{"news":[{"uid":4197,"title":"Schweizer Sch\u00fcler an Physik-Olympiade in Estland ausgezeichnet","teasertext":"Vom 26. - 28. April nahm die Schweiz als Gastland an der Nordisch-Baltischen Physik-Olympiade teil. Das Ergebnis: Zwei Ehrenmeldungen, eine Bronzemedaille und bleibende Erinnerungen.","short":"Vom 26. - 28. April nahm die Schweiz als Gastland an der Nordisch-Baltischen Physik-Olympiade teil. F\u00fcr vier Champions der Schweizer Physik-Olympiade, die auf eine Teilnahme an der dieses Jahr in Iran geplanten Internationalen Physik-Olympiade verzichtet, bot der Wettbewerb eine alternative Chance, sich mit Gleichaltrigen aus aller Welt auszutauschen und zu messen. Das Ergebnis: Zwei Ehrenmeldungen, eine Bronzemedaille und bleibende Erinnerungen.","body":"
David Reichmuth gewann Bronze, Felix Bergmann und Florian Brauss wurden mit Honorable Mentions ausgezeichnet. <\/p>\r\n
Zur Website mit Aufgaben und Rangliste<\/a><\/p>\r\n Wie landet eine Delegation aus der Schweiz an der Nordisch-Baltischen Physik-Olympiade (NBPhO)<\/a>, die sich eigentlich an Talente aus Estland, Finnland, Lettland und Schweden richtet? Auf Einladung, als eines von sieben Gastl\u00e4ndern zusammen mit Kasachstan, Vietnam, Saudi-Arabien, Serbien, Georgien und Litauen. Insgesamt trafen sich 104 physikalische Olympionik*innen in Tallinn. Da die Schweiz dieses Jahr auf eine Teilnahme an der Internationalen Physik-Olympiade in Iran verzichtet, geht es f\u00fcr die Gold-Gewinner des nationalen Finals<\/a> im Juli \u201cnur\u201d an die Europ\u00e4ische Physik-Olympiade<\/a> in Georgien, w\u00e4hrend vier Kandidat*innen, die national Silber oder Bronze gewonnen hatten, nun Ende April in die estnische Hauptstadt reisen durften. <\/p>\r\n Die Fragen bei den zwei f\u00fcnfst\u00fcndigen Pr\u00fcfungen der NBPhO seien offener formuliert und w\u00fcrden mehr Kreativit\u00e4t erfordern, als sie es sich von der Internationalen Physik-Olympiade gewohnt sei, erkl\u00e4rt EPFL-Studentin Cl\u00e9mence Bachmann, die die Jugendlichen nach Estland begleitet hat. Die Sch\u00fcler*innen mussten zum Beispiel die Masse einer d\u00fcnnen Schnur ermitteln, nur mithilfe von Klebeband und einer Heftklammer. Daf\u00fcr, dass die Schweizer Teilnehmenden wenig Zeit hatten, sich auf solche Fragen vorzubereiten, sei das Ergebnis sehr gut. \u201cEs waren nur wenige Informationen gegeben und man musste oft genau die richtige Idee haben, um auf die L\u00f6sung zu kommen\u201d, meint Noelia, die sich \u00fcberlegt, an der ETH Maschinenbau zu studieren. <\/p>\r\n \u201cIch h\u00e4tte nicht damit gerechnet, eine Medaille zu gewinnen\u201d, sagt David. Die Pr\u00fcfungen seien sehr breit gewesen, von geometrischen Berechnungen bis hin zu praktischen Experimenten. \u201cIn der Physik gibt es viele Wege, ein Problem zu l\u00f6sen und man muss den richtigen finden - das macht das Fach schwierig, aber lohnenswert\u201d. Florian meint, ihm habe oft das n\u00f6tige Hintergrundwissen gefehlt, doch die Fragestellungen seien spannend gewesen. Am besten gefiel ihm eine Aufgabe, in der es um einen nat\u00fcrlich entstandenen Kernreaktor ging. \u201cEs ist einfach spannend zu verstehen, wie die ganze Welt um uns herum funktioniert\u201d, erkl\u00e4rt der angehende Physikstudent die Faszination des Fachs. \u201cEin Teil ist sicher auch, dass mir das Fach gut liegt, ich auch in der Schule viel Spass daran hatte und bei der Olympiade viele Gleichgesinnte treffen kann\u201d, f\u00fcgt er hinzu. <\/p>\r\n Wie David betont: \u201cBei den Wissenschafts-Olympiaden<\/a> geht es nicht nur um die Pr\u00fcfungen!\u201d Im Ged\u00e4chtnis bleiben wird den Teilnehmenden auch, wie sie w\u00e4hrend eines physikalischen Orientierungslaufs durch die technische Hochschule in Tallinn rannten oder den Schweden Jass beibrachten. Um noch mehr solche Erfahrungen zu sammeln, will David im n\u00e4chsten Schuljahr neben der Physik-Olympiade auch bei den Olympiaden in Biologie<\/a>, Chemie<\/a>, Mathe<\/a> und Linguistik <\/a>mitmachen - und sich in der Organisation engagieren, sobald er zu alt ist, um selber teilzunehmen. <\/p>\r\n Die Wissenschafts-Olympiade f\u00f6rdert seit 20 Jahren Jugendliche, weckt wissenschaftliche Begabungen und Kreativit\u00e4t und beweist: Wissenschaft ist spannend. Zehn Olympiaden finden jedes Jahr statt: Workshops, Lager, Pr\u00fcfungen sowie Wettbewerbe f\u00fcr \u00fcber 8'000 Talente in Biologie, Chemie, Geographie, Informatik, Linguistik, Mathematik, Philosophie, Physik, Robotik und Wirtschaft. Treffen Sie die jungen Talente - bei der Jubil\u00e4umsfeier am 14. September in Bern.