On Monday the 10th of February the Year 12 physics class visited the University of Canterbury

Our students spent the day learning about Rutherford’s experiments and radiation for their Physics topic, “Atomic and Nuclear Physics”. At the University of Canterbury Rutherford’s Nobel prize medal is displayed and we learned all about Rutherford’s famous gold foil experiment that split the atom. In the photos you can see students performing a dramatization of the experiment and the students acting as the scientist who discovered the atom. See the photo of Jefferson Brimon, AJ Belamino, and Paul Reyes acting as Rutherford’s gold foil in the famous atom-splitting experiment. Can you guess which famous scientists the students, Daniel Nieuwenhuize, Becky Bennet, Boadicea Lynch and Phoenix Evan are acting as in the photo?

In the afternoon we went to the radioactive labs where we held rods of Uranium and used Geiger counters to discover that carrots could stop some types of radiation. One of the most popular activities was playing with liquid Nitrogen. It was a great day of learning and experiencing the University of Canterbury.

Answer: Daniel Nieuwenhuize as Rutherford, Becky Bennet as Thomson, Boadicea Lynch as Bohr and Phoenix Evan as Dalton.