COLUMBIA, S.C. — Physics Day has brought teachers and students to the South Carolina State Fair since 1997.
“When you come to the fair and we actually study forces in motion, that’s part of the state’s standards, but they do that by riding rides so we try to add a fun element to the science, said USC physics professor David Tedeschi.
It's making science fun through hands on demonstrations conducted by USC physics students. Their hope is students will see them, and get excited about science.
“Science is evolving. It’s always evolving. We’re gonna need new minds, new generations to come in and figure out things we don’t know right now," said physics student Alana Morales.
One of the demonstrations was a real-life example of one of Newton's basic laws force equals mass times acceleration. It shows how when a tennis ball and basketball bounce at the same time, the smaller tennis ball goes flying.
Other demonstrations show elements like magnetism and electricity.
“Science is a real important part of our economy. Our lifestyle. We’re a technological society and everyone should be prepared for that and hopefully this helps along the way," said Tedeschi.
A first step to lighting a spark into the next generation of scientists.
“With this generation, they could figure out things or discover new things that we don’t really know and that could help us strive to a better future," said Morales.