Students discover wonders of science
TOUCHING CLOUDS and seeing a rubber ball propelled at jet speed were some of the scientific entertainment witnessed by about 1,800 students from 75 schools. The students were on a visit of scientific discovery of Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) held to mark Vigyan Diwas today.india Updated: Feb 26, 2006 22:29 IST
TOUCHING CLOUDS and seeing a rubber ball propelled at jet speed were some of the scientific entertainment witnessed by about 1,800 students from 75 schools. The students were on a visit of scientific discovery of Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) held to mark Vigyan Diwas today.
Welcoming the students, CAT Director Dr Vinod Chandra Sahni said that the day observed on the birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Dr Chandrashekhar Venkat Raman was in itself inspirational for the students. The visit to the high-end facility would help inculcate the spirit of scientific awareness and research and lead to an increase in scientific talent pool of the country.
Listing the scientific achievements made over the centuries by the country he said that India was a knowledge superpower poised to join the big league on the strength of its better-qualified and trained minds. Instrumentation and Controls division head A G Bhujle gave a presentation using slides to explain the working of the Centre.
The students were shown the pride of CAT namely INDUS-I and INDUS-II high accelerator lasers. The students learnt the manifold uses of laser and saw how green laser was used for making correction in the retina of the eye of patients suffering from diabetes and minute welding in sensitive instruments like pacemakers.
The most enjoyable part of the visit was the cryogenics laboratory where the students got to see the formation of clouds using liquid nitrogen having a temperature of (-196 degree Celsius). The cloud prepared under laboratory conditions was touched and felt by the students.
The cryogenic jet action propulsion technique shown using a rubber ball filled with liquid nitrogen moving at great speed. The technique was the same as used in rockets for space travel. Liquid nitrogen was also shown to light a bulb and the freezing power of the liquid, which solidified matter coming in touch with it and made it so brittle that it could be broken in one blow into fine particles.
The students also got to see plasma cutting machine, fabrication of glassware, electro linec, optical diagnosis and imaging, land leveller, miniature laser micrometer and other sci-fi gadgets.