We currently offer three projects based around some of the research being undertaken within the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
SCREAM (Cosmic Rays): Your school will be loaned a scintillator – photomultiplier tube particle detector and students will conduct experiments on cosmic-ray muons following an introductory experiment on lifetimes and progressing into their own independent projects. Please note that we can only offer this project to a limited number of schools and is only open to schools that have successfully undertaken a project with us previously.
Planet Hunting with Python (Exoplanets): This project will give your students experience in computer programming using the Python programming language. This is applied to data from the Kepler mission, which looks for exoplanets using the transit method.
ATLAS Open Data (Particle Physics): This is a fairly new project using publicly released data from the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in CERN. Students will go through the steps involved in finding the Higgs Boson, interactively utilising the statistical methods that particle physicists use to investigate fundamental physics.