ART OF PHYSICS COMPETITION

(version française à venir)

The Canadian Association of Physicists launched the first Art of Physics Competition at their 1992 Annual Congress in Windsor, Ontario. The aim of the competition is to stimulate interest, especially among non-scientists, in some of the captivating imagery associated with physics. The challenge is to capture photographically a beautiful or unusual physics phenomenon and explain it in less than 200 words in terms that everyone can understand.

The CAP is currently accepting entries for the 2013 Art of Physics competition in three categories: students up to high school/CEGEP graduation; High School/CEGEP Class projects, and open. The deadline for entries is April 15, 2013 . Click here for details on how to participate in this year's competition.

All entrants of the competition also have the chance to have their entries included in an Art of Physics exhibition. All the entries which were received are kept on file and may appear at a future date as a cover for Physics in Canada.

Winners of all the competitions held since 1993 are shown below. Click on the image to see a full-size image along with the accompanying explanation (note: the explanation is reproduced in the language of submission).

2012 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Bonds in Focus	Star light, star bright, are you a fan of Coherent Light?	Ferrofluid	Reflecting Infinity	Crayon Energy	The Diverging Glass
1st Prize High School Individual Category	2nd Prize High School Individual Category	3rd Prize High School Individual Category	1st Prize High School Class Category	2nd Prize High School Class Category	3rd Prize High School Class Category

2011 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Laser Diffraction	Resonance	Rainbow Flames	La colonne d'eau	Interférence sur un CD	Photons sucrés
1st Prize High School Class Category	1st Prize High School Individual Category	2nd Prize High School Individual Category	1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category

2010 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Magnetic Tree	Reverberating Polysaccharide	Interference of Water Waves	Magnificent Sun and Moon	Infrared Insanity	Rustic Sunrise
1st Prize High School Class Category	2nd Prize High School Class Category	3rd Prize High School Class Category	1st Prize High School Individual Category	2nd Prize High School Individual Category	3rd Prize High School Individual Category

2009 Winners (No Honourable Mentions)

Quantified Loss	Huge Mountains Like Tiny Bubbles	"Horizontal" Icicles
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category

2007-08 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

The Unfolding and Enfolding Universe	A Flight Inspired by Gravity	Sunset in a Bubble Film?	Colourful Maze!	The Bending of an Electron Beam	Strumming in 'E'
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	3rd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Class Category

 

2006 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Standing Water	ZAP !	Natural Fireworks	Holographic Laser Tornado	Amber Amperage
1st Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	3rd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Class Category	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Class Category

 

2004-05 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Flight in a Viscous Fluid	Polarisation croisée	Inverted Image - Converging Lens	Tie-Dye TV	Fg = Ma	Splash!	Ray Play
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Class Project	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Class Project	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	3rd Prize High School/CEGEP Individual

2003 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Hand through flat soap bubble	Surface Interface Dynamics: Methyl Benzene & Silicon Dioxide	Vortex In A Sink	Kaleidoscopic Bubbles	Thin - Film Effect
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Individual	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Class Project	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP Class Project

2002 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Birefringence & Cameraless Photography	Crystallization of Milk Fats	The Frosted Forest	Soap Bubble
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP	1st Prize High School/CEGEP Class Project

2001 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Pendulum Trajectory	The Van der Graaff Kid	Vortices in a Layered Fluid	Walking on Water	Reflection of Trees Off Water	La Divergence
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP	2nd Prize High School/CEGEP	3rd Prize High School/CEGEP

2000 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Breaking Wave Structure	Hole Formation in Supported Bilayer Polymer Films	Freely-Standing Polymer Trilayer Films: DIC Image of Lateral Morphology
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category

1996 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Star Patterns	"Fullerene Forest" in Northern Winter	Icicle Arrays
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category

1994 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Vertigo	Transmission Electron Microscopy of a Metal-matrix Composite	Electron Tree
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category

1993 Winners (Honourable Mentions)

Convection pattern in an annular "soap" film	Solar Vision	Parabolic Arcs	Stuck
1st Prize Open Category	2nd Prize Open Category	3rd Prize Open Category	1st Prize High School/CEGEP

Winners and honourable mentions from these Art of Physics competitions became part of a travelling exhibition. You can view the honourable mentions for each year by selecting the honourable mention link beside each year's header. You can also get information on how you can book the Art of Physics travelling exhibition for showing at your institution.