Standing interest in physics, knowledge combined with curiosity, perseverance in looking for the answers, joy from discovering the nature were all presented by students during jubilee 10th edition of the “Paths of Physics” contest finals ceremony held traditionally at the PAN Institute of Physics premises in Warsaw on April 11. As usual, the winners were appointed in three categories: research paper, show, and essay.

Bartosz Marchlewicz, Tomasz Sokołowski and Mateusz Zych from Marshall S. Małachowski High School in Płock won the first prize in the research paper category for work entitled “3-D sets of resistors”. They wrote on equivalent resistance of infinite spatial sets of resistor and presented an impressive (although finite) experimental set. The set allowed them to make (and present) several very interesting observations.

Natalia Stalmach from 5^th High School in Bielsko Biała shared the first prize in the show category with Szymon Pawlak, Karolina Stolarczyk and Paulina Szwed from Tadeusz Kościuszko 1^st High School in Wieluń. Natalia Stalmach presented a home-made seismograph and a method to measure earthquake strength, which is quite understandable taking into account the fact that her home town has been for several years exposed to harmful consequences of coal mining. Materials used by her included a woofer, a camera tripod, a spring, a metal pipe, a magnetic bowl. To test the device she was hitting a wooden plank to vibrate it; vibrations of the woofer membrane produced electrical signals logged by a computer. The team from Wieluń presented in a very attractive form some durable constructions made of some materials of very limited strength. They also showed factors on which material strength depends, and demonstrated propagation of breaks. The audience could see for themselves how much a line made of a toilet paper could withstand, and some crate-like structures made of pasta, including a spaghetti bridge.

Dynamic and emotion-rising shows gave way to a more reflective part of the finals ceremony: essays. The first prize in that category was won by Weronika Moczulska, a 3^rd grade student from secondary school in Siemiatycze for work entitled “Integrating physics, inspiring physics”. Contest jury was captivated by maturity of her observations on why majority of her mates are not motivated to learn in school. According to Weronika, core curriculum that forces teachers to approach even complex subjects from perspectives of individual school subjects is among the basic reasons. Such approach  makes impossible for most students to see natural links between various science disciplines.

See more on other laureates, prizes and other contest aspects (in Polish).

This year edition of the contest was organized under the auspices of Minister of Science and Higher Education, Internet Anti-plagiarism System, and Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.

We congratulate all laureates a high level of their work, and thank for their involvement all finalists and their teachers/tutors.