Physics circus is a ball

Hundreds of people were lined up for the Circus of Physics at the Physics Open House hours before the show began.

"It totally blew me out of the water," John Armstrong said. Armstrong, an assistant professor of physics at Weber State University, was the main coordinator for the Physics Open House this past Friday. He said he could hardly believe how many people attended; many consider the Circus the crowning event.

"We had people lining up at 4:30 p.m. because we only had about 300 tickets," Armstrong said. And the eager crowd was much larger than 300.

At the Circus of Physics, WSU professors Colin Inglefield and Adam Johnston appeared to put their lives in peril to demonstrate the powers of physics. Both hour-long demonstrations were packed with curious spectators of all ages.

Armstrong said they will definitely need to expand accommodation for the Circus of Physics because of the extreme popularity for the event.

"Next year," Armstrong said, "we'll try to move the event into a room that seats about 350. We also might try to talk the demonstrators into performing four back-to-back sessions of hour-long performances, but you know how stars can be," he said with a laugh.

Aside from the Circus, there were plenty of activities and stations going on at the open house.

"Once we were through the initial circus rush," Armstrong said, "the atmosphere was pretty much just like a carnival."

The fair included workshops on astronomy, elemental metals and electricity. Participants could hear almost constant noise of bubbling, zapping and shattering as they walked the halls of the Lind Lecture Building. The entire physics faculty was involved in putting on the event, including physics department chair Brad Carroll. Carroll presented the "Incredible Expanding Universe" and participated on the "Ask a Physicist" panel.

"We were surprised and amazed at how scientifically literate and interested the community was," Carroll said. "We had some really great questions, even from some of the younger kids. People out there don't have the ability to access this kind of opportunity so it shows a real interest in how many of the community attended."

Carroll said more than 1,400 people showed up - more than double last year's attendance. He said he expects the open house to be even bigger next year.

"But hopefully not too much bigger," Carroll said. "I don't know if we can handle more."

Volunteer participation was critical to the success of the fair, but not hard to find according to Armstrong.

"Every single member of the faculty is involved," Armstrong said. "We have a pretty amazing faculty. They're all so involved and excited. It's easy to get them jazzed about physics.

Armstrong also credited the success of the fair to the help of 25 student volunteers.

"They were physics majors, math majors and friends of physics and math majors willing to help," he said. "They were students who worked nonstop for five hours and never complained when they didn't get a break. They have a passion for Weber and physics and were totally willing to help. You couldn't pay people to work that hard."

Carroll said the department was pleased and excited with the community's response to the fair.

"We want to get people interested in sciences," Carroll said, "and it'd be great if we could get some of these people to take classes, but basically we're just trying to spread the excitement we feel about physics."