Physics students gathered during sixth and seventh periods on Tuesday, May 16, in the Haymarket Theater to hear a presentation directed by scientists from the UCSC Physics Institute for Particle Physics (SKIPP).

Professor Terry Scalk, Professor Hartmut Sadrozinski, Dr. Norman Graf, Dr. James Dann and graduate student, Ken Fowler, lectured the students on physics, from the universe, outreach programs, radio transmitters and the transformation of power to Testa coil operations, how lightning works and astrophysics.

According to Sadrozinski, this group of scientists usually visit both middle and high schools about twice a month going as far as US Davis and Sacramento all the way to Casa Nova.

The presentation also included demonstrations using electricity. During the seventh period presentation, physics teachers Linda Leyva and Gul Eris were both used in demonstrations involving high voltages of electricity.

Leyva played the “Knight in Shining Armor” and after the demonstrators covered her in metal to protect her body from the high voltage, she got to put her head and arms in the electrical currents, generated by a power source on stage.

“Now my personality will be more electrifying!” Leyva said afterwards.

Eris was involved in a similar demonstration where she put her arm in the electrical currents and the electricity flowed down and could be seen at her toes.

“We want to tell students in high school and middle school how exciting science can be,” Sadrozinski said.

The five speakers later talked to students about outreach programs that they have set up in order to get students more involved in science. These programs included Tesla and Quarknet, where students and teachers can participate in scientific research, and BalloonFest, which is an organized high school science meet on ballooning.

For more information about SKIPP, visit http://scipp.ucsc.edu/.