Hanford Observatory

September, 2005

Hands-on science and engineering filled the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls on September 22, 23 and 24 as area residents sampled Idaho National Laboratory's Science and Engineering Expo. LIGO's participation in the Expo helped amplify this year's emphasis on the World Year of Physics. A wide variety of exhibits, demonstrations and activities appealed to science tastes of all types.

INL works with the Department of Energy and the Museum of Idaho to present the Expo. This year's local sponsors included the Post-Register, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, Bank of Idaho, Stoller, IANS and INCOSE. 34 exhibitors from a range of public and private organizations displayed the region's depth and diversity of science and technology. Groups of 7th and 8th grade students along with teachers and chaperones made up the majority of the visitors on Thursday and Friday. Saturday was Family Day. Conference organizer Lori Priest, shown here welcoming students, estimated the total Expo attendance to have exceeded 4000.

LIGO's exhibit gave visitors a glimpse of gravitational wave astronomy and provided hands-on opportunities for making, measuring and understanding waves. The tapping of Jello (an activity of near mystical appeal to younger experimenters) produced waves that were visualized through a piezoelectric disk connected to an oscilloscope. Sound waves from tuning forks appeared on the screen of a computer outfitted with a microphone and sound card acquisition software. A benchtop Michelson interferometer (don't leave home without it) illustrated another instance of wave behavior as well as a connection to LIGO's science mission. A matched-filtering data analysis activity, compliments of the Penn State Center for Gravitational Wave Physics, provided an opportunity to search for signals in plots of noisy data by comparing the data to a series of templates.

LHO's nearest neighbor on the exhibition floor was Idaho State University's Physics Department. The ISU display, orchestrated by Professor Steven Shropshire with the assistance of ISU students, repeatedly brought large groups of visitors to a frenzy through the use of a remarkably effective Van de Graff generator.

Expo guests received encouragement to consider the physics of the World Year from Professor Einstein himself (portrayed by Dr. Arden Bercovitz). His short talks addressed issues such as time and gravity in an enjoyable and accessible way, opening the door to deeper thinking about Relativity. Idaho Museum staff members also provided keynote presentations, one of which included a new twist on "This Old House" -- driving a nail with a liquid nitrogen-treated banana.

LIGO congratulates the organizers and sponsors for the success of this year's event.