Physics To Go at the Devon County Show

Warm sunshine and big crowds greeted us at the 2009 Devon County Show.   Amongst the amazing variety of animal shows, displays and local traders, physicists from across the South West ran a hands-on science stand as part of the ‘Science WithinTent’ marquee for the second year running.  Along with the organisers – Devon & Cornwall STEMPOINT – we shared the tent with an interactive exhibition about Darwin, provided by North Wyke Research Centre, and Gary the Musical Clown, who entertained us all with his fun science & maths related tricks!

the balloon kebab challenge...

The record attendance at this year’s Show was reflected in the numbers of visitors to our tent, building from around 200 on the first day, to 400 on Friday and a massive 600 or more on the Saturday!  Visitors of all ages enjoyed the challenge of putting a kebab stick through a balloon without popping it; making enough straw oboes to fill an orchestra; and finding out all about the effects of friction with our inseparable books!  Other experiments which got people thinking were some amazing expanding marshmallows and balloons that stayed inflated without a knot; tame tornadoes and some highly ‘trained’ straws (actually Cartesian divers).  You can find all these and more on Physics.org.

All go at the Devon County Show...

Volunteers on the stand included students & researchers from Exeter and Bristol Physics Departments, physicists from the MET Office and members of the South West Branch of the Institute.  They worked tirelessly encouraging people to try out and explain the experiments.  Their enthusiasm for sharing the excitment of science ensured that despite the warm weather, many visitors commented that “Physics is Cool!”.

Hands-on physics stand in 'Science WithinTent' marquee