READ
ABOUT EVENTS spanning 2005/2006
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A
Melbourne audience ar RMIT enjoys the Arcs & Sparks
electricity show.
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ARCS
AND SPARKS DOWNUNDER
Ken
Skeldon toured Australia during the 2005 Australian
National Science Week delivering Arcs and Sparks and
other shows to public and schools audiences.
Venues
included Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Sydney, Perth,
Brisbane and Canberra, covered over a whistle-stop schedule
in August.
In
Canberra, Ken met up with the staff of Questacon, Australia's
largest science and technology centre.
INDIA
in DECEMBER
In
December 2005, Ken will be providing resource workshops
at the International Physics Show Workshop conferences
in Kolkata and Mumbai, India.
The
event is an initiative of India's first museum of science
and technology in Kolkata. Delegates involved in science
communiation from Australian, Canada, the UK and Japan
will be in attendance.
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A
Canberra audience hears about the ideas that Man never
landed on the moon. In this debate style lecture, Ken
was joined by Mike Dinn - the station director at the
Australian tracking statuon that acually relayed Neil
Armstrong's first steps to the lunar surface.
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New
interactive demos developed for the Hunterian Museum's
Kelvin exhibition.
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BRAND
NEW DEMOS
We
developed a new suite of standalone and interactive
demonstrations for the new exhibition on Lord Kelvin
at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.
This
permanent exhibition tells the story of one of Glasgow
University's most famous physicists.
Safety
at sea, global communications, measurement science,
refrigeration - there is almost no area of physics that
Kelvin left untouched. His impact on Victorian Science
was recognised by a Knighthood and then a peerage.
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MUST
SEE
If
you visit the Kelvin exhibition in Glasgow University's
Hunterian Museum, you will get a chance to see SEIDAM's
amazing wine glass resonator in action. Push the button
and watch the rim of the glass wobble back and forth
by almost 1cm!
For
more details about this demonstration please see our
Kelvin's Legacy range of lecture demonstration products.
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A standalone exhibit based on SEIDAM's
wine glass resonator demonstration.
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SCIENCE
MEETS ART
....
be the conductor of a symphony of plasma globes!
In
the 1850s, Lord Kelvin along with friend and colleague
James Joule, came up with laws that explained why a
rapidly expanding gas loses heat and drops in temperature
(it's how your fridge works).
In
our plasma wall, we use this principle in reverse. The
plasma inside the globes in having its temperature varied,
so causing expansion of the gas. The result is that
the globes emit sound.
In
the exhibit, we have arranged each globe to emit different
notes, which you can control by the movement of your
hand nearby the exbibit.
With
practice, you can play a melody on this highly unsual
blend of science and art.
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UNIQUE
STANDALONES
...
see Kelvin's name in high-voltage "lights"!
We
have produced a range of floor standing exhibits designed
to highlight some of Lord Kelvin's life and work.
See
how good a battery you can be with the giant mirror
galvanometer. Try out the giant hard disc drive, or
listen to classical music from a plasma loudspeaker.
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ONE
SMALL STEP - MANY GIANT MYTHS
...
debunking the moon hoax theories at the 2004 Orkney Science
Festival
Once
again, a team from Glasgow University headed to Orkney for
the Science Festival. This year, a brand new show developed
with funds from the particle physics and astronomy research
council (PPARC) was premiered. In the lively hour-long lecture,
a mix of demonstrations and computer graphics are used to
dispell the myth that man never set foot on the moon.
One
by one, the hoax
theories are laid to rest by using simple scientific arguments,
photography and demonstrations, many of which can be tried out
at home.
Royal
Institution of Great Britain Schools
Programme
The full scale Arcs and Sparks show formed finale lectures
for the London-based Royal Institution schools lectures this
year. In total, over 1000 children and their teachers packed
into the famous lecture theatre at the RI building to see
the show. Interestingly, the RI Faraday theatre venue is one
of the few places actually designed first and foremost as
an arena to show off scientific research and perform lecture
demonstrations. In the first instance, the size of the 200-year
old theatre was thought too small to hold the full electricity
show, but in fact, due to the theatre's design as a demonstration
venue, it turned out much easier to perform than at many halls
with 2 or 3 times the stage area.
