Day 4 Reflections - Raviraj Talgeri

Posted by Anonymous at 1:41 am

2 words to describe today's experiences:
Mesmerising and memorable

2 highlights of the day:
The farewell with the Busan Science High School buddies was a memorable highlight of today, because it was very emotional to say goodbye to my buddy since we have learnt so much from one another. I look forward to meeting my buddy in Singapore in January again, when the Busan Science High School buddies will be coming to visit my school.
The main highlight of today was the trip to the Bulguksa temple, where we went both to the temple and the shrine located atop the hill adjacent to the temple. Since there was the time constraint, we had to jog across the hillside. As the cool wind breezed across my face, I remembered the good times I had with my friends, and those precious moments of bonding with my friends. As we reached the footsteps of the shrine, I gazed at the mesmerising shrine, with the setting sun casting a golden hue on the Buddha. I could not stop myself from continually taking pictures of the shrine and enthralling scenery. I rushed up the flight of stairs, impatient to see the beauty inside the shrine, and I was not disappointed, in fact, quite the contrary. Hiking back to the entrance, we then left for Bulguksa temple at the foot of the hill. The story that was told about the carpenter who built the Bulguksa temple was both memorable and tragic. When entering the temple, the deciduous tree leaves having the different shades of the visible spectrum left a beautiful imprint in my mind, added on by the hills and mountains in the backdrop. I think this sightseeing experience was not only memorable, but also inspirational, as it made me more motivated to move on to o'levels in the subsequent year.

2 things you've learnt about Korea:
I have learnt that South Korea, despite being an industrialised economy with a growing port business in Busan, on the pretence of the environmental perspective, is astonishingly beautiful. I feel this is one of the big aspects of South Korea that I have learnt in the trip, something I had taken for granted through the many bus rides via which I had seen the hills previously.
I also learnt that South Korea holds many religions, that include Buddhism, Christianity and Confucianism. This shows that South Korea truly is an inter-religious society, showing how tolerating it is to all different religions.

2 things you've learnt about yourself:
I realised that I can be very task-oriented when I want to be. I found out about this when we were at the Bulguksa Temple. During the time when most of the team was socialising and having fun with one another, I was determined to take good photos of the scenery, hence I stuck to the plan and did so, even though I missed the precious bonding time with my friends. Since I had a task that needed completion, I did so, without straying off-course. From this, I learnt that I can be very task-oriented.
I also learnt that I can bond very well with my friends and buddy even though I may be introverted. During the long bus rides, my friends and I shared horror stories that allowed us to bond very well. This also allowed me to do my various antics, that humoured my friends, making us even closer to one another.

2 things you did not do so well:
I think my behaviour today was not on-point. This is because as the bus driver was driving on the highway I had was not seated down properly, kneeling on the ground talking to my friends. I think this was not appropriate of me, as it had inconvenienced the driver. I will try not do such mistakes again.
Secondly, I think I was too noisy today. This was because I had gotten carried away with the enticing conversations I had with my friends, and hence had become less socially aware. I think I should work more on my alertness skills to prevent future such occurrences.


2 things you look forward to tomorrow:
I await the pleasure of visiting the Busan National Science Museum. This is because I really want to see the cutting-edge science that takes place here in South Korea, both for my project on architecture and for my personal understanding.
I very much anticipate the departure from Korea, as I am very keen to meet my family and friends. This is mainly due to the fact that I am very homesick, and miss them.

Connect:
In Singapore, I learn about how we need to keep the environment clean-and-green. This is seen throughout Singapore, from the Central Business District to the suburban areas. We also learn in National Education classes that we sustain and keep the environment clean because we need to stay hygienic and so that we can interest the tourism industry. This is also expounded by the environment we see in Busan; the parks and lakes we have seen through the various bus rides are not just surrounded by lush green and red temperate forests, but another hidden aspect is how clean the parks and districts are. This shows that we can connect what we learn about clean environment in Singapore to Busan.
The geography that I learn in Singapore taught me that every 1000m increase in altitude, the temperature decreases by 6.5ºC. This is clearly seen observed as the bus rose in altitude. I realised this by touching the window of the bus and sense it becoming colder. When getting out of the bus, the  decreases temperature was very clear. I can thus connect the learning in Singapore to what I observed in Busan

Extend:
During the final conference with the Busan buddies, one of the buddies gave a presentation on electromagnets and spinning tops; how spinning tops can accelerate infinitely given that power is constantly supplied to the electromagnet. In normal physics in Singapore, we learnt about electromagnets in the topic of interactions in Primary 5, resultant forces and acceleration in Secondary 3, and circuitry in Fundamentals of Electronics in Sec 3 in SST. This is very much extended to the presentation the buddy had given, as it was concerning the precise timing of the closing of the reed switch supplying power to the electromagnet causing the top to accelerate at certain periods.

Challenge:
The presentation given by Chen Ning got me thinking to what causes the concentration of ions in the ionosphere to increase. Initially, I thought it was due to the high energy & velocity plasma released from the sun to be caught by the magnetosphere colliding with the particles in the ionosphere causing an increase in ions, due to the coronal mass ejection from the sun during a solar storm. But what sparked the questioning was the fact that the plasma takes a few hours to reach the earth as it is travelling significantly slower than the speed of light, while a solar flare, being the energy spectrum of electromagnetic radiation itself, would reach in roughly 8 minutes as it travels at the speed. Hence, it was the solar flare which caused the spike in ions in the ionosphere. Upon further thinking and listening to the speech, I realised that the electromagnetic waves, had a peak emitted wavelength in the band of UVC and X-rays, in which X-rays are a form of ionising radiation. There it was, the ionising radiation caused the neutral elements and compounds in the ionosphere to break up into ions, causing the spike in ions during a solar flare in the period of a solar storm. Hence, I realised that this presentation challenged the understanding I already had about solar storms as well as gave me a deeper insight into natural resonance, tuning capacitors and do-it-yourself radio telescopes.

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