The Amsterdam Physics Show aims to break the stereotype that physics is boring
Physics is more than just solving equations. That is what UvA students want to show in the Amsterdam Physics Show, a theatre performance that makes physics experiments accessible to a wide audience. “Having fun and explaining physics is a great combination.”
On Thursday evening, 5 March, around seventy spectators gather in a lecture hall at the Science Park. That number is higher than expected: thirty people had registered online. They include physics lecturers, parents with children and a number of secondary school pupils. Physics students are sitting on the back benches drinking beer.
They have come to see the show The Science of Magic. A show created by students from the Institute of Physics (IoP), under the guidance of physicist and poker player Marcel Vonk, which revolves around explaining physics experiments.
In a nutshell, the story is about a physics PhD student who is sent back to the Middle Ages by an accident in the laboratory. There she meets a mysterious wizard who uses “magical experiments” to swindle money from the common people. The plot is easy to guess: the PhD student wants to expose the wizard and explains the physics behind the “magic” in each experiment.
“No, just physics,” says the physics PhD student, ironically played by the only non-physicist but a communications student. And she explains how it works. “The sound wave increases the density of the air in certain places, causing the gas to burn harder and flare higher.” In addition to Rubens’ tube, which makes sound waves visible, a water rocket, the principle of induction and a Van de Graaff generator that creates lightning bolts are also featured.
Murphy’s Law
The show is inspired by the Bonn Physics Show, conceived by particle physicist Herbert Dreiner, who always found the explanation of physics boring. In Germany, Dreiner is a phenomenon. His shows on particle physics sell out venues worldwide.
The physics students at the University of Amsterdam could learn a thing or two from this. This is the second time they are staging the Amsterdam Physics Show at the Science Park – this year under the name The Science of Magic – and the show is more like a school performance than a theatre production. There are costume changes on stage, a homemade tree as a prop, and much of it follows Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong, does go wrong.
And that is precisely what makes the show so endearing. The actors are clearly enjoying themselves and know how to get themselves out of awkward situations with dry humour. When the gas bottle won’t seem to close, the magician, played by student Thomas Timmerman, dryly remarks: “righty tighty, lefty loosey”. And they are in good hands with the physics enthusiasts in the audience. When an experiment finally works, there is loud applause.
Sparks and explosions
That is also why students signed up. “I wanted to do something more social than just pure physics,” says student Thomas Timmerman, prior to the performance. “The physics programme at the UvA is very theoretical, so it’s nice to be involved in experiments in this way as well.”
“Sparks and explosions are ultimately what we do it for,” adds student Paulina Hernandez Sainz, who plays the magician’s assistant in the show. “You know the laws of physics, but as a physics student you don’t often get to see them in action. Having fun and explaining physics is a great combination.”
With the Amsterdam Physics Show, the students want to break the persistent stereotype that physics is boring. Paulina: “That’s why we also invite secondary school pupils to the show. They often think that physics is just about solving equations on a whiteboard and don’t see the magic in it.”
There is plenty of enthusiasm among the students to expand the show further. Paulina: “To my fellow students, I would like to say: sign up. We’ll be back next year. This is just the beginning.”
The Amsterdam Physics Show will be performed on Friday 6 March at 7 p.m. and on Saturday 7 March at 3 p.m. at Science Park Building 904, room C1.110. Admission is free.
