“TV, mobile phone and so on – today I finally understood the technical background”, an enthusiastic girl says. In the context of the nationwide Girls’ Day on April 28, 12 girls of grade 5 and 6 built their first LC-display in the school lab “Light & Schools” at the Center for Optical Quantum Technologies (ZOQ).
Bastian Besner explains the structure of the LC-display to the pupils
During this day the girls got exciting insights into research and work in natural sciences. “The girls played their parts very well and asked many questions”, Bastian Besner said. The physics student represented CUI-coordinators Dortje Schirok and Dr. Thomas Garl for the first time as support for the Girls’ Day.
Creativity is needed to design a display
In the practical period of the day the girls could build an LC-display. LC-displays can be found in mobile phones or in flat screens, so that the girls were already familiar with. But what are the underlying physical processes? Among others this question was answered during the practical part. “I think everything was well explained and the illustrating images were easy to understand. Especially the etching was cool”, one girl said. The girls created their own display with an individual motive on glass sheets using Edding markers, hydrochloride acid, acetone and liquid crystals.
Student Janine Franz supported the girls during their experiments.
The nationwide Girls’ day was initiated in year 2001 and about 1.5 million girls participated ever since. Every year different companies and organizations take part with about 10,000 events for girls. The school lab “Light & Schools” has been engaged since 2012.
Photos: Bastian Hundt