Pete Coxeter '05 leads a college life that is nothing short of hectic. In addition to a physics major, he also is minoring in global studies and has fulfilled requirements to minor in math too. Outside the classroom, Coxeter is involved in the Mock Trial group, and spends much of his time practicing and rowing for the varsity crew team. "Practices go year round, three hours a day, six days a week," says Coxeter, describing his crew schedule. "In the winter, there is a one-hour morning practice and a one-hour night practice," with the morning practice forcing crew members to wake up earlier than anyone on campus. Balancing all of his activities and sports responsibilities has made Pete an expert at restoring order to an otherwise chaotic situation.
This summer, Pete has been investigating another chaotic situation, but this time it involves studying mechanical systems. Under the advisement of Litchfield Professor of Physics Peter Millet and Director of Laboratories James Schreve, Coxeter has spent this summer studying an impact oscillator, a pendulum system that exhibits chaotic behavior. The system consists of a ball suspended like a pendulum, but instead of swinging freely, it hits a surface that is in periodic motion. The entire system is also tilted at a slight angle. "The tilt allows the system to display several stable swinging patterns, but the system is also chaotic," says Coxeter. "The system looks very simple, just a ball hitting a lens when it's titled," he explains, "but when you look closer, the entire system just becomes more and more detailed."
| Summer Research 2004 |
Over the course of his summer research, Coxeter will find out what factors influence the chaotic system, and understand the impact oscillator model so that it may be used as a teaching aid to demonstrate the behavior of a chaotic system. "The experiment is potentially very low cost and takes advantage of standard introductory physics lab equipment," says Millet, who hopes that this research will "open up the topic of chaotic behavior to study by a wider audience." This experiment began in 2002, when Millet supervised a senior thesis by David Bellows '02 titled "Chaos of Mechanical Systems: A Variation of the Bouncing Ball Experiment." Professor of Physics Ann Silversmith and, subsequently, Assistant Professor of Physics Gordon Jones incorporated that research into Physics 390 – Research Seminar, a class that Coxeter took during his junior year.
While Coxeter has encountered some difficulties while running the system, he has found much help from his advisors. "Professor Millet has the uncanny ability to take complex problems and physics ideas and break them down so an undergraduate student can understand it," says Coxeter. He also appreciate's Schrive's "ability to see flaws in work, to see if there are other explanations. He provides a critical viewpoint."
Millet has given much praise to Coxeter, describing him as "careful, thoughtful, observant and hard working." Coxeter's work ethic and passion traverse from his athletics experiences into the lab. "To be successful, you have to be willing to sacrifice to be the best in your field," says Coxeter. "If you don't love what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing it. If something takes me until 7 p.m. to complete, and it's interesting work, I'll stay and finish it."
-- by Jason Ruback '05
