Quarks and Leptons are particles that make up all the matter that exists in the universe. This is also the name of an animated short film that is being produced by researchers from Unicamp in partnership with animator Maurício Squarisi, from the Núcleo de Cinema de Animação (NCA) in Campinas. The film is scheduled to premiere in September and should be the first in a series aimed at promoting particle physics to teenage students. The project was named “Anima Physics".
The researchers involved are part of the Fapesp Thematic Project “Challenges for the 21st Century in Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics”. According to the person responsible, Professor Marcelo Guzzo, scientific dissemination is one of Fapesp's requirements. But it didn't need to. The group is already very active in the area and has members who are activists in communicating with the general public. Doctoral student Eduardo Sato, for example, has the podcast “Physicst”, available on several platforms, and is also the author of a blog called “Primal Apple Pie".
It was Eduardo who presented the project at the 6th Science and Culture Dissemination Meeting (Edicc) held at Unicamp at the beginning of June. In the film, a teenager needs to find out what's inside a trunk to earn enough money from her father to go to a rock concert. “She answers 'quark' and she's right because regardless of what's in there, it will have quark, the primary constituent of matter”, explains Eduardo. From there the story develops.
“Our film is about what things are made of. It is a complement to high school content”, highlights the doctoral student. For Eduardo, the film's theme can enchant people. “Everyone has the right to charm. We are doing fantastic research at the university and with public investment. Suddenly someone is enchanted by the topic and will be our co-worker in the future.”
Maurício Squarisi's participation was the idea of professor Marcelo Guzzo, a fan of the feature film “Café, um dedo de prosa”, made by the animator in 2014. According to the professor, animation is a very attractive and effective way to convey the concepts of physics. “We have already shown a preview of the film in two schools and the experience was very positive. We managed to convey the message that matter is made up of elementary particles that are composed of quarks and leptons”, he highlighted.
Animator Maurício Squarisi spoke about the challenge of transposing scientific language into the animation script. The Animation Cinema Center has already produced more than three hundred animated shorts focused on the area of education. “I think animation has a lot to contribute and has been underutilized in education. There are complex topics that can be dealt with in a very simple way, as is the objective of the Anima Physics group”, he highlighted. The next film created by Anima Physics will be about cosmic rays.
