UBC Physics Circle

Are there giant ants in outer space? How is DNA crammed into the cell nucleus? How many Starbucks stores in Seattle? Can you extract information from a black hole?

Physics provides a powerful set of tools for understanding the world around us. The UBC Physics Circle invites motivated high school students (grades 10–12) to join us as we build up this toolset, and apply it to everything from buying a cup of coffee to the deepest mysteries of the cosmos. Each meeting features a guest lecture by a UBC professor or student, or an on-campus lab tour at UBC Point Grey. Past topics include dark matter, music, molecular dreidels and quantum gravity. Lectures are followed by pizza and problem-solving sessions, guided by UBC physics students. While our problem sessions can prepare attendees for competitions (such as the CAP Prize exam and the Sir Isaac Newton Exam), our main goal is to foster curiosity, creativity, and a sense of community.

Physics Circle meetings consist of 2-hour sessions on Thursdays (from 5:15–7:15 PM), occurring every 2–3 weeks (starting October 3, 2019). They are held in the Hebb building, UBC Point Grey Campus, in room 212 unless otherwise noted. Please email physics.circle@phas.ubc.ca if you have any questions.

We strongly encourage students underrepresented in STEM – girls, Indigenous youth, and those from underprivileged communities – to participate. A small fee is collected to cover the cost of pizza. However, no student will be turned away for the lack of funds.

Features

Meetings start with lectures. Typically, a UBC physicist will introduce their research, advanced physics concepts, some applications of physics, or ideally all three (5:15–6:00).
Lectures are occasionally replaced by on-campus lab tours.
After the lecture/lab tour, students are let loose on a fun and challenging problem set (6:00–7:15). This is an informal setting where students can explore, ask questions, and learn actively together.
Physics Circle volunteers write problem sets and provide guidance, as well as occasional problem-solving tutorials. Sets will include both competition-style questions and explorations beyond the high school syllabus.
Pizza and refreshments are provided.

Virtual Physics Circle (2020)

We will be running a short lecture series on Zoom called the Hacker’s Guide to Physics.

June 25, 2020. Einstein’s atomic escapades. David Wakeham. (Register here to attend!)
June 11, 2020. Random walks. David Wakeham.
May 28, 2020. Fermi estimates. Pedram Amani.
May 14, 2020. Dimensional analysis. David Wakeham.

Meetings (2019–2020)

Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, on-campus classes and activities at UBC have been cancelled, and university staff are working remotely. In consequence, Physics Circle meeting have gone online until further notice.

[postponed] April 30, 2020. TBA. Andre Marziali.
[postponed] April 16, 2020. TBA. Joanna Karczmarek.
[postponed] April 2, 2020. Approaching open-ended problems in physics. Alex May.
[postponed] March 19, 2020. Revolutionizing physics education. Jared Stang.
March 5, 2020. Particle physics and the Standard Model. Robin Hayes.
February 20, 2020. Quantum computing. SBQMI: Diversifying Talent in Quantum Computing (DTQC).
February 6, 2020. Gravitational waves. Jess McIver.
January 23, 2020. Astronomy. Deborah Good.
December 5, 2019. What do condensed matter physicists do? Mona Berciu.
November 21, 2019. The space weather of ultracool dwarfs. Anna Hughes.
November 7, 2019. Rainbows. Pedram Amani. (Activity sheet and solutions.)
October 17, 2019. Lab tour at Stuart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Pinder Dosanjh.
October 3, 2019. What is Hawking radiation? Douglas Scott.

Problem sets (2019–2020)

February 6, 2020. Colliding black holes.
January 23, 2020. Signals from aliens.
December 5, 2019. Collisions and electricity. (Solutions.)
November 21, 2019. Detecting exoplanets and binary stars. (Solutions.)
November 7, 2019. Optical principles and phenomena. (Solutions.)
October 17, 2019. Energy, entropy and magnets. (Solutions.)
October 3, 2019. Hawking radiation and evaporating black holes. (Solutions included.)

Our Volunteers

Pedram Amani (Program Organizer/Coordinator)
Phillip Bement
Connor Bevington
Sean Chen
Sean Ghaeli
Peter Gysbers
Daniel Korchinski
Marianne Moore
Chris Waddell
David Wakeham (Program Organizer/Coordinator)
Rio Weil