Small Particles, Big Experiments

What are the smallest building blocks of the universe and how are they held together to make the world we know?  Students in Devon & Cornwall will be finding out the answers to these questions and more in an Institute of Physics (IOP) talk entitled ‘Small Particles, Big Experiments’. 

Physicist Dr Helen Heath, who works for CERN and Bristol University, will be touring schools over a two-week period to explain how scientists are using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to probe the very heart of matter.

The talk is visiting nine Devon & Cornwall schools between Monday 19 and Thursday 29 April 2010.  It will be heard by more 3000 students aged 11 to 18, as well as community audiences at a number of evening lectures.  The tour has been made possible by sponsorship from the IOP South West Branch.

Probably the largest physics experiment in the world, Dr Heath will discuss the gigantic devices that form the LHC and how they are used to detect the tiniest particles that make up the world around us. 

With the help of some rather silly hats and a number of interactive experiments she will take the audience from the everyday to the world of the particle physicist.  Now that the record-breaking particle-smasher is fully operational, she will also be able to show the latest data being produced at CERN so that the audience may be some of the first to see evidence for the elusive Higgs Boson .

Alison Rivett, South West Regional Officer for the IOP, said: “This tour is one of many initiatives the IOP undertakes to engage young people about physics.  The LHC is such an exciting experiment that is taking particle physics into a whole new realm.  This talk is a great opportunity for students to gain an insight into the very latest physics research and be inspired by the amazing possibilities that it opens up.”