<\/a><\/p>\r\n Zur freien Verwendung mit Quellenangabe. Download am Ende des Beitrags via Button.<\/p>\r\n Lara Gafner<\/p>\r\n Verantwortliche Marketing und Kommunikation<\/p>\r\n Wissenschafts-Olympiade Hochschulstrasse 6<\/p>\r\n 3012 Bern<\/p>\r\n +41 31 684 35 26<\/p>\r\n l.gafner@olympiad.ch<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n","datetime":1714485600,"datetimeend":0,"newstype":3,"newstypetext":"Medienmitteilung","links":"","subjects":["Results"],"image":["https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/fileadmin\/_processed_\/9\/f\/csm_NBPhO_Schweiz_2024_Medaillen_HM_a447000179.jpg"],"link":"https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/en\/news2\/news\/schweizer-schueler-an-physik-olympiade-in-estland-ausgezeichnet","category":[{"uid":11,"title":"Physics"},{"uid":5,"title":"Startseite"}]},{"uid":4196,"title":"How old is the universe?","teasertext":"We know exactly how old the Science Olympiad umbrella association is: this year, it\u2019s turning 20! An anniversary worth celebrating. But when is the universe\u2019s anniversary?","short":"We know exactly how old the Science Olympiad umbrella association is: this year, it\u2019s turning 20! An anniversary worth celebrating. But when is the universe\u2019s anniversary? And how many candles should we put on space\u2019s birthday cake? In this article, Physics Olympiad volunteer Yuta explains in five steps why approximately 13.772 billion candles should do.","body":" The leading scientific theory about the creation of the universe is the Big Bang theory. Even though it was the subject of much debate throughout the past century, it ended up being recognized the \u201cstandard cosmological model\u201d in 2005. Its idea is that the origin of the universe was an explosion, shortly after which the universe began to expand exponentially, and kept expanding ever since.<\/p>\r\n A black body is a body that absorbs all radiation. Such absorption is due to the thermal agitation which takes place in the body in question and causes the emission of thermal radiation. In other words: the particles which the black body consists of keep moving and interacting, not just with each other but also with incoming radiation particles. They get drawn in and consequently absorbed into a sequence of atomic reactions. Those reactions in turn free particles, which constitute the radiation emitted by the surface of the black body. The famous physicist Max Planck has shown a law describing this radiation, called spectral energy radiance:<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n where v<\/em> is the radiation\u2019s frequency, T<\/em> the temperature, c<\/em> the speed of the light (300\u2019000 km\/s) and k<\/em>B<\/sub><\/em> Boltzmann\u2019s constant (1,38 \u00b7 10-23<\/sup> J\/K). The intensity of the radiation emitted by a black body is therefore different for each frequency.<\/p>\r\n At the beginning of its existence, the universe was a black body. Indeed, right after the Big Bang, it was extremely dense and, in consequence, had an extremely high temperature and energy level. The temperature of a body is defined by the amount of interactions between its particles. Therefore, a high energy level is also caused by the agitation of the particles that constitute the body, in this case, these particles are simply elementary particles, such as protons, electrons, neutrons, photons, etc.<\/p>\r\n As a result of the universe being a high-energetic black body, photons, the light particles, weren\u2019t able to move around properly: indeed, they were always getting \u201ctrapped\u201d in interactions between other elementary particles, such as atom formations and deformations. In consequence, the light wasn\u2019t traveling freely throughout the universe, as it does in our world. What happened? We shouldn\u2019t forget that, due to its expansion, the universe loses energy and therefore gets colder and less dense. That\u2019s why at some point of its expansion, it stopped being a black body. Specifically, it has been calculated that the universe stopped being a black body at the temperature of 3,000 Kelvin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n This transformation is called the recombination. Ever since the recombination, light has been light as we know it, traveling freely at an extremely high velocity (as a reminder, the speed of light is equal to 300\u2019000 km\/s) without constantly getting tied up in atomic reactions.