Physics department notes (from Facebook)

Here’s a list of informational posts and local ephemera from the Physics Department’s Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/PhysicsWSU/.
This is not official Winona State University communication, just a mirror of what shows up at that site.

2026-October-23

Here’s a keyless entry pad I saw once at a little league game.
I wonder if the engineers at Ford know that finger sweat+oil degrades the printing on their rubber pads?
Figuring out this car’s secret entry code seems easier than it should be. Work keyless entry pad on a Ford Vehicle

2026-October-22

Winona State runs a pair of Purple Air PM 2.5 air quality sensors.
Smoke of particle size 2.5um and smaller is especially dangerous!
Here’s a letter to the editor that one of the department professors wrote a few summers ago.
https://ntmoore.github.io/notes/strib_PM2.5.html The sensor data is published online at https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa-aqi?opt=%2F1%2Flp%2Fa10%2Fp604800%2FcC0#10.83/44.0626/-91.6431 This summer we had to trouble-shoot bad readings from one of the sensors - A bug had decided to make a home in one of them! PM2.5 sensor circuitboards

2026-Octover-21

Winona County is a great place to bicycle when you need a study break!
Here’s a beautiful limestone outcrop about 8 miles from campus. If you want to visit in-person, try the lat, long pair: 43°59’51.2”N 91°44’32.8”W A Limestone outcrop near campus Mapped location of the outcrop

2026-October-20

Cool fact of the day: A 9v battery is 6x 1.5v batteries, wired up “head to tail”.
If you have a wire cutter and a dead 9v, this is pretty easy to see for yourself!
Is a 9v just 6x AAA’s?
Nope, I think they’re actually made from 4A or AAAA batteries! A 9v battery is 6 1.5v batteries, wired in series A 9v battery is made of AAAA batteries, which are slightly smaller than AAA size

2026-October-20

Summer Memories: in June at around the time of summer registration, the Saskatoons aka Serviceberries aka Shadbush aka Juneberries are ripe outside of the Physics and Geoscience Professors’ office windows.
Why so many different names? The berries are so common in Saskatchewan that they named a town after them, or, the berries flower when Shad run up the rivers in the North-east US, or, the fruit is ready in June, or, the plants flower at about the time the ground thaws enough to have funeral services for all the people who died over the winter! Yikes!, but then again, maybe it is fun to know all of the different names for a plant that’s all over the northern US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier Serviceberry bush loaded with fruit outside the Geoscience/Physics office windows

##2026-October-19 A postcard sent to a prospective student, and a reminder that in Minnesota you can vote early for any reason. In person early voting can be done at the Winona county government building or on campus on Friday October 29. Full details at the Minnesota Secretary of State office, https://www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-early-in-person Screenshot of voting information from MN SoS office Local Winona County Gov. Building A postcard sent to an admitted student

2026-October-19

What’s the hardest thing about teaching this fall? Probably the “Homework Machine”. Picture of the homework machine The homework machine, poem by Shel Silverstein

2026-October-17

Unbelievable and amazing fact of the day. Each section of lichen growing on this rock is a hardy civilization of fungi and algae cells. Lichen “eats” rock, and is so hardy that small colonies have been found growing on the OUTSIDE of the International Space Station! Lichen on a rock Multiple Lichen civilizations living on a rock. A university of Lichen civilizations on a large cliff, Black Beach near Silver Bay MN

2026-October-17

It’s “apply to college season” ya’ll. When you’re admitted to WSU, we’ll send you a post card to say hello! A cool postcard showing a snake shedding its skin