(left) has been awarded a $228,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the generation of X-rays from lightning. By studying the rays, Fasano and his students hope to learn more about the production and characteristics of lightning strikes and contribute to the growing field of atmospheric electricity and atmospheric particle acceleration. PHYSICS PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER FASANO
Fasano’s research, which involves MC students as well as area physics teachers and students, focuses upon naturally occurring lightning strikes in western Illinois and eastern Iowa. “People think that we have lightning figured out,” said Fasano following a presentation by his students on their initial research at a meeting last year of the American Physical Society (APS). “But no, we don’t have it all figured out … This is like the Wild West. It’s wide open.” Or, as Fasano worded it in his grant proposal: “Lightning—the massive dielectric breakdown of the atmosphere that occurs during thunderstorms—is a dramatic process that demands study and explanation. … Understanding lightning is considered one of the great unsolved problems of atmospheric physics.” Using funds from the grant, Fasano and his students are building and deploying 10 detection packages at area schools. Each package includes a lightning detector, an X-ray detector and an array of sensors that will measure parameters like pressure, temperature and electric field strength. The packages will be placed on rooftops, and measurements will be taken during storms of the barometric pressure, temperature and relative humidity, among other things. “Our goal is to measure the energy spectrum of natural lightning while recording data on electric field strength and meteorological data,” said Fasano. “This approach allows us to take data for extended periods of time at many locations. By having many detectors that run continuously, we are hoping to be able to accumulate enough data to begin to understand how particles are accelerated in the atmosphere.” He added, “This project really has large potential for future projects. While we are studying the lightning, we might also be able to discover something new about thunderstorm development. We’ll learn a lot from doing this.”
MC secures NSF grant to study
monmouth | winter 2014
campus news
11