<\/p>\r\n At the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century, two astrophysicists, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, observed an abnormal background radiation while trying to detect the echo of a satellite\u2019s radar. Turns out, this mysterious radiation background fits perfectly to the properties of the radiation produced during the recombination. In other words, as soon as photons gained the ability to move freely, they created a background of radiation that we can still see nowadays. This is what this background looks like: We can observe, though, that the radiation\u2019s temperature is not equal everywhere: indeed, some areas are way warmer than others. Some of those fluctuations are due to the fact that the universe wasn\u2019t the same everywhere before the recombination: its density (and consequently the density of atomic reactions happening inside of it and the surface radiation) wasn\u2019t constant. Other fluctuations are caused by the obstacles that the background radiation encounters on its way. Such obstacles can be very different, from galaxies to simple punctual electro-magnetic fields caused by stars or planets.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n where l<\/em>obs<\/sub><\/em> is the observable wavelength and l<\/em>0<\/sub><\/em> <\/sub>is the original wavelength.<\/p>\r\n The background radiation emitted during the recombination should, just like any other radiation, be submitted to Doppler\u2019s effect, as its source, the universe, is in permanent expansion and thus moving! According to experimental measurements, the properties of the CMB perfectly fit the radiation of a temperature of 2,728 K emitted by a black body.<\/p>\r\n Knowing that the temperature of the universe during the recombination was around 3\u2019000 K, it is possible to determine the spectral shift of the CMB using Doppler\u2019s formula. Knowing the shift, we can approximate the distance that the CMB particles have run and therefore, knowing the speed of light, the lifetime of the CMB (as a reminder, it\u2019s is made out of \u201clight particles\u201d, photons). This lifetime is equal to the age of the universe ever since the recombination.<\/p>\r\n Now the lingering question is how much time passed between the Big Bang itself and the recombination? In comparison to the timespan after the recombination, that era was pretty short. However, based on experimental data, assumptions about the composition and consequently the density of the universe back before the recombination, astrophysicists managed to calculate that the recombination happened approximately 380,000 after the Big Bang. Everything taken together, the universe is approximately 13.772 billion years old (you can, indeed, see that compared to this huge number 380,000 years are nothing)!<\/p>\r\n About the author: <\/strong>Yuta Mikhalkin volunteers for Physics in the Science Olympiad media team and studies mathematics in the University of Geneva. She wrote her matura thesis on the history of the universe.<\/p>","datetime":1714413600,"datetimeend":0,"newstype":1,"newstypetext":null,"links":"","subjects":["Knowledge"],"image":["https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/fileadmin\/_processed_\/2\/d\/csm_Banner_Artikel_04_15583761a2.png"],"link":"https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/en\/news2\/news\/how-old-is-the-universe","category":[{"uid":11,"title":"Physics"},{"uid":5,"title":"Startseite"}]},{"uid":4152,"title":"How The Script Once Was Almost Stolen","teasertext":"Once upon a time, there was a script of the Physics Olympiad. It had always been an important part of the Physics Olympiad, it would answer any questions the participants had. Therefore, it was a Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius and had to be protected.","short":"Once upon a time, there was a script of the Physics Olympiad. It had been created by Rafael, Barbara, Cyrill, Levy, David, Quentin, Lionel, Sven and Sebastian. It had been proofread by many other leaders and participants. The script had always been an important part of the Physics Olympiad, it would answer any questions the participants had. Therefore, it was a Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius and had to be protected.","body":" Right now, the script is on holidays skiing and enjoying some time off after the exhausting weekend at EPFL. It had been a very intense time \u2013 quite the opposite of a regular training weekend. As the leaders on the first night returned to the classroom, they discovered a message on the blackboard: \u201cWe know where the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius is. If you don\u2019t hand it over within the next 24 hours, we\u2019ll make sure you won\u2019t see it ever again.