Are you in Year 6 of secondary school, are you very curious about subatomic particles and will you soon have to start working on your profile research project (Profielwerkstuk/PWS)? Then Nikhef is the place for you!
Nikhef offers a special programme to help students with their PWS on particle physics. You will spend a whole day at Nikhef, where you will learn about particle physics and then get to work on an experiment yourself. The research is about muons. These are particles that are created when a high-energy particle from space collides with another particle (e.g. an oxygen atom) in our atmosphere. Your experiment setup will continue to collect data for 24 hours. You will answer questions such as:
What is cosmic radiation? What falls from space onto our Earth?
What can we learn from cosmic muons?
How fast do muons travel?
How long do muons live?
Are muons time travellers? Is it actually possible to travel through time?
How is it possible for them to reach Earth in the first place (hint: Special Theory of Relativity)?
You will receive professional guidance from a researcher at Nikhef.
Registration 2025
This year, the muon experiment for the PWS will take place on 4 September, 16 October and 5 December. There are still places available on 16 October and 5 December, which will be allocated in order of registration.
You can register here: https://www.nikhef.nl/profielwerkstuk-registratie/
More information about the PWS at Nikhef: https://outreach.web.nikhef.nl/profielwerkstuk/
