"J-PARC Outreach Lecture" held in July 2026
◆◇◆KPIP Nakameguro - Children's Program at Nakameguro Elementary School - (Saturday, July 4, 2026) ◆◇◆
A workshop titled "The World's Smallest? Make a Mysterious Spinning Top and Explore the World of Elementary Particles" was held at the Nakameguro Elementary School Children's Program for 13 students from first to sixth grade. The workshop was led by Dr. OTANI Masashi of the Accelerator Section, who introduced the world of elementary particles using spinning tops.
First, the children learned about J-PARC and elementary particles. They then spun gyroscopes and made their own spinning tops. By changing the center of gravity of their handmade tops, they observed changes in the direction of precession and learned that the motion of precession is similar to the spin property of elementary particles.
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◆◇◆Yunago Elementary School, Hitachi City (Tuesday, July 7, 2026) ◆◇◆
Mr. ITABA Tatsunori of the Particle and Nuclear Physics Division delivered a lecture titled "What Is the Universe Made Of? - Light." The lecture was held at the request of the Hitachi Civic Center as a parent-child learning session for third-grade students at Yunago Elementary School. A total of 30 students and their parents participated.
The participants had fun learning about waves, quantum phenomena, and light together through questions such as, "What properties do waves have?" and "What colors does light have?" During quizzes about waves and light, the children actively shared their ideas, and there were moments when they expressed surprise as they confirmed the answers through experiments.
At the end of the session, the children also made kaleidoscopes using the properties of light, enjoying the craft activity while experiencing the wonders of light.
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◆◇◆National Institute of Technology, Kagawa College, Takamatsu Campus (Wednesday, July 8, 2026) ◆◇◆
Dr. OTANI Masashi of the Accelerator Division gave a special lecture titled "How Accelerators Work to Explore the Microscopic World" at the Kagawa National Institute of Technology.
In the lecture, he introduced the basic principles of accelerators and examples of their applications, including medical applications. He also discussed the use of muons and the latest developments in accelerator technology and elementary particle research.
During the Q&A session, students asked a wide range of questions, from technical questions such as "How does J-PARC achieve one of the world's highest beam powers?" to career-related questions such as "What kind of work do graduates of technical colleges do at KEK?"
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