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Physics buskers join the fling at the Inverness Highland Games
Charlie Wallace
PR22(07)
Thu, 19 July 2007
Visitors to the Inverness Highland Games expect to be enthralled by caber-tossing, hammer-throwing and traditional highland dancing, all to sound of pipe bands making merry music. But are they ready to roll their sleeves up and join in with an act with a difference – Physics in the Field? The Institute of Physics is sending a crack team of physics buskers to four festivals this summer to challenge festival-goers’ perceptions of physics.
The Physics in the Field team of buskers’ latest stop will be at the Highland Games in Inverness over 21-22 July. During the course of the two days, they will perform eye-catching physics tricks to an unsuspecting audience.
Physics tricks are hand-held demonstrations using things you can find at home. Some are messy, some are noisy, but all of them are crowd pleasing and help illustrate different areas of physics. Visitors will also be encouraged to find out how to do the tricks themselves and give on-the-spot performances to their friends and families.
And for those visitors who can’t get enough, all the tricks performed by the team, including making balloon kebabs, launching Alka Seltzer rockets or turning pints of water upside down over a friend’s head without drenching them, are available on www.physics.org with full explanations.
“It’s brilliant working with the visitors because they are really interested in what we are doing and want to find out more,” said Liz Jeavans, outreach officer at the Institute of Physics. “What is really satisfying is when you show someone a trick, and they relate it to something they have come across in everyday life – but just hadn’t thought of it as physics before.”
The tricks are not just for young children, as the buskers will be making every effort to get adults involved as well. “We know that once adults have a go at the tricks, they’re hooked and go on to tell their friends about them. This really helps us in our aim of taking physics to people who wouldn’t actively seek it out,” said Caitlin Watson, the Institute’s physics in society manager.
The buskers can also reveal to interested visitors the physics behind the more traditional entertainments taking place at the Games. The next and final date after the Highland Games will be at the Green Man festival in August.
The Institute of Physics aims to promote opportunities for everyone to benefit from a high-quality physics education and hopes that the Highland Games experience will encourage young people to study physics, and make them and their families think about the opportunities physics can open up to them in their future careers.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Journalists are welcome to visit Physics in the Field at the Highland Games to interview the physics buskers or to take photographs.
For more information and to arrange interviews, please contact before the festival, Charlie Wallace, Press Office, the Institute of Physics, Tel: +44(0)20 7470 4896 or e-mail: charlie.wallace@iop.org.
During the Highland Games (21–22 July), please contact Liz Jeavans, outreach officer, on +44(0)7771 507 713.
2. Images are also available before the Games of the physics buskers in action. To receive jpegs, please contact Charlie Wallace, Press Office, the Institute of Physics, Tel: +44(0)20 7470 4896 or e-mail: charlie.wallace@iop.org.
3. Physics in the Field’s tour dates and statistics:
• East of England Country Show (audience numbers 100 000) 15-17 June at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.
• Bradford Mela (audience numbers 130 000) 7-8 July in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Cancelled due to adverse weather conditions)
• Highland Games (audience numbers 20 000) 21-22 July in Inverness, Scotland
• Green Man Festival (audience numbers 5000) 17-19 August in Brecon Beacons, mid-Wales.
Physics in the Field was organised following the success of Einstein @ Glastonbury in 2005 and Physics at the Green Man Festival in Brecon Beacons, mid-Wales, last year.
At both events, although festival-goers were surprised to find physics at a music festival, they were keen and willing to take part and find out more. Some festival-goers commented on how their attitudes towards physics changed after they took part in the activities.
4. Physics.org is a searchable database of physics resources, which matches a person’s questions, ages and knowledge to handpicked sites.
5. The Institute of Physics is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently over 34 000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.
6. Lab in a Lorry, the Institute’s mobile science lab for young people, will be visiting Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and Caithness during the months of August and September. Local school groups will take part in organised visits to the Lab to try and connect young people in the region to science
Designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, Lab in a Lorry offers 11-14 year olds the opportunity to explore science through specially created interactive experiments.
For more information about Lab in a Lorry, including details of its tour of the Highlands and schools that will be visited, please contact Ian Cuthbert, Lab in a Lorry Programme Manager, Tel: +44(0)20 7470 4936 or e-mail: ian.cuthbert@iop.org.
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