As promised a thread (17 tweets) with a selection of photos from the Live Science lecture last night. 200 students, 25+ demos & a team of 7 to setup. Thanks to @CocoLapre for the photos & a full list of thanks to everyone is at the end. First up dispersion & rainbows. 
After breaking up white light, we put it back together. Great chance to talk about how flat screen displays work at this point.
Geometrical optics can be fun! Make a lens at home from a glass of water. A simple USB document camera allows you to project these experiments so everyone can see.
The basics of reflection, refraction, Snell-Descartes and Total Internal Reflection are easily explained with a small tank of water and a laser pointer. With the lights out it is visible even at the back.
Talking about waves in general allows you to have fun with a vortex cannon. Before and After pics below - a fantastic photo capture from @CocoLapre here!
Light is an electromagnetic wave, so let's talk about electricity. A Van der Graaf with Aluminium pie plates is always fun!
A hair-raising experience though for volunteer @solenepaul who seemed rather surprised at the power of static electricity!
Magnetic levitation is always a crowd pleaser. This demo requires patience and practice to be able to do live though! Project on a screen with a USB camera as well.
Electromagnetic waves and polarization are subjects that go together naturally. Science meets Art using simply a monitor, some scotch tape and a polarizer. Talk about Klee if you want!
Hand out diffraction-grating glasses (get them from @SPIEtweets or @ArborSci for example) and watch a lecture hall full of first year students see quantum mechanics with their own eyes!
Exploring the electromagnetic spectrum & talking about photons is an easy introduction to UV and fluorescence. Coloured glass, olive oil and tonic water are easy to obtain and extremely impressive under UV illumination!
A new demo for this year inspired by @AaronSlepkov was plasma generation in a microwave using cut grapes. It worked really well and was visible even at the back of a large lecture hall. Amazingly bright when it gets going!
Lighting a fluorescent tube from the external E-field leaking from a plasma ball has so much physics in it! Great to do with student volunteers. Thanks again @SolenePaul
And of course liquid Nitrogen is always fun. First discuss states of matter, temperature & motion, and cooling. Balloons always make people smile. Explain the Leidenfrost effect as well!
Make a magic wand by fixing LEDs to the end of a bamboo stick. Then change the emission wavelength through cooling in liquid Nitrogen. It's not Harry Potter, it's Physics!
This lecture is 90-120 mins but we take a 60 min short version to local high schools, & have even invited high school classes to @FemtoSt
Live Science is immensely rewarding for everyone. Try it yourselves for #IDL2020 @IDLofficial @OpticalSociety @IEEEPhotonics @SPIEtweets
Live Science is immensely rewarding for everyone. Try it yourselves for #IDL2020 @IDLofficial @OpticalSociety @IEEEPhotonics @SPIEtweets
And most importantly, thanks again to @CocoLapre for the photos, all the volunteers who helped out, and @ClaireDupouet @Jacques_Bahi @LaurentLarger @FemtoSt @CNRS_Centre_Est @INSIS_CNRS @fc_univ @Univ_BFC for all the continued support.
