SRM-AP introduces astrophysics to school students
Neerukonda (Guntur district): SRM-AP hosted ‘Phy-Spark 3.0: Stars, Scopes and Spacetime’ on campus, as an outreach initiative for school students. A combination of lectures, experiments, demonstrations, and interactive sessions took place throughout the day-long programme introducing young students to the exciting fields of physics and astrophysics. About 120 students from Geethanjali School, Kunchanapalli, KV School, Nallapadu and Vijetha School, Guntur participated in the programme.
Dr Shivaraj Kandhasamy, renowned scientist from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune spoke on the detection of gravitational waves by LIGO. He explained how gravity shapes the fabric of spacetime and introduced the concept of gravitational waves. He walked through the historic Michelson-Morley experiment, the design and functioning of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), and the challenges of detecting such incredibly faint signals.
Dr Gangireddy Salla, Dr Ashmita Das, and Dr Krishna Prasad Maity from the Department of Physics delivered academic sessions on several intriguing topics such as ‘Telescope: Fundamentals and Designs’, Binary Star Systems and General Theory of Relativity. The lectures were followed by a lab visit and live demonstrations of telescopes, binary star experiment using LED bulbs, Michelson interferometer.
Through Phy-Spark 3.0, SRM-AP made complex concepts in physics and astrophysics accessible to school students.
The event was coordinated by Dr Pranab Mandal, Dr Gangireddy Salla and Dr Soumyajyoti Biswas of SRM AP.
