Tag Archive for: Explore your Universe

Pop-Sci @ The Forum and The Beacon

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It’s been a busy half-term for Think Physics; we were welcomed back to The Beacon in North Shields and The Forum in Wallsend for more science pop-up shop fun.

Families of children from local schools were invited to join us for a day of science based activities: we were swamped! Big thanks for coming along. We handled meteorites, took infrared selfies, made a lot of funny noises, investigated UV light, explored the pinwheel galaxy, designed planets, and made a gigantic marble run (…and that was all before lunch!)

Families were also take on a tour of the universe in our Explore Your Universe show. The whole thing was captured by our Think Physics Twitter Photo Booth. And also by our rather less exciting human photographer – gallery below.

Stay tuned for news of our next sci-pop pop-up shop. You could even sign up for our newsletter.

 

Your Universe: Explored

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Explore your UniverseOne of the projects Think Physics is partnered with is Explore Your Universe, a national campaign celebrating the physical sciences and run by the Association for Science & Discovery Centres and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. We’re delivering a range of workshops and activities, and on Saturday we capped off a frenetic  British Science Week by hosting a family science show here in Think Lab:

This was the first time we’ve used Think Lab as a performance space like this, and it seemed to work pretty well. Thanks to everyone who came, and we’ll keep you posted on future public events.

 

Thermal Selfies

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Today Think Physics was visiting The Hermitage Academy STEM fair.  It was lovely to chat with the people of Chester-le-Street and beyond.

We took with us our thermal camera and plasma ball, both of which we use as part of the ‘Explore your Universe’ workshops (which are available for booking!).  Our theme was ‘seeing things differently’ and we were offering ‘Thermal Selfies’.  Now, technically, they were infrared photographs – but we decided to go with the catchy title.

We looked at the different types of information that we could get by using different wavelengths of light: visible, infrared and UV.  With the IR camera we could measure the temperature of body parts and see who had cold noses.  We could also look at how effective coats and jackets were at keeping people warm, by looking at how much IR was radiated by them.

The IR camera allows us to demonstrate why astronomers use telescopes to observe different wavelengths of light by using a black bin bag to simulate interstellar dust.  In visible light, we couldn’t see through it, but in IR we could see the children hiding very easily.  A handy gadget for our next game of hide and seek!

FLIR0216

Hiding behind a black plastic bag? Not in infrared!

We also looked at how the sun appears in different wavelengths, comparing the slightly boring visible light pictures with the more interesting UV pictures.

Visible light images of the sun. NASA

Visible light images of the sun. NASA

UV images of the sun. NASA

UV images of the sun. NASA

Thank you very much to Ms Rose at the Hermitage Academy for inviting us along to the STEM fair.  We had a great time taking thermal selfies and talking physics.  As promised, we have put together a gallery of the pictures.  If there’s one of you, can you spot it?

 

Tag Archive for: Explore your Universe

March 10th – Atoms to Astrophysics

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Today we explored the whole scope of Physics, from atoms to astrophysics. For more information check out our workshop page here, and make sure you have a go with this scale of the universe tool. I could spend all day playing around with it.

We talked about protons, neutrons and electrons today, but we didn’t mention the even smaller particles that they are made of. Have an explore. Did you spot the transistor gate that’s about the size of a virus? These are what give your phone its processing power. Current transistors are as small as 7nm – that’s 0.000007mm. The smaller they are, the more we can pack onto a microchip and the more processing power we can get. However, it looks like we might struggle to make them any smaller. As we get smaller we enter the realms of “quantum tunneling” which can cause all sorts of problems. To prevent this, we may have to start making our chips out of something other than silicon. (I like mine made out of potato!  ba-dum-tish!)

One option might be a new material invented in Manchester called Graphene. It is only a single atom thick and could be used to make even smaller transistors. It’s super light and super strong and is changing the way we design and construct new products. If you want to get a glimpse of the material of the future, look here.

We also looked at the International Space Station, which you can watch, live, here. If you want to see the ISS fly overhead, use the tracker website here. You can give Tim a wave, and if you tweet him first (@astro_timpeake), he might just wave back!

 

This article is about Dr Richard Morton who works at Northumbria University. He is studying the sun and its effects on Space weather, which could be used toto help keep astronauts safe whilst in space.

 

 

 

12th January: Atoms to Astrophysics

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What a great way to start the year; exploring the universe from the incredibly tiny to the unbelievably large. You can find out more about very tiny or very large things using this The Scale of the Universe  animation. I could spend all day zooming in and out. We talked about protons, neutrons and electrons today, but we didn’t mention the even smaller particles that they are made of. Have an explore. Did you spot the transistor gate that’s about the size of a virus? These are what give your phone its processing power. Current transistors are as small as 7nm – that’s 0.000007mm. The smaller they are, the more we can pack onto a microchip and the more processing power we can get. However, it looks like we might struggle to make them any smaller. As we get smaller we enter the realms of “quantum tunneling” which can cause all sorts of problems. To prevent this, we may have to start making our chips out of something other than silicon. (I like mine made out of potato!  ba-dum-tish!)

One option might be a new material invented in Manchester called Graphene. It is only a single atom thick and could be used to make even smaller transistors. It’s super light and super strong and is changing the way we design and construct new products. If you want to get a glimpse of the material of the future, look here.

 

We also looked at the International Space Station, which you can watch, live, here. If you want to see the ISS fly overhead, use the tracker website here. You can give Tim a wave, and if you tweet him first (@astro_timpeake), he might just wave back!

6th January: Explore your Universe

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Happy New Year, Kenton! What a great way to start the year; exploring the universe from the incredibly tiny to the unbelievably large. You can find out more about very tiny or very large things using this The Scale of the Universe  animation. I could spend all day zooming in and out. We talked about protons, neutrons and electrons today, but we didn’t mention the even smaller particles that they are made of. Have an explore. Did you spot the transistor gate that’s about the size of a virus? These are what give your phone its processing power. Current transistors are as small as 7nm – that’s 0.000007mm. The smaller they are, the more we can pack onto a microchip and the more processing power we can get. However, it looks like we might struggle to make them any smaller. As we get smaller we enter the realms of “quantum tunneling” which can cause all sorts of problems. To prevent this, we may have to start making our chips out of something other than silicon. (I like mine made out of potato!  ba-dum-tish!)

One option might be a new material invented in Manchester called Graphene. It is only a single atom thick and could be used to make even smaller transistors. It’s super light and super strong and is changing the way we design and construct new products. If you want to get a glimpse of the material of the future, look here.

 

We also looked at the International Space Station, which you can watch, live, here. If you want to see the ISS fly overhead, use the tracker website here. You can give Tim a wave, and if you tweet him first (@astro_timpeake), he might just wave back!

 

9th December: Atoms to Astrophysics

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This afternoon I visited St Mary’s to take part in their after school science club. We explored the whole scope of Physics, from atoms to astrophysics. For more information check out our workshop page here, and make sure you have a go with this scale of the universe tool. I could spend all day playing around with it.

A slightly older version can be seen below. Don’t be frightened by the outdated fashions and wonderful 1970s music (by Elmer Bernstein, no less!); this video is a beautiful journey through our universe. Just don’t forget, our understanding has moved on since Charles and Ray Eames made this video in 1977.

19th November: Space Maths

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Today, Carol and James were back at Heworth Grange for more Space Maths. We looked at the size and scale of our solar system (using sprinkles, no less), and got up close and personal with some meteorites.

Find some more information on our space maths workshop page and make sure you check out the link to the “tediously accurate scale model of the solar system”. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

Tag Archive for: Explore your Universe

The Geologist

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