Physics needs to be hands-on

On Friday, VACOM Vacuum Components and Measurement GmbH donated five frequency generators worth 2100 euros to the physics department of Jena's Ernst Abbe Gymnasium.

"We are very grateful for this. We now have digital measurement technology for all 16 physics workstations to teach our students about the properties of alternating current," says Norbert Schenkl, head of the physics department. In a letter, Norbert Schenkl had sharply criticized the inadequate equipment of his students' workstations. The letter stated that the school building of the Ernst Abbe Gymnasium had been extensively renovated. However, there had been no more money for modern equipment for the physics cabinet.

In the end, it took more than a year to procure the measuring equipment. Delivery bottlenecks at chip manufacturers had delayed production. On Friday, 11th grade students were finally able to unpack and test the frequency generators. They can use these devices to measure amperage, voltage and phase shifts of alternating current, among other things.

 "Physics needs to be hands-on to be learned properly. This strengthens solution-oriented and linking reasoning," says Dr. Klaus Bergner, a member of the management team at VACOM. Measurement errors can occur in any experiment. And the question of how to deal with such errors is crucial to experimental physics, he says. "That's why we immediately agreed to help, because experimentation is the physicist's craft," Bergner adds.