Every year, students from all over Germany visit the Ilmenau Physics Summer. 2022 with the anniversary edition: For the 20th time, the Institute of Physics invited to get a taste of the life of a physics student at the TU Ilmenau - with exciting internships, experiments and lectures. The topic this year is more topical than ever: "The physics of energy supply".
It's a picture-perfect autumn day: 16 degrees, blue skies and the sun shining in Ilmenau's best light. On a Monday morning in September, nearly 50 high school students stream into the Röntgen auditorium on the city campus. An exciting week awaits them, packed with practicals, experiments, lectures and leisure activities: At the Physics Summer of the TU Ilmenau, they experience first-hand the everyday life of a physics student.
From September 12 to 16, the Institute of Physics hosted an anniversary edition of Ilmenau's Physics Summer: For the 20th time, students were invited to experience typical student life at a university. The head of the Experimental Physics Group, Prof. Jörg Kröger, is responsible for the organization and happy that the offer has already existed for so many years. He looks with satisfaction at the number of participants:
There is always interest, but this year there are more than twice as many participants as in previous years. That's already a great thing, and I'm very pleased!
The rush may be due to the pandemic-related break or to this year's choice of topic - energy supply is more topical than ever before, says the professor. But the idea had been burning under Prof. Jörg Kröger's nails for several years:
It has long been known that the problematic climate change is due to man's reckless exploitation of fossil fuels. Young people in particular should form their own opinions, completely free of ideology and based on data.
The goal: to discuss alternatives to conventional energy supply and make a statement about climate compatibility. The young people should find out what the most efficient energy supply is, with physical justification.
Perhaps the students will come up with an idea that no one has thought of yet. The young people are making the future!
he says with shining eyes.
Group work in the physics laboratory
In the introductory session, the high school students are divided into six different groups, each focusing on a different topic: Wind, Water, Solar, Cores, Gas & Coal and Energy Storage. Together with their tutors, students of physics at the TU Ilmenau, the groups work out a presentation on their topic.
Henri, Felix and Ewaza spend the week dealing with the topic of nuclear energy. The three friends have traveled all the way from Wetzlar in Hesse. They learned about the physics summer from their physics teacher. But the enthusiasm for science has always been there in all of them:
Physics is a language we all speak. I'm fascinated by how everything around us can be explained in an understandable way
says Felix. Ewaza adds:
We look at phenomena and try to understand them. It fascinates me that you can use it to explain the whole world.
You get to the bottom of things and solve problems.
interjects 19-year-old Henri. With a casual manner, the friends sit in the seminar room and research facts about their lecture topic together with their group. Radioactivity, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion - together they puzzle and brainstorm about how to structure the lecture. All the students are interested and ask attentive questions, and their heads are spinning for more than two hours.
Of course, the leisure program is not neglected. A visit to the bc student club, tobogganing on the summer toboggan run or a guided tour of the city and campus: the students are shown all facets of Ilmenau student life.
Exciting lectures and experiments
On Wednesday, the practicals are on the agenda. "Photo effect", "Franck-Hertz experiment" and "Atomic spectrum": Under guidance, the students carry out experiments in the laboratory that physics students normally complete as part of their basic internship as an examination requirement. For 19-year-old Ewaza, the practical is her personal highlight of the week:
The series of experiments was definitely super cool and also helpful to get a taste of what it's like to work as a student at university. I had a lot of fun!
On the penultimate day, the participants of the physics summer are finally allowed to present their acquired knowledge of the last few days in 20-minute presentations in front of the assembled team. Felix, Henri and Paul stand in front of the packed X-ray lecture hall on Thursday afternoon and present their results on their main topic, nuclear energy. Technical terms such as stellarator, isotopes and plasma confinement come naturally to the students; Henri confidently and easily recalculates physical formulas on the large blackboard - he was not nervous. From self-made experiments and exciting facts to fun quiz questions, everything was included in the total of six lectures.
New this year are the final discussions on the last day. Director of the Summer School Prof. Jörg Kröger is counting on an insightful dialogue:
We want to review the week and draw a conclusion. Ideally, we will find a good solution that we can propose to the politicians.
The professor's great hope is that at least a small number of them will decide to study physics in Ilmenau as a result of the physics summer. 15-year-old Paul already knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up:
I want to study physics and math without a doubt, and I can imagine doing so here at the TU Ilmenau. It's in the middle of the forest, the surroundings are beautiful and it's quiet - perfect!
Report: Eva Seidl
Contact
Prof. Jörg Kröger
Head of the Experimental Physics I / Surface Physics Group