July 15, 2017

A look back at the 7th season of the School for Young Physicists


Another school year has passed, and another SYP season has concluded as well. This year, turnout was at its highest level, with an average of 176 students (!) taking part in each session.
The topics covered in the nine sessions throughout the season were:
  • Deconstruction of popular urban myths with physics
  • The physics of sound
  • Radioelectronics
  • Astronomy and cosmology
  • Simple mechanisms
  • Electromagnetism
  • The role of numerical solutions in physics
  • Geophysics
  • General and special theory of relativity
A look back to the first four sessions is already online, so let’s delve more into the second half of the season.
SYP 7-5 (simple mechanisms)
In this session, students were given a comprehensive (and modern) look at simple mechanisms and their role in our everyday lives. The message that work cannot be conserved was hammered down multiple times – especially in the experimental part, where students experimented on various ways how to drive a screw and found that the work done is always the same.
SYP 7-6 (electromagnetism)
This time, a strong emphasis was put on the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction – students were thoroughly introduced to it in the popular lectures, then built an induction motor with their own hands in the practical section. This gave a good, intuitive understanding on how alternating current can be obtained. Afterwards, a UL professor told everyone the basic idea of why Earth has a magnetic field, explaining the underlying concepts of magnetohydrodynamics.
SYP 7-7 (numerical physics)
In an untraditional session, we let students see that not all problems in physics can be solved analytically. Students were introduced to Euler’s method, which is never touched upon in any high-school curricula. Armed with this knowledge, they did an experiment with a ball bearing falling in oil and compared actual terminal velocity results with those obtained numerically. To conclude, a specialist who does numerical calculations for engineering companies professionally explained his line of work to students, giving a new look at what a physicist can do in his career.
Terminal velocity experiment prepared for students to compare numerical solutions to actual results
SYP 7-8 (geophysics)
This session was an interdisciplinary one – geology and physics were combined to demonstrate how and why Earth looks and acts like it does, and how humans engineer bridges to withstand heavy loads. This was also tested in the practical part, with students building increasingly stronger sand structures and loading them until collapse. The final lecture was also given by a PhD in geology from the Faculty of Geology and Earth Sciences, detailing his everyday work and how important a role physics takes in it.
SYP 7-9 (theory of relativity)
To cap off a tremendous season, students undertook the daunting task of understanding Einstein’s relativity. The season closer was a success, with an intro into STR and GTR in the popular lectures, then using an elastic membrane to simulate the bending of spacetime in the experimental part, and, finally, prof. Kaščejevs (who is a student favorite) giving a lecture on gravitational waves.

Students observing a model of spacetime curvature
Additionally, the 2nd School Cup was awarded at the end of the season. This year, Aizkraukle Regional gymnasium’s team “Re, kā!” were the winners. They took away the main prize; second and third place also received prizes, as did the students that performed best throughout the season.
More details are available on our main homepage www.jfs.lv (in Latvian).