A practical demonstration at an Outreach event

Year 12 School Visits

Our Year 12 school visits are aimed at providing students with an experience that will enthuse them into considering taking physics at university.

The day usually comprises an introductory talk, a tour of the research facilities and a session in the first year lab. Experiments are chosen to complement the work done at AS level, but also to prepare them for Y13. A treatment of uncertainties is emphasised during the experiments which are demonstrated by physics postgraduate students.

An example of a Year 12 school visit

10:00 Welcome and refreshments
10:15 Introductory talk on the current research projects in the Department
11:00 Demonstration of low-temperature effects on the properties of materials
11:30

Tour of the Department's research facilities:

  • Low-Temperature Lab
  • High Energy Particle Physics
  • Biomedical Physics
  • Particle Accelerators
  • Semiconductor research
12:30 Lunch on campus (a chance for the students to explore the campus with postgraduate guides)
1:15

Experiments in the 1st Year lab:

  • Millikans experiment to find the charge on the electron
  • Electron beam deflection to determine the e/m ratio
  • Determining Planck's constant using the photoelectric effect
  • Alpha particle scattering: measuring the angles of deviation: the plot of log sinθ vs N shows a discontinuity at small angles
  • Measuring the speed of sound using ultrasonics
  • Measuring the speed of e.m. pulses down a coaxial cable
  • Measuring the wavelength of lines from a mercury lamp using a spectrometer
3:15 Depart

Meet the Team

Andrew Blake

Dr Andrew Blake

Lecturer in Experimental Neutrino Physics

Experimental Particle Physics

+44 (0)1524 595060 B032, B - Floor, Physics Building