Physics at UVic

Last Thursday a group of students led by our Head of Science, Mr. Scott Doehler, took advantage of an opportunity to visit the physics and engineering departments at the University of Victoria. Masters students there had organized a symposium on quantum physics and invited schools from around the Island. Activities included visiting labs and hearing first hand about the research projects that are being done. Students were able to get hands on with diffraction gratings, electron microscopes, and lasers, all important tools used in exploring the strange world of the very small scales where weird things happen at the quantum level. All of our students reported it to be a great learning experience and one that made them ponder the essential nature of matter itself. “How can a particle be in two places at the same time?” “How can it be both a particle and a wave?” “ How can it communicate with a parallel particle in the phenomenon of entanglement?” All these questions are ones that the researchers are still struggling to answer. The answers may have more to do with our very perception of reality than with anything else. Mr. David McCarthy, Director or Learning