\u201d Of course, the leaders were concerned. They immediately woke up all the participants and they all assembled at EPFL. After a heated discussion, they settled on choosing three guards. Their mission was to flee with the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius and hide it. In the early morning, the three left in the light of the sunrise.<\/p>\r\n After a short walk, they found a horse and a tractor. \u201cThis is perfect, we can use these to flee\u201d, said one of the guards. Even though another guard would have preferred to flee by train, they decided on the horse as that is safer.<\/p>\r\n They departed right away. But the authors of the threat had apparently already found out that the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius had disappeared. One of the guards received a message: \u201cYou might have thought you could outsmart us. But we already know that you have fled. No worries, we\u2019ll find you soon enough. Because unless you send us an image of the script right now, we will lock all the other participants and leaders in at EPFL. They had no choice but to follow the instructions. Now that the blackmailers knew about the horse and tractor, they had to continue on foot.<\/p>\r\n \u201cLook \u2013 there is a tunnel. We could hide here!\u201d a guard said. She had grown up in a very small village and knew quite well how to avoid other people. They entered the tunnel without knowing about the other end. Suddenly, they remembered it would soon be time to perform the daily ritual with the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius. This was not to be missed under any circumstances. Fortunately, one of the guards had enough experience in dealing with writings of unmatched, exorbitantly intoxicating and brain-shattering Genius because he attended a monastery school, and was able to perform the ritual underground.<\/p>\r\n Once more, the blackmailers requested an image. They knew that matters could not go on likewise for any longer, and figured out a plan: \u201cHow about challenging these morons to a duel with the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius? Maybe a 100-meter run? Surely, they will underestimate the real power of our Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius and fall for it.\u201d \u201cEven though this is very risky indeed, it seems to be the only solution.\u201d With a queasy feeling, they send their chasers a message reading: \u201cWe\u2019ll meet in exactly two hours at the Olympic Museum. If one of you can run faster than the script, we\u2019ll give it to you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n The chasers did indeed belief that this should be an easy task \u2013 a book won\u2019t run too fast, will it \u2013 and agreed to the deal. The three participants were quite astonished as they saw the Austrian IPhO-team approach the meeting point. They must have found out about the power of the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius and have wanted to use it to their advantage. By now, it was dark outside, but in spite of the darkness, they prepared for the run. Finally, the faithful race took place. The tension was kept upright during the entirety of the whole run. After what felt like infinity, the final relief came \u2013 the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius was faster.<\/p>\r\n The Austrians were really upset. Reluctantly, they had to accept this decision and left. The three participants returned the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius proudly to the Physics Olympiad.<\/p>\r\n The relief was huge. The Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius had been saved. All the physicists got together and had a cheese fondue. As team players, they invited the Austrian team, too. This day was to be celebrated \u2013 a firework was organized for the Writing of Unmatched, Exorbitantly Intoxicating and Brain-Shattering Genius. Looking precisely, there even were a few letters, spelling \u201cSPhO\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Authors: