Particle Physics

A group of seven AS physics students from NULC sixth form were given a fantastic opportunity to attend a Particle Physics Workshop at University of Birmingham on Wednesday 4 December. 

The day was for only 30 students from across the West Midlands and started with a lecture about Particle Physics by Dr John Wilson, who is a member of the University's Particle Physics Research Group.  John followed on from the work that students are studying as part of their AS level course, and discussed the research that is taking place at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.  Students were then given hands-on demonstrations of particle physics detectors: from cloud chambers to spark chambers and cosmic ray measuring devices.

In the afternoon, they worked in pairs on computers analysing some data from the Atlas detector at CERN.  This was an excellent introduction to physics at degree level, and it gave NULC students the opportunity to meet Birmingham University students, and look at the University campus.