February 2021 – Little Shop of Physics

LSOP Open House 2021

The 30th Annual Little Shop of Physics Open House took place on February 27, 2021. The theme was We Are All Still Connected, and the event took place virtually on Zoom and Facebook Live. Hundreds of people from all over the world attended. Presentations were hosted by Colorado State University students, faculty and staff. We […]

LSOP Live: Science It Up!, February 26, 2021

Last week, we asked students to share their questions with us—and did they ever! We got questions from “Why can we see clouds, since they are made of air?” to “Why do snowflakes have different designs?” On this episode, we take one question after another and Science It Up! We take each question and use [...]

Art of Science Contest, Spring 2021

Do you like art? Do you like science? Submit your science-inspired original artistic compositions for a chance to win awesome prizes! The third LSOP Art of Science contest is now open to US students grades K-12. Entries may be related to any type of science in a media of your choosing (visual art, music, video, […]

LSOP Live: Bouncing, Bending, and Twisting Light, February 19, 2021

Mirrors, lenses, and polarizers, oh my! In this episode we show you some amazing effects that you can recreate at home. We make objects seem to disappear, make transparent objects develop colors, turn people upside down, make a mirror out of transparent materials, and show you how to use a mirror to make what seems [...]

LSOP Live: Sinking and Floating, February 12, 2021

A bowling ball—does it sink or float? The answer might surprise you, as will dozens of the experiments we share. We float bubbles and steel balls, and make a ketchup packet go back and forth between sinking and floating. We answer the question: What happens to buoyancy when you turn off gravity? And we leave [...]

LSOP Live: The Music Show, February 5, 2021

Talking about music gives us a chance to talk about forces, frequency, energy, vibrations, and states of matter. It’s a rich topic, and one we had a lot of fun exploring. How many ways can you play Hot Cross Buns? We play it on glasses, bottles, sewer pipes, electrical conduit, and, of course, actual hot [...]

LSOP Featured in CNS Elements Magazine

The Little Shop of Physics was recently featured in the 2020 College of Natural Sciences Elements magazine. The article, titled “The Little Shop of Physics Gets a New Logo, Reaffirms Mission” talks about our unique program over the 30 years of its existence, from the humble beginnings to becoming an international model of interactive science […]