Kids get hands-on science lessons at Weber State’s annual physics night
Zi Scovill screams as he watches his rocket fly over the Tracy Hall Science Center during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. This was the tenth year of the annual free community event put on by WSU's physics department.
Lorien Bowns, 7, giggles as static electricity causes her hair to stand on end during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
Colin Indlefield, the chair of the Physics Department at Weber State University, lays back on a bed of nails during the "physics circus" at WSU's Physics Open House on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
Ethan Fernandez, 8, blows bubbles through a piece of PVC pipe during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. The evening featured interactive science experiments, a physics circus, planetarium shows and more.
OGDEN — Kiley Spirito pushed two large black suction cups together and asked the group of young children standing around her at Weber State University’s Physics Open House if anyone thought they were stronger than she.
A few brave young contenders stepped up and squared off with Spirito, a visiting physics instructor, grabbing one suction cup handle and pulling with all their might, but none prevailed.
“There’s nothing holding this together, no super glue, no tricks,” Spirito said, easily pulling the cups apart herself by giving them a twist, “It’s atmospheric pressure.”
Down the hall in a room lit only with Christmas lights, physics student Drew Peterson was showing a family how they could see what was directly behind them by looking through a large convex lens.
“It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” he asked.
These were just some of the many experiments, shows and hands-on activities at Weber State’s 10th Annual Physics Open House.
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Zi Scovill screams as he watches his rocket fly over the Tracy Hall Science Center during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. This was the tenth year of the annual free community event put on by WSU’s physics department.
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Lorien Bowns, 7, giggles as static electricity causes her hair to stand on end during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
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Colin Indlefield, the chair of the Physics Department at Weber State University, lays back on a bed of nails during the “physics circus” at WSU’s Physics Open House on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
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Ethan Fernandez, 8, blows bubbles through a piece of PVC pipe during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. The evening featured interactive science experiments, a physics circus, planetarium shows and more.
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Kids play with oobleck, a substance made of water and corn starch that acts as both a solid and a liquid, during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
Physics professor John Armstrong said the event drew roughly 200 attendees and gave his department a chance to show off their new home in the $77 million Tracy Hall Science Center.
“We have all this new lab space. We have a scanning electron microscope. We’ve got a materials lab, and we hired new faculty to build solar cells,” he said.
The four-story, 189,544-square-foot building opened this fall and houses seven of Weber State’s science departments.
Although some of the labs had hands-on components aimed at kids, Physics Club President John Nikoloff said the event was for everyone, parents included.
“We don’t want to just influence the kids; we want to influence everyone to be more interested in science and physics, of course,” he said. “We need more scientists in this field.”
Many at the event gathered at the Physics Circus to watch two professors do what appeared to be magic, only to learn they were using scientific methods.
BENJAMIN ZACK/Standard-Examiner.
Kids play with oobleck, a substance made of water and corn starch that acts as both a solid and a liquid, during the Physics Open House at Weber State University on Friday, Oct. 14, 2016.
Outside, physics student Liz Jenkins was working with kids as they played in Oobleck, a mixture that was one part water and two parts cornstarch.
The substance feels like a solid when squeezed or punched but runs like a gooey liquid when scooped or touched lightly.
Jenkins said, as someone whose father fostered her interest in science, it was fun watching students react to the strange mixture and try to figure it out.
“They really like sticking both hands in it and playing with it, and then if you tell one of them to try picking it up they all do and they start experimenting with it,” Jenkins said.
Contact education reporter Anna Burleson at aburleson@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnagatorB or like her on Facebook at Facebook.com/BurlesonReports.
