COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — An annual event at the State Fair known as “Midway Physics Day” gives high school students from across South Carolina the chance to see hands-on experiments and demonstrations in physics. Department professors and students from the University of South Carolina illustrate topics to over 2,100 students from 60 different schools from across the state. The idea is to help high school students directly apply what they learn to how the fair rides work and operate. “I mean we have people call all the time asking questions at our department office so it’s really cool to show that this is actually applied in real life,” says Department of Physics Student Service Coordinator Nancy Kesar. Some of the concepts explored include light polarization, magnetic induction, how shock waves and springs work, rotation and angular momentum, and energy transfer — as well as how liquid nitrogen works. USC Physics Major Zachary Pytel says the in-person presentations help encourage students to apply what they’ve learned to the world around them. “It’s really nice to be able to come here, and I can take a student who’s seen waves for the springs or if they’ve talked about polarization for light, and I can show them physically what’s happening, and we do get a lot of students who come in and you can see it click, like, ‘Oh! That’s what that thing meant,’ and it’s really nice to be able to do that for students,” he says. According to Pytel, Physics is often simply referred to as “applied math,” but he says it’s much more than equations and formulas — its a part of most everything in our lives. “When they come in and you show them things like polarizers, and talk about light, they get this connection, but you can also explain you know if you like this you can do this for a living and make like six figures. You can go into the industry and do this cool niche thing that you enjoy and make real money for doing it, and it’s nice to be able to explain that to students too,” he says. Categories: Local News, News Tags: Nancy Kesar, Physics, State Fair, Zachary Pytel