Physics information day for pupils Experiments, lectures, guided tours

How do you make superconductors levitate? Can you cook with comets and how does a game of quantum mini-golf work? Pupils can get answers to these questions by taking part in hands-on experiments at the physics information day at Technische Universität Braunschweig. There will also be lectures on space and quantum physics, as well as laboratory tours.

The physics information day will take place on

Saturday, 27th January 2024, from 10 am
Physics Centre of TU Braunschweig,
Mendelssohnstr. 2-3, 38106 Braunschweig.

Admission is free. Registration is not necessary. In addition to students, the interested public is also invited.

Programme of the day

10.00 am Opening Ceremony
10.10 a.m. Lecture by Prof. Dr Christoph Karrasch: The Fascination of Quantum Physics
10.30 a.m. Lecture by Prof. Ferdinand Plaschke: Can there be another satellite? On multipoint measurements in space
10.50 a.m. Input from the Department of Physics: Information on studying physics
11.30 Hands-on experiments, information stands and time for further questions to the expert group
13.15 Departure for the Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology, LENA
13.30 Start of the LENA tour

Pupils can also talk to students about the physics courses at TU Braunschweig. At the same time, experiments invite you to join in and make superconductors levitate, measure the smallest lengths with light or learn more about quantum physics during a game of quantum mini-golf.

Lectures and guided tours

Two lectures provide an insight into research and what a lecture in the programme might look like: Prof. Christoph Karrasch talks about the “Fascination and Importance of Quantum Physics”: Our world behaves very differently on a small scale – in the realm of atoms, for example – than on the macroscopic scale of footballs and planets, which is intuitively accessible to us. This observation triggered the most important revolution in theoretical physics of the twentieth century and led to the development of quantum mechanics, now one of the most successful physical theories of all time. “Can there be another satellite? On multipoint measurements in space”, Prof Ferdinand Plaschke reports in his lecture: “The space around planets, moons and comets is by no means empty, but an electrically conductive sea of particles of solar and planetary origin. And just like on “terrestrial seas”, the currents in space can be strong, the waves high and the weather bad. He shows why these dynamics are difficult to capture with individual satellites.

Guided tour of LENA: At 13:30, the tour starts at the neighbouring LENA (Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology). This research centre for nanometrology investigates the smallest structures for nanotechnology using various methods such as electron microscopy and lasers. The lab tour gives an insight into how physics is involved.