In September 2018, already the ninth season of the
School for Young Physicists went underway. The season began literally
with a bang – the first session was about the physics of
explosions, which had students blowing up small scale pyrotechnics in
the park and trying to determine the energy they release. As autumn
set on and the weather got colder, so did the topics covered – in
October, cold physics was the topic of the month. In that session,
the star was prof. Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, who gave a lecture on
Bose-Einstein condensate, which (despite not understanding much of
it) every student loved. In November and December topics about
nanophysics and experimental physics were covered respectively. These
sessions were more about contemporary physics, showing students the
landscape of modern physics. Participants also had a chance to try
out Arduino microcontrollers in their experiments to create
electronic measuring devices – a relative novelty in schools, but a
mainstay in modern experimental physics.
Together
with season 9 the annual School Cup also began – for the fourth
year already. Just like last year, teams of students representing
their schools compete throughout the season by earning points for
their team. Points can be earned by filling out tests each session
and by completing homework tasks (a total of four during the course
of the season). Students appear to enjoy the contest – north of ten
teams fight hard for positions in the rankings. Students also enjoy
the homework tasks – a highlight, for example, was solving Fermi
problems, which was something completely out of left field for
students who do not encounter anything like it in school.
All
in all, the first half of SYP season 9 has been successful,
continuing where season 8 left off.
