Week 3

Marcos V -

Hello and welcome to week 3 of my project!

This week was largely dominated by travel. As some of you may know, the senior trip to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm happened from Monday to Wednesday. Before that, I was in Las Vegas for a family trip. These back to back trips both cut into my work time and left me exhausted. Still, I do have some progress to report.

I’ve begun “gathering” data; essentially, I’m accessing the preexisting datasets that I mentioned in my last post, using SQL (a programming language) to search through the data and filter for certain measurements and certain locations; specifically, I’m looking for spectral wavelengths in the exact area of my system. I’m still figuring out a lot of the code; SQL is a language that is completely new to me, and not very similar to other languages I’ve used in the past, such as Python or JavaScript. I want to get this out of the way first, so that when it comes to performing numerical analysis on the data using Python, I already have all the unfamiliar SQL code done so that the road is smoother.

Unfortunately I have even more travel coming up this weekend and beyond, but in between I will work hard to hopefully begin performing mathematical analysis and putting together the beginnings of a conclusion. As always, feel free to ask questions or leave your thoughts in the comments.

More Posts

Comments:

All viewpoints are welcome but profane, threatening, disrespectful, or harassing comments will not be tolerated and are subject to moderation up to, and including, full deletion.

    shriya_s
    Hi Marcos, this sounds really cool! Is there a reason why you are using SQL for data analysis, as opposed to python or Java? You mentioned you are specifically looking for spectral wavelengths in the area of your system. Can you elaborate on this?
    February 28, 2025 at 5:55 pm - Reply
    camille_bennett
    Hi Marcos, sounds like some interesting work. Do you have any tricks for helping yourself learn new coding languages?
    March 4, 2025 at 9:51 am - Reply
    marcos_v
    Hi Shriya, thanks for the questions! SQL is a language specifically for filtering through massive datasets to look for specific parameters. I'm using it mainly for efficiency, as I will grab the right data using SQL and then switch to Python for the mathematical analysis. The spectral wavelengths are to perform the Zeeman analysis. The Zeeman effect is when spectral emission lines "split" in the presence of magnetic fields. When electrons transition between energy levels, they release energy that is measured by spectroscopic analysis. Normally a transition is shown by one line, but when a magnetic field influences the transition, two lines appear on the spectrograph. I will be taking advantage of this effect to demonstrate the presence and strength of magnetic fields in the plasma ejections.
    March 7, 2025 at 4:24 pm - Reply
    marcos_v
    Hi Ms. Bennett, good question! Learning new coding languages often takes a lot of time, especially with a language as unfamiliar and niche as SQL. I try to learn mostly by applying; that is, I look through the documentation and pick out the pieces I need, and as I go building my program, I start picking up the general patterns in the syntax. This is a good method for a restricted timeline, as I am learning the language as I am actively using it for my project.
    March 7, 2025 at 4:26 pm - Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *