‘Neutrinos’

Presented by Daniel Scully

Science Alive Gallery, Harlow Leisure Zone

Wednesday 21^st November 2012

6.30pm until 7.30pm

 A group of Year 7 and Year 10 students attended this talk and learnt a lot about neutrinos. Here a few things they learnt about neutrinos.

 · A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting subatomic particle.

· All evidence suggests that neutrinos have mass but that their mass is tiny even by the standards of subatomic particles.

· Neutrinos do not carry electrical charge, which means that they are not affected by the electromagnetic forces that act on charged particles such as electrons and protons.

· A typical neutrino can pass through normal matter unimpeded.

· Neutrinos are created as a result of certain types of radioactive decay, or nuclear reactions such as those that take place in the Sun, in nuclear reactors, or when cosmic rays hit atoms.

· Most neutrinos passing through the Earth emanate from the Sun.

Ben Humphries 7NLM: "I learnt a lot of things about quarks, electrons, protons and neutrinos."

Filip Kusnir 8CH: "The talk helped me understand particle physics. I enjoyed learning about matter and anti-matter and how it makes everything. An interesting and funny fact was that every scientist and physicist was proven wrong when they said that something was not possible. Because it was."

Students on the Trip: Ben Humphries 7NLM, Filip Kusnir 8CH, Daniel Coleman 10MR, Ashley Barnard 10MR, Michael Whitting 10PW, Bradley Smith 7KW, Eleanor Fleming 7DS, Shiv Sharma 8GM, Lily Stevens 7TS, Benedict Henstridge 8JK, Enny Nduka 7AS, Edward Thomas 7AS,

Staff on the trip: GW, AY

Mrs Wright

Science Curriculum Development Manager