A Bright Bunch of Students

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Following the previous science buskers’ training session, the group thought that light would also be a good topic. So in this session, they tried out experiments to do with light. The groups investigated beads and loom bands that change colour under UV light – or outside in the sun. We also looked at mixing different colours of light and how it is different to mixing colours using paint.

2015 is the International Year of Light, and the Institute of Physics have produced a set of experiment cards you can try at home. We explored quite a few of these.

Backwards writing on paper becomes the right way when viewed through a beaker of water (left). It’s hard to write backwards, though – the ‘g’ was the wrong (er… right?) way around.

We were really surprised to be able to light an energy-saving lightbulb using static from a balloon (right).

 

Science buskers – Sounding Good

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 Think Physics are helping to run a science buskers’ after-school club at Kenton for year 9 students. The science buskers will put together some hands-on activities to create workshops for primary school pupils. Before they go into primary schools, they need to try out some activities themselves to decide which will be the most fun for their target audience.

In the first session, we tried out a bunch of activities to investigate sound. We made different instruments from coathangers, a slinky spring, straws, plastic cups and lolly sticks and looked at different ways to amplify sound.