Science Cheerleader

Physics In Four Minutes. Revenge of the C Student.

Finally: A Phunky Physics Rap. (Thanks, Mike, for recommending it! He found it on BuzzFeed.) This rap bit is a clever way to make complicated physics concepts accessible and relevant to the “average”

person.

Wish this video existed when I was a high school junior studying physics. I wasted 45 minutes a day staring at the cover of my physics textbook (big bang or tie-dye design?) while A+ students, Scott and Stephanie, paraded their superior intellect. On a positive note, I did learn how to french braid my own hair that year.

The music video depicts the science behind the Large Hadron Collider from CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research): The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles –

the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionize our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.

Two beams of subatomic particles called ‘hadrons’ – either protons or lead ions –

will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.

Makes the word “Nuclear” seem far less threatening.

Cheers!