STREAM: Maiden Edition

First times are always special. STREAM was conceived in 2019 as a way of getting young school-going minds interested in science . All of the four departments came together to prepare short demonstrations on a diverse range of fields.

We also played our part in this endeavor by presenting experiments on various topics in physics to the young inquisitive minds.

Missed the event?

No worries!

Here we give an outlook of what we had to offer on the 2nd of February, 2019.

In the World of Particles

From questions like "Is matter discrete or continuous?" to performing experiments to search for new particles beyond the standard model, science has progressed a lot. This was a presentation to show the students the physics at the atomic and nuclear scales, the concepts of quarks and gluons, the strong force and the colliders from where we learnt about these particles!

The presentation can be viewed here.

Newton's Cradle

This simple setup was designed to demonstrate a basic principle of Classical Mechanics. Newton's Cradle demonstrates the conservation of energy and momentum. It also shows the relation between time period and length of pendulum. A combination of Simple pendulums of different length here, oscillating together, forms a beautiful pattern to display.

Uphill Rolling of Double Cone

A layman would expect any body to roll downhill on a sloping track. However, much counter-intuitive as it might be, a double cone-shaped object can roll uphill! Surprised? Well, the catch lies with the center of mass. The uphill track is so designed that the center of mass of the system lies higher at the lower end of the slope and vice-versa. The trajectory then follows the potential energy gradient.

Electromagnetic Train

The interlinked nature of electricity and magnetism was shown with the help of a very simple apparatus. A battery with neodymium magnets attached to each end was inserted into a solenoid . The moving magnets induced a current in the solenoid which produced its own magnetic field which provided the push. Real-life applications like Maglev trains were also discussed.

Guiding Light Waves using TIR

Does light always have to travel in a straight line? Or its path can be tampered using some simple techniques? Using Total Internal Reflection we demonstrated that, a flow of water can make the path of light follow it. This in-turn explained the working of the Optical Fiber Cables and numerous other applications of TIR in this modern world.

Radio and Optical Telescope

Optical telescopes are known to be widely used in backyard and advanced astronomy around the globe. But there are some phenomena that are hidden to the human eye and can be sensed only in wavelengths outside the visible spectra, one of them being the radio wavelength. The Astronomy club thus, designed a working Radio telescope, which was demonstrated along with our optical telescopes. Our telescope could detect signals from the Sun and nearby Radio sources.

Stellar Structure and Evolution

One of the most mesmerizing stuff in the universe is "STARS"! This presentation, with the aid of 3D wall models, explained the fundamental structure and components of star and how, depending on their masses, different stars evolve along different lines to their magnificent forms and lead to the plethora of fascinating phenomena we observe.

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