about cloaking — a new defence technology. He starts to investigate, is astonished at what he reads in the tabloid newspaper, observes the scientist, and then realises that his government will have to monitor watch this technology. (This idea will probably work only on TV or radio – and it really demands setting up drama scenes, as in a play. But it would certainly be a creative way of reporting on the science of cloaking.)
Now that you have accomplished these questions, try to do the following assignment and discuss it with your mentor.
ASSIGNMENT 4:
Now try to rewrite the Sun’s-story in 140 (!) words (the same length as the original story.) It’s okay if some of the sentences remain the same. Keep in mind that in this very limited space you cannot explain much. Decide which aspects you have to leave out. Try to keep the story interesting without making any inaccuracies.
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