Writes Chaitya J. (L6ths)
On a slightly damp Tuesday, eighteen Lower Sixths physicists and three teachers set out for the highlight of the physics year 鈥� a trip to Geneva and to CERN, the home of worldwide physics research.
After reaching our hostel at midnight, we set ourselves up for the three nights (well, two and a half at that point) that we were going to be staying before trying to get some sleep before we rose nice and early so we could get out of the hostel at 8, in order to get the tram to just before the French border where we entered the CERN complex. After examining with our recently learned knowledge of superconductors a piece of LINAC2, we met our tour guide for the day, an analyst on the ATLAS experiment.
We then crossed the border into France and went to the Control Centre for the LHC, where we learnt all about how the LHC, a 27km long underground circle where small particles (either protons or lead nuclei) are fired at each other at 99.999999999% the speed of light, worked and what it studied 鈥� how the universe was formed and the fundamental interactions between particles. We understood the physics, before being shown the Control Room itself, where the streams of particles are monitored and controlled. Afterwards, we made our way to the ALICE experiment, which is one of the four colliders along the LHC and studies the quark-gluon plasma that was the initial state of the universe. We got a presentation on how ALICE worked as well as seeing some of the parts of the actual detector, as well as being able to look at the control room, where the experiment was being reconfigured for use with lead nuclei after a period of use with protons. After lunch in the physicist鈥檚 cafeteria and time in the CERN museum, we created our own particle detectors using dry ice and were able to observe particles such as positrons and muons from secondary cosmic rays.
After our busy day at CERN, we had some pizza for dinner and then went on a walk around Lake Geneva. We then went to bed, ready for another busy day tomorrow.
We left the hostel the next day and made our way over to the Geneva Old Town where we explored for a bit (Swiss discount technology stores are just聽fascinating) and then made our own chocolates, putting our toppings on our own bars and creating swirls with different types of chocolate. We then made our way to Lake Geneva, where we spent a memorable afternoon swimming in the lake and not pushing each other or Mr Waterhouse in, and there was certainly no retaliation from Mr Waterhouse against any members of the student body. After a bit of a pull-up competition, and collective commiseration about sunburn, we made our way to the Geneva old town where we played an outdoor escape game, where we LARPed as secret agents trying to put together an antidote for a secret mind control virus, dashing around the Old Town, sight-seeing and problem solving, probably looking like idiots with our tablets and briefcase (but we felt cool so that鈥檚 all that matters). I am proud to say that I was on the winning team, under the guidance of Mr Cummings, having absolutely blown the competition out of the proverbial water. After this, we made our way to a traditional Swiss restaurant where we tried fondue and listened to traditional Swiss music 鈥搒ome of us even got involved with a performance of the musical bells.
We then returned to the hostel for one final night, before making our way to the airport next morning for our flight home. We all managed to get home (eventually), exhausted but happy after what I can confidently say is one of my favourite trips I鈥檝e completed with the school. A huge thank you from everyone who went on the trip to Mrs Mayadeen for organising such an amazing experience, and Mr Waterhouse and Mr Cummings for accompanying us and making the trip so memorable.
Connect on social media
