Physics at Home

Andreas Bitter and Scott Hamill impressed the judging panel and the audience with their presentation ‘Inside an Atom’ for the ‘Physics@Home’ competition held at the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Queen’s University. Teams had to explain a principle of physics using only household items. Scott and Andreas used a soup bowl and a bag of marbles to recreate the discovery of the atomic nucleus. Once the nerve racking bit of actually making their presentation was out of the way, our team could relax and watch the rest of the entries. Schools from across Northern Ireland were represented with topics including ‘Make your own loudspeaker’, ‘Why boats float’, ‘Fun with forces’ ‘It’s magic?’ and ‘The raisin for the bounce’. All agreed it was a fun and interesting day out, and a free lunch to boot.