A level ‘Physics Live’ Trip

On Tuesday 16th January, twenty Year 12 Physics students headed to the University of Birmingham to attend the ‘Physics Live’ event. Here they attended lectures from high profile physicists who all lectured on their individual specialities.

Firstly, Doctor Andrew Pontzen, a highly established cosmologist, spoke about galaxies, dark matter and dark energy. Then, Doctor Suzie Sheehy spoke about the topic of particle accelerators and their several uses in industry, medicine and scientific research.  A main focus was the large hadron collider which is responsible for discovering various short-lived particles. There are around 37,500 particle accelerators worldwide, although her claim is incorrect if you consider that, for example, all oscilloscopes and ‘old style’ TVs and computer monitors accelerate electrons!

Professor Jim Al-Khalili spoke about the topic of whether life needs quantum mechanics, and the possibility of quantum biology.  Interestingly, he illustrated that quantum mechanics leads to organic chemistry which leads to biology and then ultimately life. The next topic was about time, namely, “What is time?”   Doctor Michael Brooks, who holds a PhD in Quantum Physics, enlightened us about this topic. He commented on the possibility of time travel and the theory surrounding it, most of which is supported by a lot of Einstein’s work on relativity. The final talk was given by Professor Trevor Cox who explored the physics of acoustics. He holds the Guinness record for the “longest reverberation”.

Overall, the day was highly insightful of more advanced physics.  Examination advice was also given to students which will hopefully prove useful.

Jubaer Ahmed