schools Archives | ELEMENTS

Students dove deep into nuclear physics during Girls’Day

Phyllis Mania — Thu, 02 May 2024 11:48:24 +0000

At the end of April, the annual Girls’Day took place at the Technical University of Darmstadt with ten students aged 13 to 17 from all over the Rhine-Main area. They took a tour of the S-DALINAC with Michaela Arnold and got to see the electron accelerator from up close. After, Radostina Zidarova explained nuclear physics in more detail while the participants happily arranged “neutrons, protons, and electrons” made from candy to grasp the meaning of isotopes and other concepts. Almudena Arcones later joined the group to discuss her career in physics and what the everyday work life as a scientist looks like.

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Girls’Day 2024 with ELEMENTS

Phyllis Mania — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 09:56:44 +0000

25.04.2024

On this year’s Girls’Day, our visitors go on a journey to the smallest particles of the Universe. They take part in a live tour of the particle accelerator S-DALINAC in Darmstadt, where electrons can be accelerated close to the speed of light. The students also have the chance to meet various physicists and ask them anything about their work.

The Girls’ Day is a nationwide career and study orientation day that introduces girls to professions or fields of study in which women make up less than 40 percent of the workforce.

Where? Institute for Nuclear Physics, TU Darmstadt
When? 25 April 2024

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Children’s University explores spectra of stars with Camilla Juul Hansen

Phyllis Mania — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 20:22:00 +0000

Explaining spectroscopy to a lecture hall filled with elementary students is quite a challenge, but ELEMENTS’ Principal Investigator Camilla Juul Hansen happily took on the task. On the 20th anniversary of the Children’s University in Frankfurt, she guided 3000 excited attendees through a journey exploring the history of astronomy and the discovery of elements in the universe.

With the assistance of experimental physicist Tanja Heftrich, the children learned about the colors of light, how telescopes work, and that different elements are visible in different spectra. Judging from their excitement and their performance in the quizzes, many students share our enthusiasm for the formation of elements.

You can watch the recording of the talk here. Learn more about this year’s Children’s University here.

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Annual Science Day highlights career paths for thousands of students

Phyllis Mania — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 07:29:00 +0000

Once again, ELEMENTS had the opportunity to participate in the “Tag der Naturwissenschaften” (Science Day) at Riedberg campus. This annual event supports high school students in their subject choices for the later years of school.

The Science Day, a regional tradition for 21 years, drew 2,500 attendees from the Rhine-Main area. Among the various topics covered, Jan Michel conducted two informative workshops introducing students to elementary particles, the building blocks of our world.

Learn more about the “Tag der Naturwissenschaften” (in German).

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Exploring Neutron Stars and Inspiring Futures: Girls’Day at ELEMENTS

Phyllis Mania — Tue, 02 May 2023 14:07:23 +0000

12 kilometers shrunk to 50 centimeters, accompanied by 12 enthusiastic female students aged 12 to 15 delving into its layers. That sums up this year’s Girls’Day at ELEMENTS, held on April 27th at Campus Riedberg. The object of interest was a neutron star. ELEMENTS has developed a scaled model of this astronomical object for science communication, allowing hands-on exploration. The exhibit made its debut at Girls’Day, impressing participants with its “adorable” quarks (as one participant put it).

Camilla Juul Hansen, professor of observational astrophysics, explained neutron star formation using balloons. The girls also enjoyed a tour led by physics PhD candidates and members of the equality council, Angelina Geyer and Laura Sommerlad, exploring the experimental hall and vacuum behavior of materials. A chocolate marshmallow emerged as a favorite, expanding and returning to its original form. After lunch and insightful discussions about physics careers, the participants left with a deeper understanding of our universe and possible career paths.

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300 students get up early to learn about neutron stars

geiss — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 19:35:09 +0000

Last weekend, the popular event series Saturday Morning Physics at TU Darmstadt featured a lecture by ELEMENTS PI Achim Schwenk, who introduced the high school students to neutron stars. Almost 300 attendees had the chance to learn about everything evolving around these extreme astronomical objects, from elementary particles and supernovae to the detection of pulsars and gravitational waves. Getting up early on a Saturday is not only worthwhile for the students, though: “I especially enjoyed the many good questions and the discussion with the students”, Schwenk says.

Saturday Morning Physics is still running until 9 December 2022. See here for the detailed programme (in German).

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Schools get the chance to “meet a scientist” from ELEMENTS

geiss — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 19:33:26 +0000

Starting next week, students once again have the chance to ask scientists of GSI about their research and life in the lab. Principal Investigator Michael Block, who studies superheavy elements, is one of them. On 28.11., 30.11. and 01.11., school classes can register for a Zoom meeting. Find out more about the project and how to join here and here.

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ELEMENTS joins Science Day to inspire pupils

geiss — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:20:19 +0000

Next week, two of our researchers take part in the yearly “Tag der Naturwissenschaften” (Science Day) at Campus Riedberg, Goethe University. On this occasion, schools from all over Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main area visit the University to attend talks by scientists from various fields and other events that help them chose their majors in the final years of high school. Christian Ecker and Jan Michel will introduce the pupils to neutron stars and elementary particles.

More information on the “Tag der Naturwissenschaften” is available here (in German).

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