Earlier this month, most of the members of mods two and three physics class went to the University of Pennsylvania for a physics presentation at David Rittenhouse Laboratory.
The director of the demo lab, Bill Berner, gave one of his annual high school physics presentations, this time on the subject of light.
The group, led by teacher Mr. Mike Tirjan, arrived at the laboratory just as Mr. Berner had begun his demonstrations. The show ran for 2 hours, with a short 15 minute intermission for Mr. Berner to set up his next demos. Pretzels and drinks were provided by Wawa. Four other schools from around the area were also in attendance.
Mr. Berner’s goal for the presentation was to explain to high school students laws that are in most text books but are hard to demonstrate normally, or the equipment is just too expensive.
One of the more impressive demos was when he set up a video camera in real time at a upside down light bulb which was right in front of a mirror. While it was obvious there was only one light bulb, the video feed showed two, one on top of the other. This was to show how light bounces off mirrors and creates illusions.
After the show was done, the group ate lunch at Penn’s food court then got to tour the campus for 45 minutes before returning.