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Institute of Physics schools and colleges lecture tour 2007 begins in Brighton
Physics News
30 January 2007
Institute of Physics schools and colleges lecture tour 2007 begins in Brighton
Have you any bright ideas about light? About what it really is? How it flows? How one colour is different from another? Better still, can you say how the coloured wings of a butterfly are helping create car paint and make-up that can change colour? Physicist Dr Pete Vukusic is aiming to answer these and many other questions when Light Fantastic: the Science of Colour, the Institute of Physics 2007 Schools and Colleges’ lecture begins touring this week (29 January 2007). The free, hour-long interactive talk is aimed at 14-16 year old schoolchildren.
Pete, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Exeter said: “Talking about the complex physics found in insects and other animals and relating it to something with which students are familiar is a great way to get them interested in science. The physics behind the vivid blue of a butterfly or the white glow of a beetle is now being used to create many new products and technologies.”
“I explain how the surfaces of the wings of a butterfly are composed of thousands of very small scales and it is from these that their wing colours and patterns originate and how this concept is being used by a cosmetics firm to create make up that changes colour depending on where it is viewed from or when someone moves their head. I also show a sample of a new material being developed in Japan that changes colour as it moves which is another example of how industry is starting to mimic the physics of nature.”
The lecture includes interactive activities such as getting to know how colour vision in our eyes works, demonstrations - there'll be lots of multi-coloured insects and bird feathers on display - and movie clips of cars that change colour as they turn corners – another application of the physics found in nature. Students will also learn about how insects have evolved to use and produce colour for camouflage or for bright visibility.
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