They will also be learning basic physics. Teachers Bruecken and Dilks were among 24 teachers who joined QuarkNet in 1999. After a week at Fermilab in June, learning about particle physics, they participated in seven weeks of research, which was funded by QuarkNet. Together with Professor John Hauptman at Iowa State University, Bruecken and Dilts constructed an incredibly fast detector, which, essentially, could collect energy and spatial information at the speed of light and then empty the calorimeter of signal in a nanosecond. QuarkNet plans to fly a number of students to CERN for the first physics runs so that they can report back on the events.
Introductory physics is present in much of high-energy physics.
For students, concepts such as conservation of momentum and energy are ubiquitous. Particle physicists use these concepts as they study the fundamentals of nature. QuarkNet seeks to create such a lens. QuarkNet is supported by the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy and the participating universities and laboratories. While QuarkNet began in the US, there have been expressions of strong interest from CERN and from other European countries.