How many physicists does it take to change a lightbulb? On a beautiful day in late September a group of excited Middle 5 students set off to Cambridge to find out. And to learn more about Physics at Work.

With an option of eighteen workshops, not even Schrödinger’s cat could have visited them all.  Therefore we were all split up into groups, each group visiting six completely different workshops. My favourite was about Quantum materials where, using a combination of superconducting blocks at -196 degrees Celsius, magnets and liquid nitrogen, I was able to see real life levitation. In close second was a workshop led by Rolls-Royce. Here we learnt about jet-engines, nuclear power (especially for submarines) and what the future holds for Rolls-Royce. We even got to make our own models of the jet engines.

Overall a very enjoyable and fascinating day, taking theoretical concepts from our studies and seeing how they’re applied in the real world.  And you only need one applied physicist to change a light bulb. But zero theoretical physicists. They’d just change the room. Everything’s relative. Apparently.

by Madison – Middle 5 (Year 10).