9/30/2010
If you didn’t have a chance to find out why the sky is blue instead of red at last week's Farmer's Market, you’ll have another chance on October 9 at Science at the Market: Locally Grown—v2.0.
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If you didn’t have a chance to find out why the sky is blue instead of red at last week's Farmer's Market, you’ll have another chance on October 9 at Science at the Market: Locally Grown—v2.0.
Researchers from the Department of Physics--ranked among the top 10 in the United States by the National Research Council--will be meeting their neighbors and answering questions about science at the Urbana Farmer’s Market on Saturday, October 9, from 8 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
Children are especially encouraged to bring their questions, meet real scientists, and try out our very cool “singing” magnets.
“We had a great turn-out on September 25, and people asked us such thoughtful questions, ranging from why do bathroom mirrors tend to fog from the top down, to how did the moon form?” said Dr. Inga Karliner, organizer of the event. “Science at the Market: Locally Grown is the newest part of our department’s ongoing efforts to get kids excited about science and to make science accessible to our neighbors in the community.”
Scientists staffing the booth on Saturday will include physicists Paul Goldbart, an expert on why rubber is “rubbery” and how “liquid crystals” and “nanowires” work, and Jon Thaler, who is building a 3200-megapixel camera to take photographs of billions of remote galaxies too faint to be studied before now.
If you cannot come to Urbana on Saturday, you can also submit your question online to “Ask the Van,” (Physic Van Answer Line) or browse some of the nearly 4000 questions that UI physicists have answered for curious people from all over the world.
Urbana’s Market at the Square, one of Illinois’ largest farmers’ markets, is held in the Lincoln Square parking lot at the corner of Vine and Illinois streets every Saturday morning from May through October.
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Contact: Inga Karliner, Department of Physics, 217/333-9358, karliner@illinois.edu.
For more information on Science at the Market: Locally Grown, visit http://engage.illinois.edu/entry/4998.
Writer: Celia M. Elliott, Department of Physics, 217/244-7725.
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor.