2015 Student Physics Demo Show

Students Shine Light on Physics

The laws of Sir Isaac Newton and Michael Faraday are things people live by every day but they are also what seven students displayed to a filled lecture hall Wednesday night.

Dave Dunlap is a professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the person who put together the physics and astronomy demo at Regener Hall. Members from the Society of Physics Students UNM chapter, taught the hour-long demonstration with a little assistance from Dunlap.

The students presented physics tricks that ranged from showing how fiber optics works to making a cube float by superconductivity.

The year 2015 is the International Year of Light and many of the demonstrations based themselves on that premise. With the lights dimmed, green laser-lit water flowed into buckets, and an array of other demonstrations lit up the hall.

-- Daily Lobo

Members of the Society for Physics Students prepare for the evening's presentation backstage. Wheeling out the Giant Newton's Cradle to demonstrate conservation of momentum and energy. Professors Paul Schwoebel and David Dunlap set up the podium at the Fall 2015 Demo Night Magdeburg plates are used to demonstrate the power of atmospheric pressure. When air is pumped out, the plates contain a vacuum that cannot be pulled apart, even by enthusiastic audience members. Dr. Paul Schwoebel and grad student Josh Martin observe from the side. Liquid nitrogen cooling the high temperature superconductor for the levitating cube demonstration.