The Northwest regional Big Bang event was held on 05 July at the World Museum in Liverpool.
A team from the Cockcroft Institute attended with an eye-catching array of material and demonstrations which certainly proved to be very popular with visitors. The ASTeC vacuum science group entertained groups of children throughout the day with vacuum demonstrations using their bell jar, showing what happens to an inflated balloon or a candle exposed to vacuum, and how light can travel through a vacuum, but not sound.
“People are always surprised by the weight of our ‘1 bar bar’, a 1 inch square steel bar weighing approximately 15 pounds, so if you balance it on the back of your hand, it exerts the same pressure as the atmosphere at sea level”.
Mark Pendleton (ASTeC Vacuum Science Group)
A big hit with the school parties at the Big Bang was a Van de Graaff generator – this provided a constant source of excitement as numerous children stepped-up to experience the hair-raising effects of high voltage electrostatics. The day was quite warm and humid, conditions which often limit the performance of the Van de Graaff, but as the picture shows, both the Van de Graaff generator and the visitor’s hair rose to the occasion.
The Cockcroft Institute exhibit also included a 3D flythrough of the ALICE and EMMA accelerators which stimulated many interesting and insightful questions from visitors, and a fine beam electron tube (essentially a miniature particle accelerator) which allowed visitors to deflect an electron beam, and see the effects of a magnetic field or a change in electron energy on the beam’s path.
After the event, Lee Jones said “It has been a great day, and we have had a huge amount of interest in our exhibit, and in what we do at Daresbury Laboratory. The stand has been busy all day, and the team have been constantly engaged with school children. There has been a real ‘buzz’ of excitement from visitors to the Big Bang, and the Cockcroft Institute team members were very impressed with the various school projects submitted for judging in the regional competition.”
“People are always surprised by the weight of our ‘1 bar bar’, a 1 inch square steel bar weighing approximately 15 pounds, so if you balance it on the back of your hand, it exerts the same pressure as the atmosphere at sea level”.
Mark Pendleton (ASTeC Vacuum Science Group)
A big hit with the school parties at the Big Bang was a Van de Graaff generator – this provided a constant source of excitement as numerous children stepped-up to experience the hair-raising effects of high voltage electrostatics. The day was quite warm and humid, conditions which often limit the performance of the Van de Graaff, but as the picture shows, both the Van de Graaff generator and the visitor’s hair rose to the occasion.
The Cockcroft Institute exhibit also included a 3D flythrough of the ALICE and EMMA accelerators which stimulated many interesting and insightful questions from visitors, and a fine beam electron tube (essentially a miniature particle accelerator) which allowed visitors to deflect an electron beam, and see the effects of a magnetic field or a change in electron energy on the beam’s path.
After the event, Lee Jones said “It has been a great day, and we have had a huge amount of interest in our exhibit, and in what we do at Daresbury Laboratory. The stand has been busy all day, and the team have been constantly engaged with school children. There has been a real ‘buzz’ of excitement from visitors to the Big Bang, and the Cockcroft Institute team members were very impressed with the various school projects submitted for judging in the regional competition.”