Published on: 2026-08-10
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The 65th anniversary Summer School of the NSU Specialized Educational and Scientific Center has been held since August 1; it is a three-week specialized session for gifted students in grades 8-11. This year, more than 80 participants from 48 regions of Russia, as well as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, came to the Summer School. The program of the session, along with academic classes, includes popular science events and spectacular demonstration experiments. One such lesson, dedicated to physics, took place on August 6.
Demonstration experiments in physics, or simply “demos,” were conducted by a professor from NSU, the head of the Department of Physics of Continuous Media at the Faculty of Physics of NSU Yevgeny Ivanovich Palchikov. In his lecture, he vividly demonstrated to schoolchildren in an engaging way how real physical laws explain impressive phenomena and even refute “cinematic” illusions. According to him, “knowledge of physics allows not only conducting colorful experiments but also distinguishing real life from movie reality.”
During the lesson, various experiments were demonstrated: for example, with liquid nitrogen (turning carbon dioxide into dry ice, instant freezing of objects — flowers — followed by shattering), mesmerizing touch tricks, brief contact of liquid nitrogen with the oral cavity (*Warning: The experiment is deadly dangerous! Risk of cryogenic burns to mucous membranes and suffocation. Repetition is strictly prohibited!) and experiments with electricity (the famous Tesla coil, where gas discharge lamps light up without wires). Particular excitement was caused by the explosion of a hydrogen balloon — students experienced the force of the shock wave “first-hand.” All demonstrations were accompanied by the professor’s comments on new scientific ideas and engineering applications of the phenomena shown.
Physics experiments sparked lively interest among the participants. Schoolchildren eagerly wanted to sit next to the setups: those interested could hold gas-discharge lamps lit within the field of a Tesla transformer, or even assist in the experiment (for instance, one of the event participants got to act as a lab assistant and hold a flower during its cryofreezing). Each experiment was accompanied by applause and enthusiastic exclamations. According to the organizers, the audience was particularly active—schoolchildren tried not to miss a single impressive moment.
Physics demonstration experiments became part of the intensive Summer School program. In addition to such lecture experiments, intellectual competitions and games are organized for participants: “What? Where? When?”, “The Big Game”, “Mathematical Tetris”, “Physboy” (an intellectual battle on physics), and even a contest of fantastic projects where students present their invented scientific theories. Such activities enrich the school program and help students apply knowledge in unconventional ways.
The demonstration experiments, which have already become traditional, showed that physics can be not only useful but also incredibly vivid. Students of the Novosibirsk State University Summer School had the opportunity to observe complex experiments and, even if for a moment, became part of the scientific process and saw physics in action.
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