University of Michigan News Service – UM News

Young physicists will compete in Ann Arbor

EDITORS: A list of competing communities appears at the end of this release. Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend. Call Elizabeth Branch, at (734) 764-5537, or enb@umich.edu, to make arrangements.

ANN ARBOR&#8212Some 100 eager physics students from high schools around the state are practicing and planning their strategies this week to get ready for the Physics Olympiad, a contest organized by the University of Michigan Department of Physics. The University’s Central Campus will be a hive of activity as the young scientists bounce laser beams through optical mazes, build Galilean telescopes, launch rockets, and design egg-catching machines on May 4.

Working in teams of two, the students will compete for medals in events with titles like “Circuit Wizardry” and “Motors and Microphones.” Following the competition, U-M physics Prof. Myron Campbell will present a “Physics Extravaganza,” guaranteed to amaze and entertain the student Olympians.

“Our main goal is to help high school physics teachers by providing a challenging and fun academic competition for their students,” said U-M laboratory supervisor Ramon Torres-Isea, who organized the event. “We also want to engage our own students and encourage them to assume responsibility for teaching science to others,” he added. The Society of Physics Students has been heavily involved in planning the competition and together with U-M professors will be actually conducting the various contests.

For more Olympiad information, see the Physics Department’s Olympiad Web site: http://www.physics.lsa.umich.edu/olympiad

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Participating high schools: