Physics workshop

A select group of students of the science stream attended a workshop on the role of physics in our everyday lives. The workshop, held at Birla Vidya Niketan on 17 July 2018 was conducted by Dr. Harish Chandra Verma, experimental physicist and retired professor at IIT, Kanpur.

The following students of class XII: Srishti Negi, Ayushi Verma, Supreet, Karan, Arjun Pasricha and Tanmaye Kohli were accompanied by their physics teacher Ms. Archana Raichandani, to the session. The workshop focused on incorporating concepts of science as we observe around us, into our teaching-learning process. An array of demonstrations were performed with the aim of illustrating how mundane textbook concepts can be made interesting by linking these with common phenomena in real life.

The extremely popular Japanese game 'Superball Sukhoi' was used to demonstrate the absorption of water by paper due to capillary action, which leads to the tearing up of the paper. Different papers like tissue paper, crepe paper and butter paper were pasted on a frame, to fish out as many balls as they could from a bucket of water filled with balls. The students were asked to pick out the maximum number of balls using these frames and hence comparing the extent of capillary action that took place in each case. Another interesting activity involved a metal bob immersed in water at varying depth. This action shed light on the various components of force on the bob, with variation in the height of its immersion.

A third experiment showed a glass jar filled with water at different levels. The images, when viewed through the jar, magnified or contracted according to the height of the water-thus altering its optical properties.

Dr. Verma concluded the workshop by emphasising the significance of not letting our minds lose their childlike curiosity.

Srishti Negi, class XII A.