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Passione Fisica

2015_Naples_P__01This year Young Minds Naples Section has supported the event “Passione Fisica” , 3rd May 2015, at “Città della Scienza”, an interactive science museum in Naples. “Passione Fisica” is a day dedicated to popularization of science, in particular through Physics experiments. The event has seen the collaboration of Physics’ students, researchers and professors of University of Napoli “Federico II” Physics Department, researchers of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte in Naples and high school students. The event was born two years ago as a way to gather funds for the reconstruction of the science museum, which was destroyed by arson. Besides this aspect and, of course, spreading science culture and scientific knowledge, the aim of the event is to realize simple yet curious experiments with everyday materials in order to explain the physical principles beneath them. The event is designed both for adults and children with an interest in science. These experiments are reproducible at home and, most of all, fully interactive. Indeed both adults and children are engaged in discussions and attempts to understand the presented phenomena. This year, our intention has been to expand the range of experiments and physics fields. Creation of a non-Newtonian fluid using water mixed with potato flour in an inflatable pool: this experiment is particularly suitable for children because they can see a completely different behavior of matter, far from what they see in everyday life and, most of all, they can reproduce their own non-Newtonian fluid at home. Generation of plasmas through Microwave oven using simply a candle and a beaker on top of it: the intense electromagnetic field causes a ionization of the air subject to combustion which give rise to a blob of plasma. Measurement of the speed of light using a Microwave oven and a chocolate bar: without rotating the chocolate bar, the intense electromagnetic field melt the chocolate where the field is more intense; measuring the distance between this points and using the standard frequency of the microwave, one can give a rough estimate of the speed of light. Waveguide using a green laser and water: water flowing from a bottle can be used as a waveguide for laser light; if water is twisted using acoustic wave, the effect is even more astonishing.

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