Die Physikanten

Christmas is pervading the city: on every bit of street broad enough to be considered for the title of 'square', there is a Weihnachtsmarkt. It also affects the university: the numbers of students attending tutorials and lectures are decreasing, while the number of tutorials and lectures being cancelled is increasing.

This week's physikalisches Kolloquium, usually a talk on some physics topic supposed to be understandable for a general physicists' audience, was a show similar to the Wetenschapsquiz as presented by Wim T. Schippers, with the difference that it focussed on physics. It was presented by a comic duo, called die Physikanten, a mix between Physiker and Praktikanten (interns). The duo consisted of a German 'Professor', announced by the other half, the Dutch assistant Herr Harry, as: 'Professor, doctor, doctor, Otto, Professor, ähm, entschuldige, Otto, doctor, Liebermann!' and by this time, the professor was on stage and looking somewhat impatiently for his assistant to finish and the show to begin.

Then they did many nice tricks, including an electric lamp consisting of two forks and a gherkin, a small 'boat' floating in the air, a turning flame of a few metres high, 'unfinished water' consisting of oxygen and hydrogen mixed in proper amounts, and the standard method for closing cardboard boxes applied to humans... and then sent the audience home: 'Now, we are going to perform an experiment with your kinetic energy: you can go home!'