Accelerator Outreach kicks up a notch
Last Saturday was a hot day for our QUASAR Group’s effort to promote accelerator science among the public and attract youngsters to this exciting field of science and technology.
The first highlight was a live radio interview involving Prof Carsten Welsch and Lina Hoummi in BBC Manchester’s breakfast show. The interview focused on the societal impact of particle accelerators, the importance of fascinating children for science and technology, and the startling claim that one can make a particle accelerator with a salad bowl.
The salad bowl accelerator was subsequently demonstrated in a live broadcast via BBC Manchester’s Facebook live page, reaching to thousands of viewers.
The visit to BBC Manchester studios was a prelude to the CoderDojo at Beamont Collegiate Academy in Warrington, the only STEM assured academy in the UK, and home to FabLab.
The CoderDojo is a volunteer-led technology event for young people and their parents, where children between 7 and 17 learn how to code, develop websites, fly drones, or build robots. Accelerator experts and students from our department participated in the CoderDojo for the first time, spicing it up with some exciting accelerator physics experiments, which were attended by almost 100 people.
In addition to watching the salad bowl accelerator in action, children and adults had the chance to build their own rail guns and get their hair standing on end with the aid of a Van de Graaff generator, while learning about the importance of particle accelerators for science and society.
To find out more about the demonstrations activities, and how to build the salad bowl accelerator visit our videos on YouTube: