The 23rd Physics Week took place this week, at Alameda campus, under the motto “Inventions that changed the world”. As in previous years, NFIST organised the event that brought together more than 2800 students from Basic and Secondary school.
Schools are challenged to bring their students to the event and NFIST takes care of the rest. Lectures, workshops and experiments are organised, stimulating and captivating the young participants. Students have the opportunity to see more than 10 experiments and to learn more about Physics.
These experiments will allow students to better understand the Physics they study in books. For those students who are not yet familiar with Physics, it will be easier when the time comes. Black holes become easier to perceive through the gravitational “bed” and the spheres that are thrown into it; and the wave behaviour in the Rubens Tube captivates everyone. However, the Van de Graaff generator causes the most reactions. Besides creating chain shock and making the hair stand up, the generator helps to understand how electrical charges work.
““Inventions that changed the world” is the motto for this year’s edition. Each experiment is based on a very important experiment in the history of mankind”, explains Rita Silva, president of NFIST. “We are very pleased to have participants not only from Lisbon, but also from Porto, Grândola, Évora and Caldas da Rainha”, she adds.
“This event stimulates students’ curiosity. Students ask a lot of questions about Physics in general and also about our course. Yesterday we had a boy who came with a page full of questions”, shares Bernardo Barbosa, vice president of NFIST. Bringing young people closer to physics is the goal of this event. “We try to improve this event every year. We organised new experiments for those students who come a second time. The week before this one is quite intense and demanding, but in the end the feeling is very good, because we feel we were able to show Physics and its importance”, says Rita Silva.
The Physics Week will run until next Saturday, February 22. The organisation has prepared an open day so that families, children and adults, can explore the world of Physics.