David, Fynn, Luis, Noelia<\/p>","datetime":1711670400,"datetimeend":0,"newstype":1,"newstypetext":null,"links":"","subjects":["Friends"],"image":["https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/fileadmin\/_processed_\/5\/2\/csm_ScriptAdventures-01_d9e2e479de.jpg"],"link":"https:\/\/physics.olympiad.ch\/en\/news2\/news\/how-the-script-once-was-almost-stolen","category":[{"uid":11,"title":"Physics"},{"uid":5,"title":"Startseite"}]},{"uid":4133,"title":"Sie sind die besten Nachwuchsphysiker der Schweiz","teasertext":"28 Jugendliche haben am vergangenen Wochenende in Aarau am Finale der Schweizer Physik-Olympiade teilgenommen. F\u00fcnf von ihnen wurden mit Goldmedaillen gek\u00fcrt. Ausnahmsweise werden sie dieses Jahr nicht an der Internationalen Physik-Olympiade teilnehmen - ihnen stehen andere Abenteuer bevor.","short":"28 Jugendliche haben am vergangenen Wochenende in Aarau am nationalen Finale der Schweizer Physik-Olympiade teilgenommen. F\u00fcnf von ihnen wurden mit Goldmedaillen gek\u00fcrt. Ausnahmsweise werden sie dieses Jahr nicht an der Internationalen Physik-Olympiade teilnehmen - ihnen stehen andere Abenteuer bevor:","body":" Ausserdem wurden je f\u00fcnf Silber- und Bronzemedaillen verliehen (siehe Rangliste). <\/p>\r\n \u00dcber 900 Sch\u00fclerinnen und Sch\u00fcler absolvierten im vergangenen Herbst den Einstiegstest<\/a> der Physik-Olympiade. Kenneth Arockia erz\u00e4hlt, sein Lehrer habe die ganze Klasse ermutigt, den Test zu machen - und sei jetzt stolz, dass es sein Sch\u00fcler \u00fcber die zweite Runde<\/a> ins Final und bis zur Goldmedaille gebracht hat. Doch bei der Physik-Olympiade geht es nicht nur ums Gewinnen: Neben den Pr\u00fcfungen gibt es Lager <\/a>und Rahmenprogramme, bei denen die Teilnehmenden Kontakte kn\u00fcpfen und tief in die Welt der Wissenschaft eintauchen k\u00f6nnen. <\/p>\r\n Der Vergleich mit Spitzensport sei durchaus angebracht, meint Kenneth. Die langen Aufgaben der Finalpr\u00fcfung seien mit einem Marathon zu vergleichen, die kurzen eher mit einem Sprint. Letztere fand er schwieriger, da alles von der richtigen Idee im richtigen Moment abh\u00e4ngt. F\u00fcr Elias Bauer lag die gr\u00f6sste Herausforderung in der Berechnung der Eigenschaften kleinster Teilchen. Da an der Neuen Kantonsschule Aarau, wo das Finale stattfand, kein Teilchenbeschleuniger herumstehe, sei dies eine theoretische Aufgabe gewesen, erkl\u00e4rt Elias. Doch es gab auch Experimente, zum Beispiel zur K\u00fchlung einer LED. Bei der Preisverleihung am 10. M\u00e4rz ging es dann nochmal um Teilchen: Dr. David Meer vom Paul-Scherrer-Institut hielt einen Vortrag \u00fcber Protonentherapie<\/a>. <\/p>\r\n Da die Schweiz dieses Jahr auf eine Teilnahme an der Internationalen Physik-Olympiade verzichtet, die im Iran stattfinden w\u00fcrde, geht es f\u00fcr die Gewinner \u201cnur\u201d nach Georgien an die Europ\u00e4ische Physik-Olympiade. Zudem ist eine weitere Alternative angedacht - m\u00f6glicherweise eine Teilnahme an einer weiteren regionalen Physik-Olympiade oder ein von der Schweiz und anderen L\u00e4ndern organisierter Ersatzanlass. Dass die Internationale Physik-Olympiade wegf\u00e4llt, sei zwar schade, aber Georgien sei auch nicht schlecht, meint Elias. Das findet auch Kenneth, der sich selbst als \u201cgl\u00fccklichen Goldmedaillisten\u201d bezeichnet. <\/p>\r\nIm Baltikum zu Gast<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Ein etwas anderer Wettbewerb <\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
\"Schwierig, aber lohnenswert\"<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
\u201cBei den Wissenschafts-Olympiaden geht es nicht nur um die Pr\u00fcfungen!\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Bilder<\/h2>\r\n
Kontakt<\/h2>\r\n
Universit\u00e4t Bern<\/p>\r\nStep One: The Big Bang<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Step Two: Black bodies<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Step Three: The universe as a black body<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
Step Four: Cosmic Background Radiation and the Doppler effect<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
During one of his experiments, the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler observed a really interesting phenomenon: when the source of a sound is moving, the pitch of the sound emitted changes. It has later been shown that it\u2019s the case not only for sound waves, but for any kind of radiation, including light. Described in a formula, the spectral shift z<\/em> is given by:<\/p>\r\nStep Five: The age of the universe<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n
\t
Ein weiter Weg zur Spitze<\/h2>\r\n
Protonen und Leuchtdioden<\/h2>\r\n
Keine Teilnahme im Iran<\/h2>\r\n
Rangliste<\/h2>\r\n