Summer Project Description:

It is important to study the elastic properties of Earth's materials at high temperatures and high pressures to understand the composition of the Earth. Understanding these properties of minerals helps us to understand what goes on inside the Earth. I will be studying the properties of Magnesium Oxide (MgO) by simultaneous ultrasonic interferometry and X-ray diffraction techniques. The significance of this experiment is that by using two different methods of collecting data, it is possible to obtain more information on MgO. A major advantage of using the two methods is that you don't need to use a secondary pressure calibration; you can directly measure the pressure. By using both methods you have all the data necessary to calculate the pressure. The equation used to find the pressure is the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state. There is yet to be a complete study that integrates all data over the entire possible experimental range for MgO. By using these two methods we hope to get a complete range of data on MgO. X-ray diffraction and ultrasonic interferometry techniques are used in finding out the properties of a material. These properties such as density and the velocity will help us in further understanding the composition of the Earth.

Deidra Brum
St. Cloud State University, MN
Major: Physics
Mentor: Baosheng Li