The University partnered with BREC Parks for a kid-friendly NanoDays event March 25 at the Highland Road Park Observatory to teach the public basic science concepts.
NanoDays is an annual “nationwide festival of programs about nanoscale science and engineering” and the potential future uses of nanotechnology, according to a news release from the LSU College of Science’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Assistant physics professor Juana Moreno provided several interactive presentations, including a kinetic versus regular sand activity and a demonstration to show how interacting with liquid crystals that are found in devices like TVs and cell phones can change their colors.
A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, Moreno said. People use devices every day that involve the nanoscale and do not realize it, which is why there are NanoDays to teach the community what happens at the nanoscale, Moreno said.
“It’s to make people more familiar with this technology,” Moreno said. “People use it every day, but they don’t realize the science behind it. [We want] to educate more people and make it more familiar to them.”
Simon Lorenzo, president of the Society of Physics Students, said they teamed up with Moreno to volunteer at the event. Members of this organization helped demonstrate experiments involving light and materials at the nanoscale.
Lorenzo said the goal of the club is to encourage excitement for and interest in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — fields.
“Anything where kids are excited about science or math, they can come ask questions, or we can help foster that kind of enthusiasm,” Lorenzo said.
BREC also gave tours of the telescope in the main observatory building during the event. Observatory manager Christopher Kersey said the Department of Physics and Astronomy owns the telescopes in the building while BREC manages the observatory.
NanoDays is just one of the events BREC hosts at this observatory. Other events include International Astronomy Day and Spooky Spectrum around Halloween. The observatory is opened for two major meteor showers, and it is also open most weekends for nighttime viewings.
No matter how much or how little someone knows about science, Lorenzo said there’s always something new to learn at NanoDays.
“It’s kind of a fun experience,” Lorenzo said. “I learn a lot. When I came [to NanoDays], I understood the physics behind it, but I didn’t know exactly that, for instance, churches in medieval Europe used gold particles to stain the glass. I learn a lot and I’m sure we all learn a lot from the volunteer work, so we both benefit.”