{"389841":{"#nid":"389841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Physics Professors Attempt to Set Record Spiral Wave","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDid you know that doing \u0027the wave\u0027 could help Georgia Tech conduct heart research?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo School of Physics professors, Flavio Fenton and Edwin Greco, will gather volunteers on the Tech Green, Tuesday, March 24, at 11:00am for a second attempt at breaking a world record for the largest spiral wave. The event is part of the Atlanta Science Festival.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA spiral wave is spiral that moves in time,\u201d said Fenton, associate professor in the School of Physics. \u201cThey appear in nature in many systems: biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe can see spiral waves in the heart, he said. There is an electrical wave that goes through the heart and makes it contract.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen one of these electrical waves is disrupted, it can produce a spiral wave,\u201d he said. \u201cSpiral waves rotate at a frequency that is faster than the normal pacemaker. So what happens is the heart will contract at a much faster rate compared to the normal rhythm, driving the heart into tachycardia, which is an anomaly and can be dangerous.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe spiral wave demonstration will involve Georgia Tech volunteers, each representing a cardiac cell. The demonstration will initiate a spiral wave as a way to characterize the heart.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe nice thing about this demonstration is that we can then analyze it and do a comparison with what we see in the heart,\u201d Fenton said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFenton and Greco have done the spiral wave in classes, and last year they did it with 600 students. This time they want to set a world record, with at least 1,000 participants.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers in Tech\u0027s School of Physics are studying spiral waves and their effect on the heart. As part of the Atlanta Science Festival, the researchers are attempting to break a world record for the largest spiral wave."}],"uid":"27713","created_gmt":"2015-03-23 19:00:46","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 17:09:36","author":"Victor Rogers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-03-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech School of Physics"},{"url":"http:\/\/atlantasciencefestival.org\/","title":"Atlanta Science Festival"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"66491","name":"Atlanta Science Festival"},{"id":"122181","name":"Edwin Greco"},{"id":"112191","name":"Flavio Fenton"},{"id":"960","name":"physics"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"170726","name":"spiral wave"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EVictor Rogers - Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}