Presenting the Arcs and Sparks Electricity
Show at the historical Faraday Lecture Theatre at the RI building
in London. In this very room, Faraday himself relayed many
of his pioneering discoveries to his fellow peers, as well
as to the public and invited schools. The Royal Institution
Christmas lectures are presented and televised from this venue
every year.
The
RI London is probably the most fitting venue that the Arcs
and Sparks show could be performed in, since many of the concepts
covered in the lecture, such as electromagnetic induction
and electromagnetic machines, like the transformer, were actually
discovered and pioneered by Faraday in the same building.
This gives the show content a unique sense of historical significance
and presence.
The
Moray Science Festival 2003
The
Institute of Physics and the Moray Science Festival provided
funding for over 20 shows given at the Moray Science Festival
2003, chosen for the first time to coincide with National
Science and Technology Week. A combined audience of over 1000
enjoyed the show, presented this year by Lousie Reynolds and
Ken Skeldon.
Louise Reynolds helps demonstrate the power
of magnetism with two volunteers at the Moray Science Festival.
Over the course of three days, 20 shows were presented to
a combined audience of over 1000 children and public.
The
Royal Institution of Great Britain Regional Schools Programme
Victoria
Wright and Ken Skeldon toured around Yorkshire with the Arcs
and Sparks Electricity Show, on a schools lecture tour sponsored
by the Royal Institution of London. During the run, which
lasted a week, the show was seen by over 2000 school students,
from upper primary right through to sixth form.
An audience of 300 pupils eager to volunteer for demonstrations
when the
Arcs and Sparks show visited Salt Grammar School in Shipley.
To
aid with the educational value of the show, the deliveries
were tied into key stages 2 to 4 for the electricity aims
of the National Curriculum. The show was very well received,
and in all, over twenty schools saw the spectacular stage
demos involving van de Graaff generators, induction coils
and Tesla coils.
Some pictures from the Royal Institution Schools Programme.
Top Left: The collapsible Faraday cage with a brave teacher
inside.
Top Right: Physics teacher Philip Britain gets lit up with
a demonstration
of lighting without wires using a small Tesla coil. Bottom:
School children fall
over themselves trying to nominate their respective teachers
for the next
high-voltage dmeonstration!
The
specially scripted lecture was also made more dynamic by the
presence of three of SEIDAM's new Kelvin's Legacy demonstration
products. These were the VG3 giant van de Graaff generator
with half-metre dome, the TC700 Tesla coil and the unique
human-sized collapsible Faraday cage. Schools audiences were
spell-bound when they saw their teachers being zapped by the
half-million volts lightning from the Tesla coil protected
by the metal mesh sides of the collabsible cage. The cage
is made of a mesh so fine, that it is almost transparent,
allowing the audience to clearly see the person inside as
the sparks kit!
Earlier
Events: 2002
The
12th International Orkney Science Festival
During
the 12th Orkney International Science Festival a team from
Glasgow University conducted schools shows and events as well
as public presentations, workshops and lectures to a combined
audience of around 1000 people. Highlights included the new
Mysteries of Science Show, the touring round Mainland Orkney's
primary schools with the new TC600 Tesla Coil and workshops
tied into the schools electricity projects where we gave away
over 150 electromagnet kits and around 100 electric flees
kits.
The Orkney 2002 team. Clockwise from top left we have Louise
Reynolds, Jennifer Toher, Billy Dunne, Peter Murray, Ken Skeldon,
Vic Wright and Derek Shanks.
The
trip was sponsored by the Institute of Physics, through a
promotion of physics grant and through Ken Skeldon's role
as IOP Physics Communications Fellow 2002.
The
Moray Science Festival 2004
Ken
Skeldon and Cathy Wyse from Glasgow University took shows
to the schools and public of Elgin and surrounding areas.
The events ran for two days and accompanied a comprehensive
range of activities and performers from across the UK.
The schools of Moray being electrified by one of our
science shows delivered at the 2004 Moray Science Festival
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