A group of almost 200 students from the schools Liceo Monjardín and Ikastola Paz de Ziganda, in Pamplona, have participated in the Science and Technology Week in a physics macroexperiment where they have simulated how people move in an overcrowded status .

Dressed in red caps and white caps, the students from both schools had to pass each other in a confined space, as happens in the busiest streets of the cities. high school diploma of both centers had to cross each other in a reduced space as it happens in the most crowded streets of the cities. As explained by Iker Zuriguel, Physics teacher at the school, speaker , "the idea was for the kids to participate in the experiment and then understand why at the beginning they crossed each other forming several lines and, little by little and in a natural way, they created two lines that passed in an orderly fashion, one in each direction".

"This," adds the professor, "happens in nature spontaneously when we bring together particles of opposite charges, which also align in two reverse flows; or in our own organism, where cancer cells, for example, are positioned in alignment to move in tissues."

The physics of the Sanfermines

Likewise, researcher showed the students the physics behind events such as the Sanfermines: "When there is a traffic jam, falls, etc., what happens is that at one point along the route the density increases so much - issue of people per square meter - that a system is created where people can hardly move, they tend to solidify. In these cases, pushing is counterproductive because people are even more imprisoned and movement becomes more and more difficult".

In fact this professor, and other scientists from department of Physics and Applied Mathematics of the School of Sciences, have made several programs of study on how traffic jams are generated and how some solutions, such as placing an obstacle in front of the exit of an enclosure, can facilitate its evacuation and reduce traffic jams.

On Friday the daily talk of the Science Week at the University of Navarra will bring to campus Luis Lezana, former student of Biology and director of the center Tierra Rapaz. In his lecture he will explain to the students the peculiarities of birds of prey and will show the attendees several specimens of these birds.